Resurrection
Day
PROLOGUE
Oh, what a fool am I! Left behind to face the end alone - a victim of my own foolishness. A victim of my love for a woman that I could never have. Shakespeare himself could not have created a more tragic character than I.
I walked with giants. Men who changed the world, men who challenged God, Himself. Yet, I did not see nor understand. Now, they are gone and only I remain to tell the story -- a story with a tragic and fearful end, an end foretold of old, an end that cannot be altered. An end that I now face alone -- a destiny foretold for over two thousand years -- the destiny of mankind. My destiny. Foretold but ignored. Ah, it is truly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
Oh, mankind, where were our ears? Where were our eyes? Why didn't we listen? Why couldn't we see? Are all men as foolish as I?
Left behind to deliver a final warning. Can I atone for my foolishness? How can I know? But, I must try. I saw it all. My words are true. If there are wise men left upon the earth, let them take heed. For fools such as I . . .
Read my words and tremble. The end of all is near.
Last Remaining Member of the Resurrection Day Team
It is the 22nd Century - a period of great instability. A conflict over natural resources divides the world into several powerful blocks. The United States, a part of the "Western Hemispheric Alliance," exists in relative stability but under continuing pressure from the Eastern Hemisphere. The Eastern Hemisphere is threatened by uncontrolled population growth and nationalistic competition for ever shrinking natural resources. Within the Eastern Hemisphere, Europe is experiencing the collapse of the last vestiges of democratic government -- surrendering political freedoms to a powerful leader, Anton Nielson, in exchange for social benefits and increased security. Europe is the most powerful block within the Eastern Hemisphere but threatened by the desperate efforts of the Greater Slavic Union, India and China to acquire resources to feed and support their own struggling populations. The three major contending powers, the European Union, Slavic Federation, and China, exist in an uneasy truce imposed by force by the European Union. Population growth is uncontrolled forcing a division of the European citizenry into a cast system. The lowest classes are rarely granted access to the earth's surface and live and work in the sunless world of 'under-scrapers.'
In the United States, President James T. Leonard is a moderate leader beset by a powerful conservative opposition dominated by fundamentalist religious movements. Leonard is offered an opportunity to destroy his conservative opponents through the conduct of a time travel mission to recover the body of Jesus Christ from the tomb -- presuming that the delivery of the Jesus' body to the 22nd Century will shatter the unity of the fundamentalist religious movement and, co-incidentally, the conservative opposition. The objective of the mission is to prove that the supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ is nothing more than the result of a Commando raid from the 22nd Century.
The Operations Branch of the Smithsonian Institute manages the time travel recovery program. The Smithsonian is tasked to put their best team on the mission to ensure the maximum likelihood of success. Tom Anderson’s team is chosen following their fourth consecutive successful mission.
"TRY TO CHANGE HISTORY AND DIE TRYING!"
(Recovery Force Maxim)
Time travel is a recent phenomenon. Expensive and energy consumptive, it is limited to governments willing to expend the funds. In the United States, the program has become self-funding. Historians conduct extensive research to discover valuable items believed to have existed but which suddenly disappeared from recorded history. They assume the reason for the disappearance could be that the item was taken to the future. Commando teams, trained and qualified to operate in hostile environments are sent into the past one to three years prior to the probable date of the disappearance. They work themselves into position to take the object on the estimated date of disappearance. The program historians discover that their research and estimates are correct about 90% of the time. Because of the heavy requirement for accurate research, management of the program has fallen to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
One of the theoretical mysteries of time travel is resolved almost immediately. History cannot be altered. Teams can operate in the past, can become a part of the historical events that have occurred. But they cannot change the historical event. Trying to alter an event always leads to unanticipated and sometimes fatal outcomes which do not alter known history. So teams attempt to fit themselves into the normal flow of history to position themselves to take the target of their mission at the moment that it is known to have disappeared -- to fit themselves into the actual flow of historical events.
The Anderson Team is placed into the past three years in advance of the date of the crucifixion of Jesus. In the 22nd Century, the disappearance of Jesus' body from the tomb is presumed to be the result of a raid by the team to take the body. For three years, each member of the team works into a key position to assist in the recovery of the body of Jesus. One member of the team becomes a servant girl in the house of Joseph of Arimathea; another, a soldier in the Roman garrison in Jerusalem; a third, a purser in the household of Pilate. However, the story revolves around the team leader, Tom Anderson. Assuming the name Thomas, he joins a zealot group following Jesus and is selected by Jesus as one of the Twelve Apostles. All of the Biblical incidents concerning the Apostle Thomas' interactions with Jesus are woven into the story. The doubting nature of the Apostle Thomas becomes clear.
The final third of the novel addresses the aftermath of the mission to take the body. It takes a turn that will not disappoint the reader. But you'll have to read the novel to discover the result.
