Short Fiction: The Aeronaut Revelation - Parts 4 and 5 (Conclusion)

* * * 4 * * *

The sun poured in through the edges of the curtains and the road was busy outside. David awoke and sat up immediately. He'd slept the whole night at Roman's. He checked his watch. He still had time to make the meeting. Then it struck him: he didn't dream at all this last night. No flying. Very odd. 

The bathroom was fairly clean so he freshened up in there. Left over pizza from happy hour was in the kitchen fridge. He helped himself to a couple slices, and left a note before leaving...

Jill, 

Thanks for everything. I want to talk more! 

Dave

Then he left a $50 bill in her tip jar.

The bus was early and he felt good--really good. He was going to make it on time. He felt light and confident, giddy actually. His legs felt a bit sore but the braces were working perfectly. 

As he reached the laboratory stairwell he closed his eyes for luck and when he went to step up he felt his braces lock. His feet seemed to be slipping around as if he were standing on ice. He reached out for the railing but it was lower than he was used to and he lost his balance. If he was going to fall he'd rather fall away from the stairs. So he intentionally leaned back. He got that familiar feeling of having no control. Then his thoughts were adjusted... Just fly!

He commanded the aeronaut mind state from his dreams into action. This time it was easy. It felt like a cushion materialized under his back and he stopped in the air, mid-fall. He reached around behind him, and found nothing but air. Then his thoughts were adjusted again... Shoulders... Yes, make the shoulders light like foam rubber. He rose back into a standing position, but his braces still weren't working. Then he realized he was floating about a foot off the floor, and had been the whole time he'd been trying to go upstairs. The braces didn't work without weight on them. And the railing wasn't low, it was just literally below him.

He willed himself up the two flight of stairs to the office hallway. Then he willed himself back down to the floor where the braces clicked on. He was elated nearly beyond what he could handle. He'd broken the code, found the answer to the secret, made his dreams a reality!

He walked slowly down the hall to Room 606 where he'd planned to meet Andrew and the investors. He was pleasantly light on his feet. In fact, there WAS light on his feet. Stopping outside Room 600, he looked down at his shoes. Around the edges where the shoe met the sock, a golden light shone out. The walk six more doors down the hallway felt more like real walking; he was doing most of the work himself. The braces just seemed to be getting in the way at this point. But he left them on. He was determined to show Andrew and the others what else could be controlled using only the mind, as he boldly walked into the conference room. But, it was empty and the lights were off. "What thaaa..."

He checked his watch: 10:25 am. He turned on the lights and looked around; he was the early one this time. Several voices could faintly be heard outside the door and down the hall, getting closer. Here they come!

As they entered the room with their coffees in hand he greeted them while standing on the table. Tim, the team leader for the investors, actually jumped back, not expecting David to be climbing on the furniture. Carla covered her mouth and stood there. Andrew looked quite embarrassed, red even. But Ali was smiling and then he burst out laughing.

Filled with confidence, David said, "I am the first aeronaut! I found a way to conquer my disability... No! ALL disability!"

Andrew walked over in front of the table with his arms folded. David continued to stand there above everyone. "Dave, what in God's name are you doing up there?"

"Watch..." said David, mysteriously...

He unbuttoned and pulled down his pants with the braces humming and self adjusting there in front of them, while he adjusted his soccer ball printed boxers.

"Oh lord..." exclaimed Carla, covering her eyes. Ali tried to contain his laughter.

Tim tapped Andrew on the shoulder and with a straight face asked, "...strip show?"

David, smiling, raising his and lowering his eyebrows provocatively, stepped out of his shoes and then out of his pants. Kicking them aside, then he reached down to the big black hip-buttons on either side of him and slammed them with his palms.

Andrew ran forward, yelling "No!".

The brace locks on the fronts unclipped themselves down each leg, one at a time, virtually unzipping the units. Then down the sides, smaller locks popped open. "Good programming." David remarked. He looked wobbly, but balanced fairly well. Andrew pleaded, "Dave let me help you down, man! Are you drunk or something?"

The braces loosened and then teetered before crashing away down to the tabletop noisily.

"He's going to fall isn't he?" asked Carla.

"No!" David felt a tinge of uncertainty as he said the word. Where was that light from his feet!? His knees began to ache badly and buckle under him. "Okay...maybe...yes, on the falling thing..."

Leaning forward toward Andrew, David's thoughts were adjusted as in the stairway... FLY!!!

Instantly he bounded back to a standing position and then rose above the table, to hang there in the air floating above everyone. Andrew moved the other three back from the table, then turned to David, and just said, "My God."

Now feeling fully confident again, David slowly settled to the table and stood there strongly. "I found the way. Who needs braces, even the best ones like mine, if they can use there minds to walk again, even fly!?"

Tim crept up to the edge of the table, bending down to look at David's feet, and then he looked up at his face. "I'm astounded," was all he could manage to say.

David stepped off the table and floated to the floor. "It isn't that hard, Tim. I went through a couple weeks of 'training' - guess it was? - by using a certain mind state during my dreams, then I simply had to translate that sensation out in the real world."

"I've had flying dreams too!" said Ali. "Can you teach me how to do this?"

"Yes! I believe I can, Ali!"

"So, I'm at a loss here," said Andrew. "This leaves the very awkward issue of the investment amount..."

"Always back to business, huh Andy?..." said David.

"We'll give you the three hundred grand, Andrew." Tim interrupted.

"Yes we will!" chimed Carla. "Now what are you gonna do David?"

"I'm going to Disney World!" David cheered. Ali laughed. David placed his arms to his sides with the hands open, palms forward. "No, no... Now I'm going to go on our first advertising campaign." He rose into the air in front of them. "Carla, would you be so kind as to open the window?"

Carla looked to the others as if she heard someone else addressed... "Me?"

"Yes... please."

Andrew raised his hand. "Um... Dave..."

"Yes, Andy?"

"I think you're forgetting something?" He pointed down at David's pants and shoes on the table.

"Oh yeah!"

* * * 5 * * *

In the parking lot below a sanitation truck's hydraulic arms lifted one of the large dumpsters, tipping and slamming it against the back until all the contents had slid out. The driver watched in his rear view mirror while the dumpster tipped back out of the truck. As the mirror showed the sky emerge behind the lowering dumpster, the driver blinked his eyes a few times at what he saw. It was a man "standing" twenty feet off the ground in mid air. "Huh?" He put the truck in park and got out.

"Greetings." said David.

"Who are you?" replied the driver. "Are you Jesus?"

"Ha! Hardly!" David laughed. "My name is David." The driver walked up until he was directly below David. "What is your name?"

"I'm Arty!" said the driver.

The sun was high now and right behind David's head. "Arty, I am here to tell you that you can do what I'm doing. Anyone can! I have other people to see today. Just keep looking up for me though. I should be around more now. I will discuss all of this publicly soon."

"Yes, I will look up for you!" said Arty, excitedly.

David rose high above the parking lot, then turned and banked right, headed back toward his own neighborhood. He passed over the scrap yard and took a moment to fly low over Deering Oaks Park. People stopped walking in the park when they saw him. A young boy waved. David waved back and shouted "Hello!"

It wasn't long until he was passing over Roman's. And there was Jill wiping off an outdoor table. She had ear buds in and was singing to herself and dancing a bit. 

"Jill!" David was right above her now. She looked forward and then over each shoulder. "Jill! Up here!!"

Jill pulled the headphones from her ears and looked up. "Aaaa!" she screamed.

"Jill, it's just me, Dave."

"Dave? What the hell are are you doing up there?"

"I'm flying, like in my dreams." He lowered himself down to the street.

"Oh my God, Dave! How..."

"It's a matter of will, Jill. Hey, that rhymes... Ha, ha! I believe anyone can fly. I also can walk without my braces now too! See?" He walked around her. "Did you get my note?"

"Yes. And thanks for the fifty. You didn't have to do that!" She walked over and hugged him. He wasn't expecting that, but he was eager and reached out, holding her tightly. 

"I can teach your mom to do this," Dave said, gently holding her lovely face in his hands. "But I have more people to tell first. Time to alert the media..." He winked.

"At your house?!"

"Ha! Yes." 

She moved forward until her face was close to his. "Please come back and see me later." Then she kissed him on the lips and backed up near the doorway of the pub. "I'm gonna call Mom."

David smiled widely after the kiss and rose again into the air. "Off to spread the good news!" he said, as he moved up above the street. He flew over the library, turning heads, then the playground. The kids all stopped and looked up at him. They cheered and clapped. He yelled out "Hi guys!".

Cars pulled over to the side of the road as he swiftly moved down the block--about twenty feet off the ground. Ahead he saw his house. Joyce and Dawn were gathered with several other neighbors on David's front lawn. The WGME van was being packed up.

Dawn saw what she thought was a balloon approaching and then realized was a man, hanging in the air. "Joyce! Look! It's Jesus!"

As they watched David fly down to them, he asked "Why does everyone keep calling me Jesus?"

"David?" Joyce took his hand.

"Yes, Joyce?"

"Your flying!!"

"Yes, I know! Isn't it great?"

"But you're also standing here and I don't hear your braces?"

"I don't need them anymore, Joyce. I found a power that we all have. Everyone can do what I'm doing! It is a matter of will."

"What was the light above your house yesterday? It wasn't here today..." Joyce pointed to the van across the street, as the news team secured their satellite dish in its resting position. "See? They're leaving."

David watched them for a moment. "I don't know what the light was, Joyce. But I think I have a better story for them." He walked across the lawn followed by the group of neighbors, and then across the street. 

Reporter, Lexie O'Connor was sitting on the back bumper of the van. She turned to see David standing next to her. "Can I help you sir?"

"No, but I can help you." He stood up straight, with his hands by his sides, palms turned outward. Lexie put her coffee on the pavement. David lifted himself about three feet in the air. Lexie stood up and away from him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm David Vogel."

"Sweet Jesus!" she said. 

David smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah I get that a lot." He went straight up about thirty feet, then tipped towards his yard flying to just above the widow's walk. He yelled down, "Lexie, you came to see a light above my house and now you can see ME above my house."

Lexie spun around and screamed, "Bill!! Get the friggin camera!"

David saw a man who had been coiling a cord on the other side of the van stop and look at Lexie, then up at him, and say "Holy shit!" He ran to the back door of the van and threw it open. He hauled out the camera, clanking it against the side as he slapped a battery pack in and held it up to his eye.

"Bill! Bill, come over here you'll get a better view."

"Okay, Lexie, just a second."

Lexie reached in the back and removed her wireless microphone from it's case, clipped the transmitter on her belt, turned it on and then ran up next to Bill, pulling him by the sleeve along with her over to the house. They stood by the old maple tree. 

"Do you have anything to ask me?" David smiled down from the sky.

Lexie pushed her hair behind her shoulders. "Yes. Mr. Vogel how are you able to be air borne?"

"It really isn't hard, Lexie. At night I dreamed about flying, being an aeronaut. I kept looking for a way to feel the same way in the real world. Today, I discovered it... and it works! O, and please call me David."

"Thank you David! I often cover weather phenomena, that's why they sent me here. The light that was up there yesterday? We never got to see it. I thought it might be ball lightening. Now I guess I should just ask you what it was."

"I don't know," David said honestly. "It has something to do with this flying thing, but I'm not sure what."

Dawn was listening with the other neighbors to this exchange and couldn't help herself... "It was a miracle--a sign form God! Look, he wasn't able to walk either, but the light healed his legs!"

"Listen..." said David, "It isn't a miracle, it is something natural. I did this for myself."

"With God's help." Blurted Dawn.

"Perhaps... But I'm here to tell you that anyone can do this." David was frustrated with Dawn's insistence on making this a big religious deal. "I'm an aeronaut. I am just a person who has learned how to use his mind to control what happens to his body."

James, Dawn's husband, stepped forward. "Well if you can teach this, you must be some kind of savior?"

"I'm my own savior, Jim. You can be your own savior too!"

A black VW Jetta pulled up and parked behind the news van. David watched the door open. It was Jill. She ran around to the passenger's side, opened that door and helped an older woman get out. Must be her mother, David thought to himself. The mother and daughter crossed the street and joined the growing crowd.

"Hi Jill!" David waved. "And this must be your mother, Mrs. Chien? Your daughter tells me that you are a fellow aeronaut?"

Mrs. Chien stood expressionless for an uncomfortably long time while the growing crowd turned its attention to her. But finally she answered "I fly in dreams..."

"That's great, Mrs. Chien! You know, I think I can show you how to fly in the real world. Do you have any mobility problems?"

Jill answered for her mother, "Hip and knee issues."

"If you can learn to do what I'm doing those problems will go away." 

"A healer!" shouted Dawn. 

"No, Dawn, no! I'm trying to say that people can heal themselves. I healed myself, others can do the same..." 

Lexie interrupted, "Mr. Vogel... I mean David, have you found the meaning of life?"

David floated there in the mid-day sun, hesitating to answer. "Yeah... Yes, I guess I found the meaning for my life."

"When will you teach us how to fly?" asked another neighbor.

"I don't know. I just discovered how to do it myself this morning. People who have dreams about flying are probably going to be able to do it first."

"It's a revelation!" Dawn exclaimed.

Lexie couldn't think of anymore questions and wanted to get the story out before other TV stations started to arrive. Bill, the camera man, ran back over to the van, unstrapped the satellite dish and screwed it on top of its stand. Then he raised it up and secured it to the roof of the vehicle. "We're live, Lexie!" yelled Bill. He loaded the footage they already had into the player and then grabbed the camera to join Lexie at a sunny spot back on the lawn...

As soon as Bill had the camera on her, Lexie began to speak. "We're back today in the Deering section of Portland, at the home of Mr. David Vogel. You may recall that we were here yesterday investigating reports of a celestial light at David's home. But, today the story has taken a strange turn. David Vogel has returned home and now apparently possesses the power to fly! In fact, even as we speak he is hovering above his house, speaking with neighbors and friends below."

Bill pointed the camera upwards and zoomed in on David, then down on the crowd below. He moved closer in toward the maple tree. 

"Hello again there!" David said down to Bill. "I've come here today with great news! There is an answer that can cure your disabilities. Everyone can join me in the air!"

Dawn ran up to Lexie. "It's because of Jesus! It is a revelation for us all." Lexie nodded patiently. "He's gathering believers in the sky!" Dawn continued going on like this until Joyce walked over and led her away.

By this time the city had ground to a halt. Thousands - a river of people - were walking toward the Deering area. David could see them approaching in the distance. Other news vans arrived. A helicopter flew over Back Cove and then to the scene at David's house.

The afternoon passed quickly and the sun neared the western horizon. David continued to answer questions from the crowd. Before long, many different people were yelling to him at once. The crowd jostled for a better view. David tipped forward so he could address them more directly. Over and over again, he was called a "god," a "prophet," a "revelator," a "savior" and even "Jesus" himself. He steadfastly denied all of it. But the people wouldn't listen.

Two Catholic nuns walked up to the front of the house. They knelt and prayed on the lawn. Dawn joined them as the token Pentecostal. Just then the police arrived along with a string of black SUV's--maybe the FBI?

"This is getting out of hand!" said Joyce, up to David. 

"I agree..." He yelled down. "I just wanted to show people that we can fly."

The police had blocked traffic on David's street, setting up detours around the neighborhood. Now they began to make their way through the crowd. David watched them. One of them had blond hair and blue eyes. Was that the guy from the dream? By the time the officer reached the front of the crowd, David knew it was him. But how could that be? That was in a dream. This is real life--right?

"Hello officer!" David yelled down to the policeman.

"You!" The officer said pointing at him. "Were you in Portland the other night?"

"Yes sir!"

"I thought I'd imagined you, Mr... Vogel is it?"

David floated out over the crowd, to gasps and cheers. "I guess I'm the guy, officer." The thought had crossed David's mind a few times to go down to the crowd and stand among them. It seemed the most polite thing to do. After all, this announcement wasn't meant to be a big ego trip. He looked out at the western horizon where the day was draining out of the sky. "I'm gonna come down now so we can all talk more comfortably." The crowd cheered again as he descended.

Jill brought her mother home and returned. Most of her time at that point was spent getting through the crowd and to the front yard. She ran up to David and hugged him.

Dawn helped the two nuns up off the grass and led them over to where David landed; right next to the officer. Another officer ran over with a hand on his holstered gun. "Hold it!" he said to David. "Keep your hands where we can see them!" he barked again.

Ignoring the hothead officer, and addressing the calm officer--the one from the other night, David said "You know my name. What is yours?" 

"My name is Eric."

The hothead cop walked in front of David, pointed at Eric and said, "That is Officer Akzakov. I'm Officer Teufel. I'm afraid we have to ask you a few questions."

"Don't be afraid, Officer Teufel" David smiled, "I'm happy to answer anything you'd like."

"I think we need to go down town, Mr. Vogel..."

"Call me David."

Irritated at David's blithe responses, the casualness of his partner toward the "subject," and the people who were getting in closer than they should to listen, Teufel angrily said, "Mr. Vogel, I don't want to arrest you!"

Hearing this, the mood of the crowd turned darker, with occasional booing. Some guy shouted, "Try it asshole!" The crowd cheered the comment, and jeered the police. 

Teufel looked at his partner, Eric, who shook his head slowly. Teufel spoke quietly, "Eric we have to do our jobs."

Eric quickly answered. "This isn't our job."

Dawn, perhaps fantasizing that she might be written about someday for her heroism, rushed up between David and Teufel. "You'll have to shoot me first!" 

Joyce rolled her eyes. "Dawn, get back here!" The crowd whistled and cheered. 

Without any warning at Dawn pulled a small .038 handgun out of her jeans. Everyone gasped as other officers rushed into the crowd and up to the front yard scene. The crowd quieted down...

Teufel and Eric dropped to their knees and pulled out their guns. "Put the gun down NOW!!" Teufel said through clinched teeth. Dawn looked calmer than she'd been all day. She held the gun pointed down at her side. Her finger was on the trigger. 

David walked up to Dawn and reached his hand out. She turned and looked at him with dilated pupils. She peered down at her gun, then at Teufel's gun, then at David and his hand. They heard Jill call out "Be careful, Dave..."

"No!" Dawn half-whispered to Dave. Then her voice grew stronger. "You're a messenger from God. You are a bird... But YOU!" she looked quickly at Teufel with a stare that seemed to bore into him. "I know German, pal! You're the devil!"

David's voice grew urgent and deeper. "It isn't like that Dawn. This is just a human situation. Officer Teufel is just doing what he was trained to do. And, I am only doing what I want to do. We aren't pawns in some religious war..."

"You don't see it Dave, because you have an innocent soul. You suffered all your life with not being able to walk. I... I can see it in HIS eyes." She pointed at Teufel. "He doesn't have a soul! Someone needs to send him back to hell."

Joyce called out "Dawn, why are you doing this? This isn't you! Someone's really gonna get hurt. Give David the gun."

Dawn looked at Joyce. "You don't see it either."

"Drop the gun, Dawn," Eric said calmly, "or give it to David." Teufel looked at his partner but said nothing.

Eight other officers had formed a line between the drama in the front yard and the crowd of thousands still filling the streets. 

David rose about a foot off the ground and Dawn turned sharply to watch him. Teufel took this opportunity to bound forward at Dawn. David saw this and his thoughts were adjusted... Stop him! Almost simultaneously with this thought he found himself between Teufel and Dawn. She spun around just realizing that Teufel was charging her, and raised the gun. Teufel saw this threat and pulled his trigger. Both guns fired at the same time.

People in the crowd screamed and began to try running back, but the multitudes beyond were too dense. Panic swept through the milling mass. Eric had been accidentally shot in the leg by Dawn and his moaning filled the air for a short time. Several people in the crowd came over and attended to him.

At the center of it all stood Dawn and Teufel. Kneeling on the ground between them was David, back straight up, holding his stomach and staring straight forward at Teufel's legs. No one quite knew what to do for a moment. Then Teufel ran forward and disarmed Dawn, pushing her to the ground. A few people in the crowd saw this and there was a great and angry surge forward. 

Jill rushed up to David. "Dave! Oh Dave... Oh God, oh God." Dave continued to look forward, way off into the distance for a short time, and then turned his head very slowly and looked her straight in the eyes, but said nothing. "They called the rescue but it's having a hard time getting through the crowd. Do you hear it?" David nodded, though he heard nothing. Jill got down on her knees and held him. She sobbed and kissed him all over his face. "You can't die, Dave, You're an aeronaut." 

David smiled and then coughed. "I wish that were true, Jill." 

Dawn was still on the ground next to David. Her head was under Teufel's knee. David looked at her. She had tears in her eyes and mouthed something. Teufel pulled her arms behind her back and handcuffed her, then took his knee off her head. He sat down on the ground next to her as she lay on her stomach. Bending down to her ear he said, "Dawn. Darlin'... You were right." Dawn's eyes turned to his. "Baby... I AM the devil." He smiled and looked up at David who couldn't believe his ears. 

Just then a light appeared about fifty feet above the crowd and moved over toward where David was. It scintillated and spun, casting colors through the air like bits of crystal. It's center was golden like a morning sunrise. When it arrived above David, a being appeared on either side of it. They reached out at the same time and touched each other's fingertips. The light turned golden, with one violet ray tracing a circle around David and Jill. 

The crowd stood silently, watching and waiting. The beings slowly slipped down through the air toward the kneeling couple.

"Jill..." David spoke and coughed, "I have to go."

Jill looked up and then held him tighter. "Don't leave! Don't leave now. We're just getting started. Please!"

The beings gently touched down on either side of David and Jill. They were thin, tall. They looked female but their bodies were genderless. They had beautiful blue eyes. Their faces were like girls. One of them turned to Teufel. He laughed. "Not again!?" 

His smiled was short lived. With a great force he was jolted up about six feet off the ground. It was so fast that both his shoes and his gun fell to the ground. Suspended there, a lattice of green light began to form around him. "NO!!!" he screamed louder and deeper than any human. Soon the green sphere of interlocking light was complete. Inside it David, Jill and Dawn saw Teufel writhing and swearing.

Slowly emerging into view from around this prison sphere, five large beings held on to it tightly. They looked at the two smaller beings next to David and Jill, who nodded their heads and instantly the prison sphere, with its five celestial guards and one prisoner, vanished from sight.

Jill held David tightly again and buried her face in his neck. He said, "They are here to save me, Jill." Her warm tears ran down his shoulder. She felt him rise. She got to her feet and stepped back. His arms were out to his sides with his back arched, making him look like he was taking an upside down swan dive. He was unconscious but seemed to be talking to someone; his lips were moving. The beings joined hands around his waist. He began to glow slightly, like the beings themselves. The blood on his shirt faded away. Then he woke up and raised his head. 

In the crowd no one moved. They were captivated. He continued to rise in a cone of violet light and in the embrace of these two gentle beings. When he was about ten feet below the shining light, the beings released him and he floated there between them, facing the thousands below. And he began to speak...

"I have been told that I am not going to die." The crowd cheered. "But I can not live here anymore. Apparently I was born able to develop this skill--everyone is. But I feel the need to actually show you, so that you might know for sure that it is possible. We have reached a new level of evolutionary human development; one that allows the mind greater control over matter, when the mind is focused, and the intentions are pure." He saw Eric get up far below him, apparently healed now, and walk over to Dawn. He took the handcuffs off her wrists and helped her to her feet. Joyce walked over to Dawn and took her other hand. They were both crying. Jill also made her way to them and the three joined hands.

David continued... "All I wanted was to show you what you could do if you truly knew it was possible. Many of you automatically tried to turn it, first, into a new religion, and then into a spectacle. It's not your fault. we were trained to behave in this way. I think we have a long way to go yet before the sky will be filled with aeronauts. But you will see more like me. Anything positive is possible now in this regard. But those who desire this power in order to take advantage of other people will be frustrated, because it can only be achieved by a person who is motivated by helping others.

"I dreamed it. So do many of you when you find yourselves flying, by will alone, in your dreams. I think that if you take the uncomfortable - but rational - step forward, by choosing to do what is right--by your own belief system, you are uncovering the tools that will eventually liberate you. The confines of our dreams and wishes can be dismantled, and our imagination can be loosed upon the world. I am proof of that, right before your eyes.

"If seeing is believing, surely you will foster the belief in what you've seen on this very night, and try to achieve the same thing. You CAN do it. You can! I'm no better than you in any sense, and am probably a little worse than most. But even I could do this when I discovered the two tools: a genuine belief that I could do it and that I really desired to teach others how to do it." The crowd clapped respectfully. "I will see you all again soon enough. Take care of each other. Jill, I love you." 

With that, the two beings joined him again. They all rose together under the sparkling orb until they were high enough to be seen from all over the city, and situated directly above Back Cove. Nearly every resident of Portland was on their roofs, packing the streets, gathered together around the cove on Baxter Boulevard, on the bridges, and even in the harbor boats were honking their horns.

The light turned intensely pink, then blue. It illuminated all below it like a small but powerful sun. It jumped up another hundred feet and stopped. The beings beside David moved outward from him dragging what seemed to be a translucent, expanding cylinder of some kind.

David waited there, not knowing what was going to happen. He knew he was going to another level, one that would not allow a material body, but that he would not lose consciousness.

The light then turned blindingly golden-white. It was so bright that the sky above Portland turned daylight blue and the stars disappeared behind that sky. The brilliant light began to drop slowly toward David. With a tremendous splash of light it touched him and the burst of energy released by that touch blasted against the shields of the beings who held it in place. Even then, a doughnut shaped cloud of light and smoke rippled out, passing through the shields, onward and outward across the mountains in the west, up the coast to the north, over the Atlantic in the east, and into New Hampshire to the south. He was gone. The matter of his body had transformed entirely into energy.

The two beings faded from view as the blue sky quickly transitioned to orange, then deep red, purple and finally... the world below was washed over again by the dark curtain of night. And, the stars shone brightly. History had been made.

The first aeronaut had been born, lived....... but never had to die.

____________________________________

NOTE: There is an alternate end to this story.