Genesis Blind Chapter 4

Hearing the sound created by Voice of Heaven for the first time bewilders the three men: Doctor Jackson, Captain Adams, and Lance Baxter.

Adams pulls his gun, and aims everywhere around him in big sweeping arm movements. No target becomes visible.

"What was that?" asks Jackson to the others.

A booming, but soft melodic voice fills the space around them. The directionality of the sound is indistinguishable.

Voice of Heaven says, "That was the answer to the question, 'So, are we ever going to get any answers up here?' posed by Captain Richard Adams."

Voice of Heaven is able to perfectly mimic Adams's voice.

Baxter asks the other two men, "Does anyone else hear that?"

In booms Voice of Heaven with the answer, "Yes, both Captain Adams and Doctor Jackson. Thank you for your question. Brought to you by heaven. Heaven: where all your questions are answered, and dreams come true."

The three men stand in silence for some time.

Baxter erupts, "So that's it then. We're dead. I knew it. I never even said goodbye to anyone. Oh God, there's nobody left to feed my goldfish!"

Adams slaps Baxter across the face, and shouts, "Get ahold of yourself, man!"

Baxter regains his composure, and says, "Thanks, you're right. We can't be dead."

Adams smirks, "No, we're probably dead."

Jackson interjects, "We're not dead."

"But a soft melodic voice out of nowhere just told us we were," refutes Adams.

"Incorrect. It told us we were in Heaven. It never said anything about us being dead," Jackson starts, "Besides, we don't have to believe it."

Adams laughs, "You're suggesting the voice is lying to us."

Jackson shakes his head, "I don't know what it's doing."

Jackson turns his head upwards, and shouts, "Voice, are you still there?"

A SCREEN pops up out of thin air. On the screen is the face of a beautiful woman. She is the physical representation of Voice of Heaven.

Voice of Heaven speaks, "Of course."

Jackson asks the screen, "Who are you?"

Voice of Heaven responds, "I am The Voice of Heaven. Heaven, copyright. Where all your questions are answered--"

Jackson cuts in, "And dreams come true. We heard you the first time."

Silence.

Adams asks Voice of Heaven, "Are we dead?"

Voice of Heaven responds, "No, the times of death for Richard Adams, Conrad Jackson, and Lance Baxter are--"

On the screen, we see images of funerals and tombstones. Baxter panics. He shuts his eyes, and plugs his ears. He whispers to himself, "La, la, la..."

Jackson cuts off Voice of Heaven again, "No, please, no. No times of death."

There is another beat of silence.

Jackson pipes back up, "How did we get here?"

Voice of Heaven says, "You and your crew arrived here via Space Shuttle Reprisal."

On the screen we see images of the shuttle, schematics, crew. A brilliant fireball shoots out from the booster rockets, past the platform as the shuttle takes off.

Voice of Heaven continues, "A marvel in modern day space travel and aeronautical engineering. Piloted by the fearless Richard Adams, the shuttle launched July 16th--"

Jackson once again interrupts the Voice, "Okay yes, but what do you mean heaven? What is our position? Where are we in relation to Houston, Texas?"

"Heaven is located just beyond the Earth's mesosphere. Travel time from the surface of the planet using your acceleration and velocity is approximately 126 seconds,” says the Voice.

Adams laughs, "You actually believe this."

Jackson nods, "We crashed our spaceship into heaven."

Baxter says, "So we're not dead, but we are in heaven. I thought you had to be dead to get into heaven."

“Apparently not,” Jackson replies wryly.