Quantum Spacewalker: Jarl's Journey

By Grace S. Grose

Jarl Henderson had a normal, active life until The Disaster.  His family, save for his sister Aneera, was wiped out.  As the world moves inexorably toward the revealing of Satan’s messiah and the end of the age, Jarl – at Jesus’ request – is launched into the quantum realm to travel its pathways and retrieve ite

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author Academy Elite
• Release date: Nov 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640857605

Grace S. Grose

Grace S. Grose lives in beautiful Northwestern British Columbia with her husband and six dogs (they're like potato chips - one is never enough...). Of the many hats she wears including wife, world traveler, and avid sci-fi fan, the writer hat is one of the earliest she put on and one she enjoys wearing on a daily basis.You can find her at gracesgrose.com, Instagram.com/quantum_spacewalker, or www.facebook.com/gracesgrose

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Part 1

Training

Chapter 1

My name is Jarl with a hard J. Unusual, I know, but my father wanted to name me Karl and my mother wanted to name me Jake. Their version of compromise became my name.

Jarl means Noble Warrior in old Norse. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover that until college. In grade school, my classmates found my name hilarious. I would often be walking down a hallway or swinging on a swing at recess hearing the chants of Jarl-gle Gar-gle accompanied by various retching, gargling sounds.

Even then I knew I was destined for something greater, or at least more interesting, than being known as that gargle kid.

My upbringing was surprisingly normal considering the advanced state of decay the world was in. Our family reeked of stability. Our moderately sized home with its tidy landscaping was in a suburban Denver neighborhood. Dad was a tall, sandy-haired engineer who worked in an office in downtown Denver. He was a good engineer, so he ranked a corner office with windows, a comfortable salary, and not too much required overtime. Mom was an honest-to-goodness stay-at-home mom during my sister’s and my school years. She was an attractive brunette with auburn streaks in her hair that glinted in the sun. She made cookies and volunteered at our schools and, more often than not, had dinner ready when Dad came home so we could all eat together as a family.

We attended a lively church that saw some rather amazing miracles and healings during our time there. I knew without a doubt that Jesus was real because I met him when I was five. He walked through my bedroom wall as I was building a space castle out of Legos. I wasn’t overly surprised to see him. I had learned in Sunday School that he had walked through walls before³.

He said, Hi Jarl.

I said, Hi Jesus, and then told him that he didn’t look anything like his pictures.

He laughed, saying, I get that a lot! Then, he sat on the floor with me and helped build the best space castle ever, topped by a little astronaut guy and some type of Lego robot thing.

My dad was impressed with my engineering abilities when he saw this castle until I told him Jesus had helped me. Then he was impressed for another reason, and a little astonished, to say the least.

While Jesus was helping me choose Legos he said, Jarl, I want you to know that, when you’re older, I’m going to ask you to go get a few things for me. Would you like to do that?

Are they far away?

Not for how you’ll travel.

Will I be able to carry them?

Sure. They won’t be too big for you to carry.

Ok. I’ll get them for you.

Simple as that. Or not, as it turned out.

Chapter 2

Ashes. Why was I lying in ashes? Smoke everywhere. Where was I?

I rubbed my hand through my hair. It came away black and sooty. I yelled in pain when my hand touched raw flesh on my neck.

Why couldn’t I remember where I was? I carefully wiggled my feet and legs, then my hands and arms. They seemed to be working. I rolled onto my right side and groaned in pain again. Something had burned through my clothes on that side. My shoulder and upper arm where burns were exposed caused me to howl in protest as I struggled to sit up.

The wedding. I had been running late for the wedding. I had to park at the far end of the crowded parking lot. I was just getting my guitar out of the trunk for my solo when I had been thrown to the ground. In front of me, decorative trees and shrubs were still on fire. Ashes kept floating around me like rancid, dingy snowflakes.

I rolled to my hands and knees and managed to stand. Turning to my right, I looked at the holocaust of what used to be our church. I had heard of church bombings. This was nothing like that. This was a complete incineration. A multi-storied, multi-acre complex had been wiped off the face of the earth. How was that even possible?

Then it hit me.

Mom! Dad! I screamed, as I began running toward the scorched center of the church. I only made it a few feet before the intense heat stopped me.

Dear Lord. Oh, dear Lord, no, I whispered.

My parents and grandparents had been inside, along with hundreds of other friends and family members.

We had all been so happy when Max finally proposed to our thirty-five year old cousin, Carrie. Wedding planners salivated, lining up to vie for the business of this no-holds-barred wedding. It was the biggest thing since smartphones in our family and, believe me, that was pretty big.

My sister, Aneera, had jokingly told Carrie I thought you were going to be a bachelorette until the rapture!

Carrie glared and stated with perfect sarcastic intonation, "Ha! Too many different opinions on that. I was definitely losing ‘bachelorette’ status much sooner -- unless it was this afternoon."

Then, they had both laughed hysterically and gone back to making party favors for the wedding reception.

My sluggish thoughts turned to my sister. Aneera’s plane had been late arriving. She wasn’t here yet. Thank God for that!

Sirens wailed in the distance. Fire trucks. What a joke. The only thing left to spray water on were a few shrubs. Ambulances, on the other hand, could be helpful. One pulled up not too far away and I haltingly made my way toward it. I wasn’t sure how bad my burns were, but they felt like they were on a fast track, moving from the 2nd up to the 3rd degree.

Paramedics rushed at me and began doing an evaluation. Their verdict after a thorough exam was that my outside would heal with some minor scarring. That didn’t bother me. I was more concerned about the scarring on my heart from my raw and bleeding emotional wounds.

Chapter 3

Jarl. Jarl! Snap out of it! Aneera said.

It took real work for me to focus my eyes on her. I almost knew how Roger Waters felt in the Pink Floyd song Comfortably Numb, except my numbness didn’t have any chemical help. And it wasn’t comfortable. It was from the tornado of grief, shock, and rage fighting for the upper hand in me. It was exhausting trying to communicate.

Do you remember that song we sang as kids, Aneera? Weariness tugged at me, making it hard to get the words out. V is for Victory. I loved that song.

I remember it. She looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I think now V should be for Vendetta.

Aneera rubbed a hand over her eyes, massaging them, and said, That’s a movie.

Is it? I never saw it. I just want whoever did this to pay!

Jarl, this is horrible enough as it is. I can’t be worried that you’re going under on me here. I can’t take it! She looked at me with concern, her voice low and fierce. My 5’4", petite, strawberry blonde sister was anything but weak, but as I looked at her red-rimmed eyes and pale face, I knew she was as exhausted as I was.

I’m sorry. Three days of no sleep hasn’t been good for either of us. We have to get some rest tonight if we’re going to make it through the gauntlet of police interviews tomorrow.

We have to change your dressings first.

I’m glad that nurses training is coming in handy for something. I tried for a light tone.

Ha. Ha. She carefully removed my bandages and cleaned my right arm and neck. With practiced ease, she placed clean dressings over my burns and secured them.

No, really, thank you. I’m so glad it’s you doing this and not some sleep-deprived ER tech.

You really are working it, she said with the barest hint of a smile as she finished with the final bandage, since that’s exactly what I am most days.

We looked at each other then and smiled, sadly and tiredly, but genuinely.

Please describe what happened, Mr. Henderson.

I looked at the dark-suited figure across the table from me. I was no expert on police forces or protocol, but I was pretty sure this fellow wasn’t on any regular force. The two other dark-suited figures standing against the wall behind him lent conviction to this conclusion. I felt like I had stepped into an X-files episode.

Are you all with this area’s police force? I asked.

No. We are with Homeland Security. We’re pursuing all angles on this situation, even the possibility of domestic terrorism, Dark Suit #1 said.

I see.

A few hours of sleep had reduced the fog in my brain even as it intensified the ability to feel my crushing loss.

I’m not sure anything I remember will help. I know the parking lot was full because I had to park in the back corner of the lot. I was distracted because I was late and I was due to sing a solo in just a few minutes. Everything looked normal when I arrived. It was a beautiful, sunny, Colorado afternoon.

Did you see any unusual vehicles or people? Dark Suit #1 said.

I noticed the limo at the entrance, all decked out for the happy couple. My breath caught in my throat. I felt a rising tide of grief moving in on me. I closed my eyes for a moment, telling myself I would deal with it later. When I opened my eyes, Dark Suit #1 was looking at me thoughtfully.

No people?

No. Apparently everyone else had a better handle on their schedules than I did.

Did you hear anything? he said, after he made a note on the pad in front of him.

That gave me pause. Something moved in my memory. What was it?

You did hear something, didn’t you?

I re-lived the scene in my mind. Turn car off. Pop trunk. Get out of car. Slide keys into pocket. Move toward trunk… Yes, I did. It was like a high frequency whine. Almost like something charging up or revving up before moving. I didn’t think anything of it.

You didn’t see what was making the sound?

No. I did notice that a large cloud went over the sun. I thought that was odd because it was abrupt. Sun, then no sun.

Dark Suit #1 motioned to Dark Suit #2, whispered something in his ear and sent him from the room.

That seemed to strike a chord.

You didn’t look up? Dark Suit #1 said.

No, I was focused on getting my guitar out of the trunk.

What happened next?

I woke up 5 feet from my car, covered in ashes, with burns on my right side. I have no idea how long I was unconscious. Fire trucks and ambulances showed up a few minutes after I woke up.

And your sister wasn’t there?

No. Her flight was delayed out of Dallas, so she was late for the ceremony.

Do you have anything else to add?

Just a question. What could possibly have vaporized a huge church complex like that and still have left cars in the parking lot. The cars closer to the church had melted tires and blistered paint, but wouldn’t a bomb big enough to do this have left an enormous crater and flung cars every which way?

Yes, it would have. His flat eyes and closed expression indicated that no further information would be forthcoming, but I probed anyway.

So, this wasn’t a bomb?

Thank you for your time, Mr. Henderson. We are sorry for your loss. That will be all for now, Dark Suit #1 said with finality. The interview was over.

Dark Suit #3 ushered me to the door.

Aneera was in the waiting room.

How was your interview? I asked.

Short. Pointless. I wasn’t even at the church.

I nodded and sat down next to her. When I looked at her, tears were sliding down her face. I never expected to be an orphan at twenty-eight, she said. We can’t even have a funeral. All the people who would have attended were obliterated with our parents.

The tears came faster. I was sure this wasn’t the first meltdown this police waiting room had seen, nor would it be the last. I put my arms around her and let my tears join hers.

Chapter 4

We took our Chinese take-out into the house. I was in the odd situation of being hungry but having no appetite. I trudged up the stairs and slipped into jeans and my favorite tie-dyed T-shirt. My dresser held a large collection of these tie-dyed shirts. I had discovered tie-dyeing at summer camp when I was twelve years old. It immediately became my signature fashion statement, to the extent that when I graduated from high school and tried to look more mature for a brief time by wearing boring, plain colored T-shirts, my friends accosted me with concern, thinking I was sliding into a post-graduation depression.

After changing, I went back down to eat. Not being able to bear sitting at the kitchen table with all its memories, I took my food into the living room and turned on the TV. I had forced a few bites down when something the newscaster said caught my attention. I turned the volume up.

...bystanders described it as some sort of ray. It came from a cloud directly over St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. This gentleman, Sergei Nikolaev, said he saw a ship or something metallic in the cloud.

Aneera! I yelled. Get in here now!

What? she said as she came into the living room.

Look!

Where is that?

Moscow. Red Square.

What happened to St. Basil’s?

Does that look familiar? I pointed at the scorched pavement where St. Basil’s Cathedral had been.

Her face turned ashen. She sat down on the end of the couch. It looks just like our church.

Exactly! I said, almost shouting.

Are they talking about spaceships? Her voice rose and her hands clenched.

No one knows what did this. Some are speculating on alien ships or super-secret military aircraft.

St. Basil’s is completely gone. There’s nothing left. Her eyes were wide, distress filling them as she stared at the screen.

It seems we’re not the only ones who got attacked.

Over the course of the next two days, other places of worship were vaporized. A temple in India; churches of various types in Europe; three other churches in America; two large churches in Africa and South America; mosques in the Middle East, the most notable being the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

The whole world was in an uproar. I thought it was surprising the Vatican was still intact. They were strangely silent on this phenomenon. No one seemed to ask why worship places were targeted instead of, say, government buildings, which might have been more useful to my way of thinking.

Dad, why are you wearing a dress? I asked.

It’s not a dress, son. It’s a robe, he said.

Ok. Why are you wearing a robe?

Well, it’s terribly comfortable. And it seems to be the fashion around here.

Here where?

Heaven, of course. He gestured expansively with his arm. I didn’t see much of anything except light surrounding him. Then, I remembered the church disaster. Suddenly I wanted to ask him a whole slew of questions.

He saw that I was about to launch into a firestorm of words and he lifted a hand to stop me. I’ve been sent to tell you three things. Most of the questions you want to ask me will soon be irrelevant, so don’t worry about them.

I realized I was dreaming, although it felt completely real. I shut up and let him talk.

First, your mother and I are fine. Actually, light years better than fine, which you’ll understand when you eventually get here. I’ve been allowed to come talk with you about what’s coming up quickly. Your mother is seeing Aneera to discuss her assignment.

I couldn’t help interrupting. What’s coming up quickly?

Shush, son. I love you, but you can be impatient! He gave me the Dad Look.

I shushed.

Second, neither you nor your sister will have the luxury of a long grief process. Nor will you have the luxury of nursing that anger you now feel. You have to be willing to let it go if you’re going to be able to move forward.

Move forward into what?

That’s the third thing. He gave me a brilliant smile. It’s time for you to start your Spacewalker training.

"Are you sure you don’t mean Skywalker training, like Luke in Star Wars?"

Definitely not! We have nothing to do with that pantheistic Force garbage! Quantum Spacewalking is something else entirely.

Surprised at his emphatic tone, I said, I thought you liked those movies.

They were cheap substitutions for the real thing. You, my son, have the real thing.

What’s that?

Not what. Who! His face glowed brighter as he spoke.

All right. Who?

Jesus.

He told me that Jesus was going to meet with me and introduce the spirit beings who would be my trainers, then he left me with a blessing and a hug.

Deep restfulness washed over me as I faded back down into sleep again.

Chapter 5

I woke up crying, less with grief than relief to know my parents were all right. I was also thinking they had some killer teeth whitening stuff in heaven because my dad’s smile nearly blinded me. From here on, I was drinking coffee with no guilt or concern for dingy teeth, knowing I had those pearly whites to look forward to.

Thinking of coffee made me want some, so I got up. I usually didn’t voluntarily wake up before 7:30 am and it was 4:30 am now. Way too early to be banging around in the kitchen. I’d have to put on my ninja stealth moves in order not to wake Aneera up.

The kitchen light was on when I went downstairs and I smelled freshly made coffee. Aneera turned around with a massive cup of her preferred ratio of ½ cream to ½ coffee. I never would understand that. I got a cup and poured some coffee into it, straight black as it should be. I was relieved no silent ninja moves were needed to make it.

Aneera had also been crying, but she looked peaceful. This was a change from the despair and dark shadows under her eyes over the last few days.

Did you happen to have any unusual dreams? I asked.

No more so than yours, I’m thinking. Mom said Dad was talking to you. Did he?

He did. Just out of curiosity, what was Mom wearing?

This really nice robe with a gold belt, she said as she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down.

So was Dad. It was a little weird seeing him in a long flowy thing, but I got over it. I think.

Little brothers can be so goofy. She shook her head ruefully.

Brothers? Where? I thought I was the only one!

I rest my case.

Seriously, though. I took a long drink of coffee and smacked my lips, Dad said he and Mom are ‘better than fine’ and that I was supposed to be starting something called Quantum Spacewalker training. I would normally think this meant signing up to be an astronaut, but he also said Jesus was going to introduce me to spirit beings who would train me. I don’t think NASA has many of those on their roster.

I imagine not. Aneera looked amused.

I’ve heard about dreams like this before from other people. Do you remember when Mom said Great-Grandma Jenny came to her in a dream after her sudden death and said that Jesus had let her come to say good-bye? I guess I’m not too shocked. Now that I think about it, I’m happy. Dad said neither of us would have the luxury of a long grief process. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it feels like the plug got pulled on my anger. It’s mostly gone.

That’s good news.

What did Mom say to you?

Something that makes about as much sense as Quantum Spacewalker training.

And that was…

Aneera cleared her throat. My assignment, should I choose to accept it, is to join an elite force and become a Universe Healer.

A universal healer? Does that mean you can heal anything? That would be fantastic in the ER!

"No, a UNIVERSE Healer. One who takes part in the healing of the universe. The whole universe."

Ummmm…what? I scratched the early morning bristles on my chin, trying to make sense of this statement.

My thoughts exactly.

I thought Jesus was going to make a whole new heavens and earth?⁴

He is. This is before that.

I see, I said, not seeing at all. Did you accept?

Yes. Mom was so excited. I mean, like jumping up and down excited. She hugged me and spun me around. I really hope I can do this because I certainly don’t want to disappoint her.

I think that should be the least of your concerns. How does one go about healing the universe?

How does one go about Spacewalking? She lifted an eyebrow, looking straight at me while she took a final sip of her coffee.

I did my best impression of Michael Jackson moonwalking across the kitchen, followed by a nifty spin, and said Ta Daaaa!

I bet there’s more to it than that.

Chapter 6

Saying good-bye to Aneera was hard. She had used up all her vacation and personal time after what we started calling The Disaster and she had to be back to her Emergency Room job in Houston. The person who was to be the executor of our parents’ will had also been at the church when it was hit. Since I lived in the area, it fell to me to begin wading through the legal morass of our parents’ estate. Having my toenails pulled out with pliers would have been more enjoyable.

I decided to let my apartment go and move back into my parents’ house to save both money and time. It would be a lot easier to deal with paperwork there instead of hauling it back to my place.

My job as a geneticist at Momentum Labs had a generous leave policy in cases of bereavement and I intended to take full advantage of it. It was legitimate. Most of my family and close friends were gone now. All of the women at church who would have kept meals coming over through this awful time were either gone or working through losses of their own from The Disaster. There was no supportive group to draw strength from, so I gritted my teeth, muttered Jesus, please help me and started plowing forward.

Two months into this ordeal, I was wondering a couple of things. Why was everything clicking so easily into place concerning the estate? And was my Quantum Spacewalker training dream just a result of too much spicy Chinese take-out?

Examining myself closely in the mirror one evening, I didn’t think I was irrational or out of touch with reality. Perhaps too dependent on take-out food, but mostly sane. I saw what I had seen for the last five years -- sandy hair just like my Dad’s, 6’