Allman awoke with a start. The sheets were drenched with sweat. His body was rapidly adjusting to its new surroundings, evolving becoming more adapted to face life in this once familiar yet so very different atmosphere. He had the urge to brush his teeth.
Sitting up, he glanced by the bed. No nightstand, no lamp, no toothbrush. He floated up from the bed and pushed himself to the next room over. The wall-sized viewscreen showed the scene outside the Danegeld, as if it were a giant windshield. A small planet could be seen in the lower left hand quadrant of the screen. He reached for the control panel and rotated the controls back. A time-lapse set of pictures from the viewscreen showed Allman the progress of the Danegeld over the last several hours while he slept. The planet wobbled closer and then further away. Never quite leaving the field of view, yet coming dangerously close. A week before Allman had awakened to find a darkened ship that had clearly gone off course. Instinctively he knew that his mission was to reach a planet, and yet none were in sight. The navigational system roared back into life and the world appeared near the middle of the left side of the viewscreen. Allman suspected that he had no control over the ship, but the controls that would appear gave him the illusion of control. Where Allman thought he was headed was where the ship wanted to go. His interactions with the control panel only reinforced his uselessness in the matter. The Danegeld had its own mission, it would not, could not, bend to the will of the Dane. He was merely along for the ride, wherever that might take him.
Today that was a small planet, circling the first star mankind had ever found with evidence of another planet. The information he would return to earth would justify his lonely solitude, eventually there would be interstellar travel and people would remember his name for all eternity, but first, he must get the ship to the right part of the globe.
Satisfied he had done all he could he turned his attention to the search for his toothbrush.
What is the trouble with travel? Is it the beginning, the middle, or the end? We all strive for the best, the best life we can get. The best after-life we can get. To be happy, or content, to have it easy, to make it good, to be comfortable wherever we are.
Earnestly all men have a chance. Any man can have an opportunity. Faith can sometimes be misdirected, but by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ the Adonai alone it is done.