Rebirth Page 49

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  On Earth, the Church of the Universe was in a state of unrivalled excitement. The news had just come through about the finding of their first space colony; it was safe in the depths of space, and near to their latest colony planet, Persephone. The first thought that entered Archbishop Donald Forest`s mind was that he would have to get in contact with the space vessel that had found them, the Orion Defender. A starship from another of their colony worlds, how right it was for their oldest colony world to be found by a spacecraft from one of their worlds, and while it was escorting a colony starship to their newest colony world. Archbishop Forest hurried through the beautifully decorated rooms of his large imposing temple to the communications centre. In here messages could be sent to all of their temples, whether on Earth or out in the depths of eternal space. Inside the large room, three full time staff operated the sophisticated communications console in one of three shifts; the temple was never closed. The woman in charge of the day shift turned around when she heard someone enter the room, and on seeing the Archbishop, she jumped up.

  "Your Grace, what can I do for you?" Shirley Rogers asked. She was a devoted member of the church and was devoted to the Archbishop; his wish was always her command.

  "I want to send a message to the space craft, the Orion Defender, the starship which found our first colony world Genesis. Ask them to pass on our greetings to our long lost brethren on the planet of Genesis, tell them that we are dispatching a ship from Earth that will depart in eighteen hours` time. Please ask them to forward a list of any requirements that the colony may require. They should endeavour to let us have it in good time so that it can be included. Also tell them that we are sending on the ship a new communications centre so that they will be able to communicate with all of the other temples in the galaxy."

  "Right away you`re Grace." Shirley turned about and immediately got down to typing the message out onto the computer keyboard in front of her that would then send the message across the depths of space to a starship orbiting a planet in the far of spiral arm of Perseus.