Out of Time - Encounter at Mid-day by Derek P. Blake - HTML preview

Tuesday 4th  April, 2034.

The day started just like any other, except for two things, for the Jewish religious community, the day was the start of the Passover Festival; and around the Earth, Jews were heading toward their nearest community centre or local synagogue. The other unusual thing was that the temperature had risen to an unseasonable thirty-four degrees centigrade. The schools in the western world had closed for the Easter holiday and as the weather had unexpectedly cleared, families were heading to the beach, Disneyland, or other places of amusement. Others were still working but there was a good feeling in the air and there was the weekend to look forward to. In Jerusalem the tourists had increased in number by a factor of at lease two, and the streets were just a throng of moving bodies, like a procession of ants.

At the airport, it was the busiest day for years, and flights were arriving full of holiday-makers and pilgrims. At the arrivals control barrier there was a backlog of some forty minutes. Just before mid-day three airliners were on approach about ninety seconds separating them, with more joining the queue from four and five minutes out, but not yet on final approach. The Lufthansa flight from Munich landed at six minutes to twelve and as the German craft turned to clear the runway, Bravo-Lima-Gamma 241 from Brussels was starting final descent. As if by a gust of wind, on the stroke of twelve-hundred hours the aircraft veered off to the left and dipped its port wing. The co-pilot grabbed the yoke and started to wrestle the plane back to level flight, but over compensated and the aircraft now being too low, the right wing-tip first hit the approach light at the end of the runway and then the grassed area. The wing broke free but not before causing the plane to cartwheel onto the runway and burst into flames from the trail of aviation fuel, ignited by sparks from the metal grinding on the concrete. All three-hundred and fifty-one passengers and crew were lost, or so it seemed.

In the airport an English family were at the entry barrier, the official took their EU passports to stamp and scan, then stacked the small books, and looked up to hand them back. They were no where to be seen, the official rose from his seat to look for the family, and noticed some pockets of confusion and panic in the waiting passengers. One woman was screaming, another was weeping, one man was stood repeating the same phrase over and over, “She just disappeared, she just disappeared, she . . “ Then it dawned on the official that all the children were gone, there was not one child left in the arrivals lounge.

In the Old City the crowds thinned suddenly as nearly a third of the tourists disappeared in an instant, here too confusion and panic ensued with parents looking for children and spouses looking for their other halves. Just a few minutes later the JMRT compound on Cyprus was almost deserted other than Doctor Wade and one other member of staff. Wade would not notice anything was wrong, until he emerged for his evening meal. As the sun reached its zenith around the Earth people continued to disappear for the next twenty-four hours. The five o’clock news from the BBC reported the incident:

“Good afternoon, here is the five o'clock news. A state of emergency has been declared by both the new World Senate and the United Nations, in response to a world- wide incident where people seem to have been disappearing. The incident started at exactly mid-day today along the thirty-fifth line of longatude, twelve minutes East latitude, which falls exactly on Bethlehem and is close to Jerusalem. The line extends down to the Red Sea and into East Africa along which line thousands of disappearances have been reported. The USA is now bracing itself for the same incidents. Reports are coming in that queues have been forming outside of churches across the US. The Primate of North America, Michael Donahue, stated that we were facing the “long awaited Rapture” and advised all Christians to make their peace with their God. Two hours ago Colin Parks, the Primate of All Britain, stated that he felt that God had left certain people behind to care for those who accepted God in the years to come. The Arch Bishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverend Jonathan Benn, was unavailable for comment as he was on holiday in the Holy Land, no one having seen him since mid-day.”

“The newly installed World President, Rick Pickles told people not to panic as he was sure that the effect was in some-way connected with the strange colour of the sun and the unusually high temperatures that the world has experienced over the past few days. The British Home Secretary Henry Harden said that he agreed that we should not panic, but thought that it may yet turn out to be a stunt perpetrated by the Christians who have caused so many problems over the past few years. The BBC Directorate said that the disappearances had only marginally affected the BBC and the service will continue as scheduled. In Australia the leader of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Morrison together with the leader of some of the largest independent churches on the continent, made the following statement:”

“What the world is experiencing is quite obviously the prophesied Rapture of the faithful, we are asking all Christians to hold firm and not to panic, God knows who you are and knows your heart, we look forward to our encounter at mid-day.”

“That statement was received in audio only, through the old land lines, as solar activity is currently affecting satellite communication links. However, speaking for myself, it would seem that the warnings from the 'God Tapes' are accurate and that we are experiencing the Biblical Rapture, those of us who are left can only look to the future with trepidation as the Great Tribulation starts, here and now.”

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. [Matthew 24:29-31 ESV]