The Mesa

“… where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star from the east, and are come to worship him.” Matthew 2: 2 “And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.” 3 Nephi: 21 The mission was simple—they were to travel to the planet where the Christ child had been born for a humanitarian mission to save lives. The nature of the mission had been revealed to faithful members of the Church by their Prophet many decades before it was to leave. The faithful were to wait, since no one knew the day or hour of the appearance of the star announcing the birth of the Christ. It was foretold that this planet, “Earth” as it was called, was to be the place of the birth of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah and son of the Creator of all things. He would be as they were, “in the image of God, the Creator.” They were told that the Messiah’s life would be short, but that the effect of His life, His teachings (the Gospel), and the effect of His Atonement would be eternal. The Prophet made clear to the faithful that when the Christ Star did appear, it would point the way to this planet. It would then be their mission to help the people there by eradicating the terrible diseases and plagues they would suffer, many of which would have no cure. Arturians had a cure, the life-saving Dianthus plants from which Dianthatoxin serum was made. There was another reason faithful Arturians wanted to go to Earth. More than anything they wanted more scriptures. They possessed only a small book of scriptures, the Book of Creation and the Great Plan of Happiness. They knew they would find a treasure trove of scriptures which contained the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hungered to read these scriptures. The Neulins sacrificed great amounts of their wealth to build two spaceships for the mission. The cost of the mission to the Neulins paled in comparison to what they would gain spiritually in return—they all believed that. Some people mocked and scoffed at the words of the Prophet, especially the Braunlin family. For the most part, the Braunlins believed in one thing: acquiring money and power. The altruistic motives of the Neulin family were nothing but foolishness to them. They respected the Neulin wealth and influence so if the Neulins all left it was a win for them. They could then acquire Neulin assets and monopolize the marketplace. Let the “faithful” Neulins go if they wished. Max Braunlin’s desire for seats on the mission had only to do with his desire to obtain more wealth and influence and nothing at all to do with the mission itself. The Neulins knew that too. But not all of the Neulins would be going on the first ship—there were only 58 seats available. Because of the extensive amount of equipment, food and construction materials, the Neulins planned to bring few people. These fortunate few were Neulin family members or trusted faithful friends and accomplished employees of the Neulins. The inventory in the cargo hold of the first ship included numerous tunneling and mining machines, prefabricated laboratory components, soil, minerals, three satellites, a submersible, and precious metals and gemstones. The satellites had been designed and fabricated to set into orbit around the earth to facilitate a global communications system for the mission. Lastly, three surface shuttles would be included, two small and one large. Passengers were few, and everyone going had to be highly qualified in at least two fields of study to be considered for the trip. About two dozen of those would also help run the ship and operate its technology. The second of the two ships could then travel less weighted but it was not scheduled to leave for more than two years after the first. Anything could happen in two years. Only slightly more than 200 spaces existed on the second ship—subject to the weight considerations of what could be brought in the cargo hold. No one knew how they would find the people of planet “Earth.” Would they find a primitive people, without technology, or would the people there be more advanced? No one could predict the challenges that loomed ahead for the members of this mission. Nevertheless, they all believed the risk was worth the taking. A pre-flight meeting and training session was scheduled to take place in the afternoon following Rik and Marta Neulins’ return to the Uplands from their retreat. There would be some surprises for the people attending.