Beyond the Big Bang

   Like many companies from various countries as well as some from government agencies like NASA,  Naturex had a base on Mars.  Just Mars unlike others who also had locations on the moon, digging for all the natural resources they could find.
   Part of Naturex's mission had more to do with finding ways to improve of lidfe, trying to develop new methods to produce and preserve food.
   But the big part of their mission was to explore and maybe find another planet similar to earth in the big and ever expanding universe.
   Big John, so named because of his six foot two hundred and fifty pounds frame was at ground control  on Mars with his eyes on his huge screen and computers.  Up to a point, he was the eyes of Nautilus II, the vessel which would carry the team away.  It looked like a double decker submarine with more hatches for possible additions like they do with the ISS.
   The top deck was for command command center at front, the communication area just behind, then a rest area, a small clinic, and  quarters for the crew.  In t eh lower deck, machinery ip front plus a few vehicles, two looking like thosed by Commander Cousteau to explore the bottom of the seas.  Inside, and connected to a hatch there was an enclosed lab area where specimens caught with a sort of Canada Arm could be dropped in a small box and brought inside for analysis.
   In order to bring them way beyond where ships had gone before they used a technology not yet approved by agencies.  The batteries were as small as a pocket book and yet were ten times more powerful than  a generator. And they were rechargeable.  Outside they also had the usual array of solar panels
   From his his desk, Big John looked at all the preparations and could not help but think of those Flat Earthers who denied all the evidence before their eyes. Or of all the people who, centuries ago thought that if you went too far you would   fall from the earth into nothingness.  Now it was their turn to try and see beyond the Big Bang.
When Zero plus One  came, Big John and friends watched Nautilus II go up verticallly, just as the Lunar Module of old, then kept their eyes on the monitors as it reached orbit.
   It would take an earthly month before they could really start exploring, the space in between having been mapped many times over,  It is on day thirty-five that strange light rays appeared on their screens.
And the sort of place the Flat Earthers would be glad to call their own..  A flat land, maybe  twenty miles around.
Captain devine asked for two volunteers who would use one of the mini explorers and have a close look, landing if possible..  Thus  the two chosen ones in their  tiny yellow submarines, their indicators showing that the air was of of quality, , no need t for spa ce suits or masks.   Theyt landed in a clearing, went out to stretch their legs and saw a beautiful lady, long curly red hair to her shoulders and quite naked riding a white horse.
''Hello, strangers, my name is Eva.  And you are?''
''I am Joseph, with my friend  Mary.  Wed are from NautilusII.  Where are we, if I may ask?''
   ""When you crossed our radar line,  you entered Heaven,  a most quiet place created by my Grandfather.  You can't stay long ortherwise this near-death experience will  turn into a permanent one''.
   ''Jesus!'' mumbled Joseph, ''how much time do we have?''
''Enough time to get back on board and go.  We will welcome your souls in a bout sixty years.  Then of course you'll be able to join our horse riding academy, added after a clown found the place so boring he tried to shoot himself in the head, but only confettis came out.  We sent him to purgatory''.
   They were still in a daze as they rejoined Nautilus II and after the obligatory seclusion for an hour, they had a meeting with captain Devine.  He could hardly believe their tale, considering that Joseph and  Mary had difficulty at the moment to distinguish between appearances and reality.
''A niece from God, you sa?  Are you sure it was a white horse and not a blue one or a pink one?  I think you need a rest.  A full day should suffice.  Dismissed'' said the captain,  hoping that if the place was Heaven, they would not come across either purgatory or hell, Dante's work being scary enough.   Though he went about his business as usual, his world was shaken....and that of his crew as well.  He was not a Believer and this shook him.  He was a Saint Thomas who now had a crack in his shield.  Heaven was not on their screen, so it did not exist.  Joseph and mary just had a bad dream.
   It was day forty and the screens showed  the universe beyond as only expanding.  They were almost half way in their mission which was to last one hundred days and they were to come back by a different route. it was then that the instruments showed  the temperature rising and they saw the flat surface aheas.    This time the captain sent Paul Deveau and Christian ''Carpe Diem'' De Sanctis to explore.   They were made welcome by a  lady all dressed in black who introduced herself as Belle Z. Butt  . they were also advised not to spend more time than two hours otrtherwise there would be hell to pay as they would be her prisoners.
   They were also advised not to go near the pit -  a bottomless one where one pf her favorite eternal guests was a former pope whose residence was a brothel where everything was acceptable including bestiality.  God never forgave him.     Paul and Christian had no desire to explore     more, had heard enough and went back to Nautilus II,  Captain Devine almost had a heart attack.  A sudden change of view. He felt like Paul of the bibel on his way to Damascus.  He would start going to church.
   It was on day 45 that both Big John on the ground and Mary Magdelene with eyes on her screens caught the  signal.   New hope.    As they senses the earthlike atmosphere.   There was  also a small airfield.  Contact with the control tower went smoothly and there was  a reception group consisting of   a four star general and two aids.
   ''Welcome to Earth Two'' said the general whose named was Sal Ami,  ''It is not every day that we have guests''.  Captain Devine noticed their somewhat robotic way of walking but said nothing.  
   The entire crew, except a few necessary to keep the ship ready to go and left behind  were taken to a  huge lab,   The general reminded them that way back when on earth they had inflatable dolls for...solitary pleasures.   These became more human like after years of progress..   Then, like himself, came robotic men.   One day, rather like the Tesla mannequin,  five were put in a capsule  (which was visible as a monument outside) and sent in orbit.  But somewhere along the way ground control lost them and they  ended up on Earth Two,  which was full of respources.  But, added the general ''we can't produce babies'.....so in order for you to get back to your ship, you  will have to leave  a couple in reproducing age behind.  We must see how it works,''
   Prisoners.
   Until Joseph and Mary came forward.        Mary, already pregnant and due to have a  baby towrds the end of December.   Tearful goodbyes and then back to the ship to explore further and farther away.
   It is as they approached the area of a planet which they later dubbed Gobble One that they saw the beasts on their screens.  As they'd all seen Jurassic Park, they  had no intentions  of landng there.  But then they saw a group of ten people  - men and women  - waving white flags from the top of a hill.  Just like any decent rescue ship , Nautilus II could lower a basket from one hatchet and bring back three people at once.  Things went well until there remained four people on the hill and that's when   one, then two, then three pterodactyls flew menacingly near.  Too near as the captain decided to bring in the last four in the basket and shoot down the flying monsters.
   Once they were all in the ship and away from Gobble One they let the grateful people have a bit of R&R, rest and recuperation along with showers....they smelled of dinosaur dung.  New clothes and decent food, after which  they were asked how they got there in the first place.  '' We were all in purgatory'', said Adam the leader of the group.  '"Naturally it shows on no maps and no radars.  Because of our skills as mechanics, electricians etc, we worked in the machine shop.  The purgatory is not a bad place,.  It even has a bar and grill, a hotel casino with special rooms, wink wink.  But they are testing you. Are you a good candidate for Heaven ( aboring place, we're told) or hell.  Considering some of our backgrounds, hell was a strong possibility.  So we built a small  craft in secrecy...and then took off in the wrong direction.''
   Soon after, Nautilus II had to return towards home base, their resources stretched to the limits.  Further explorations would have to wait for the next mission.  No need to say that they all wished to eventually get back and rescue Joseph,  Mary and their child.