THE POWER OF

PRAYER
A SHORT SCIENCE FICTION STORY
BY
JOHN BAXTER

CHAPTER ONE - THE SUMMONS

Robert sat, as he usually did at this time of the day, in his small chair in the ante room of the
large meting hall. His job was to keep it clean and tidy for the many delegates who came from
far and wide, almost all points of the known universe, to discuss what they did. Robert, being
human, was treated as all humans were here. The lowest of the low.
He had never had any aspirations of becoming anything more than he already was, and he
was resigned to the fact that there would never be a chance of doing more, because, physically,
he couldnt do a lot of the things that the Great Council required of its members. He couldnt
use telepathy, or change shape and colour. He couldnt make himself look like a rock for 20
years, without moving, sending back the information about the developing civilisation he had
been sent to watch. Neither his brain, nor his body were capable of doing these simple, basic
things.
It had often puzzled him why, on that fateful day, the alien visitor who had rescued him
from the burning car in which his parents had died, all those years ago, should have even
bothered. They were not supposed to take anything from the worlds they visited, for fear of
eventual detection, but, to take a human! Unheard of. The Great Council of Planets had no
use for such a lowly messy animal. It ate things, fouled things, a point he was very often
reminded of. Other than that, Robert was quite happy. He was fed, clothed, and kept warm
He got to hear of some of the galactic gossip when the regional council finished their
sessions, and, he would listen, from a respectful distance of course, to the gossip and scandal
on a universal scale. He had long since had no fear of looking at the many, what we would
describe as hideous and frightening beings, who represented their many worlds, some of them
having to use special chambers to sit in when in session. One delegate in particular oozes a
sort of blue green slime, odourless, but sticky, inside the confines of his chamber, and one of
Roberts duties was to clean it all out. He was once reprimanded for making a comment while
cleaning it, forgetting that these chambers are all rigged to transmit thought into sound, and
vice versa, saying something in his thoughts about the council daring to call the humans
messy! Still, he got fed, and sort of looked after, wanting for nothing, without possibly the
companionship of another human, possibly female. The Great Council would have none of
this though. Humans they can tolerate, breeding humans! No, and no again!
He just carried on doing his small part in the giant scheme of things, cleaning the chambers
of the Regional Council, and the various little prep rooms for the delegates, making sure that
each had their own personal type of food and liquid too, and their requirements for their
unusual, to say the least, toilet habits. Robert didnt make any comments on these. He dare
not. Maybe the toilets had thought enhancement sensors too.
All went well, and, he was happy enough, until, one day, while the Regional Council was in
session, he was summoned to appear before them.
This was totally unheard of. This never, ever happened. Humans were too low to even be
discussed as a subject in this council meeting, let alone summoned to appear. Yes, their little
planet Earth did fall inside the administration boundaries of this council, and, yes, they had
monitored the development so far of the Human Race, but, other than that, it would be
hundreds, maybe thousands of years before they are allowed to even be considered for
membership.
Robert was sitting in his chair, as normal, when the two bailiffs arrived at his little
storeroom, and told him he was required to attend the council chamber, at once, and they
were to escort him, with all possible speed, to the big entrance doors of the chambers.
Normally he wouldnt be bothered about entering the place, after all he polishes the chambers
almost daily, but this time it was different, the full Council was in session and were all in there,
waiting for HIM. What had he, or the Human Race done now?
The doors opened silently, as if by magic, and Robert entered the chamber. The place was
silent, as most of the discussions were in telepathy.

The chairman spoke. Robert, we are to send you to the Great Council immediately. They
have need of you. The room erupted in sound.

CHAPTER TWO
Robert was taken aback, standing there before his peers. Why on earth would the Great
Council want or need him. This did not look good.
The chairman continued, We are to place you on an immediate fast transport, leaving
within the next few minutes, and you will appear before the Council in about two hours from
now, when they reconvene. I can tell you no more.. He carried on his telepathic
conversations with the other council members, as they nodded their approval one by one.
A very bewildered Robert was led from the chamber, and escorted by two of the chamber
guards along a route hed walked many times, along to the bays of the space docks. The
difference was, normally he just walked along, gazing at the movement of the alien passengers
coming onto and leaving the planet, never thinking that one day, it would be him. The guards
made sure that this time they were almost at a run. It had to be something really, really
important to make the regional council jump so quickly into action.
As he hurried along the walkways, he looked around, wondering if hed ever see this only
home he had known, ever again.
There was a flurry of activity going on in one of the bays, with bodies of workers running
about all over the space dock, carrying this and that, making the gleaming creation of a ship
worthy of flight, at super high speed.
It seemed like only seconds ago, Robert had left the council chambers, and here he was,
almost running up the entrance ramp of the ship, none of the usual checks being made on
departing passengers being made this time, and finally occupying one of the five seats on the
whole craft.
As he took time to draw his breath, he scanned for the other passengers on this journey.
Apart from two Supreme Council guards, who were already on the craft when Robert arrived,
there was no-one. They had this very expensive craft all to themselves.
Hello, Robert spoke to the guards. They never flinched, and totally ignored him. These
were not telepaths, and used spoken languages, but they still refused to reply.
Do you know where Im going, and why?, he asked again, and again the same silence.
This has to be something not only big, but a big secret too.
An awful thought passed through his head, as the door sealed, and the craft turned for
takeoff. Suppose some being at the other end could only survive with some of Roberts body
parts, and, after all, the human was totally expendable. He could be on his way to his death.
With this thought in the back of his mind, he decided that he would try to enjoy his first, and
possibly last trip into space since his abduction, many years before.
The vehicle started to rise from the ground, silently, hovering for a moment or two, as if to
get its bearings. Robert knew it was on autopilot anyway, and would be waiting for
permission to take off into the sky. What did come as a shock was the rate of ascent. Luckily
the antigravity compensators were working so they were not crushed by the G force, it just
made you feel sick. Then the gravity was phased back in as the natural gravity from the planet
waned. They called this comfortable.
Once clear of the solar system, though this one had two in tandem, the major speed drive
was activated. Robert had heard its name, but couldnt even pronounce it, he just called it
helicoil because thats what it sounded like, only a lot more guttural.
Thats when the stars went out, or there was no light from them reaching the observation
windows ahead of their seats. They were going faster than light, so the starlight couldnt catch
them up. Strange lights, which were really a residual radiation could be seen in its place.
Robert just shook his head. He could never get his head around this stuff.

As there was nothing to see out of the windows, he turned his attention to the inside of this
vehicle. It seemed to have every up to date convenience, and the softest fabrics on the chairs
and seats, though not all of these were seat shaped, as none of the normal passengers remotely
resembled a human. His two partners for this part of the journey wore the uniform, for want
of a better word, of the Supreme Council Guard, and one of them had rank bands visible on
the collar. These were no fools, so he gave up the idea of baiting them to make the journey go
quicker. He slid back in the seat, which automatically adjusted to his shape, and thought about
his predicament. He had no answers because he didnt know the questions.
It wasnt long before a slight change in direction and a feeling of his cheeks trying to get
ahead of his face told him they were nearing their destination, and his as yet unknown fate.
The landing was so gentle, it was impossible to detect, and it came as a bit of a shock to
Robert when the doorway unsealed, and the two guards motioned him to stand up. He did so
with a little apprehension, and walked to the door.
The sight that met his eyes as he exited the craft was unlike anything he had seen before.
The ramps from the various crafts standing in the docks all seemed to converge on a large
circular pathway, surrounded by small bushes, and what looked like lawns.
The sky was a more light green than blue, but the whole ground area was a mass of colour
from the various plants around the borders. Gardeners trimmed, and snipped here and there,
and other people swept and cleaned and tidied up in front of his eyes. They did his job, but
they were not human. He started to walk. The guard on the left held him back, just as a hover
transporter pulled up alongside them. They boarded.
Robert had seen wonders where he lived but this, it was, heavenly. He could see it all, he
could hear it all, he could even smell and taste it all, but he could not absorb it all. Now he
knew what they meant when they said the human mind was too small. He could only sit in
wonder as the crystals on the ends of poles flashed the rainbow colours in one direction, and
white in the other. He could tell you the strength of the solution you would need to remove a
certain mark, but how a prism worked? No.
The transport halted, and Robert was lead by another two guards into a small room at the
back of what looked like an enormous building. His eyes soon got use to the more subtle
lighting within, something that was also used in his council chambers, so a not to dazzle some
of the delegates within. He waited. The guards left. He was alone.
He was totally alone, in the preparation chamber of the Supreme Council of the known
Universe. He was to appear before them, soon. He had to take a couple of deep breaths to
calm himself down , and focus on what is about to happen.
A figure entered the room wearing a full robe of a dark red colour, and carrying one similar.
He outstretched what should be his arms to give the robe to Robert. A voice in his head told
him to wear the robe as some of the delegates can only see red, and to stand on the central
star in the centre of the floor. The same voice told him not to speak until he was asked to do
so, and definitely no questions. Any details would be sorted out by the administrators after the
meeting. The hooded figure departed the same way as it came in.
The large door in the end wall opened, and Robert entered the chamber, which was in
almost total darkness, his own shadow cast over the length of the circular floor, reaching to
the central star. As he had been instructed to do he walked over to it, and stood on it,
awaiting his fate. He now stood before his senior peers.

CHAPTER THREE
He could see nothing, and couldnt really hear anything from where he stood. A single
spotlight, from a great height lit up the star on which he stood. Here we go, he thought.
The outer circle from where he stood started to illuminate, and, as the light became stronger
it also went higher, until Robert could see he was in the centre of a multi tiered amphitheatre,
where each delegate had his own box, styled to suit the being, and lit accordingly, and the

boxes rising to a great height, and completely surrounding him. While Robert could hear
nothing, he knew that the telepathic conversations would be ringing around this huge building.
He lowered his head, he now feared the worst. This was the end.
A quiet, almost gentle voice spoke to him, seemingly from nowhere, which asked,
Are you Robert the human, of the planet Earth?
Robert raised his head, almost being proud of being from Earth, and would not be
intimidated at possibly his last chance to admit it.
I am, he said in a loud, proud voice, that echoed inside the huge chamber.
Then Robert, we here at the Supreme Council have a job for you that only you, as a
human, can do. Will you accept the challenge?
Robert thought for a moment. They wanted me, to do a very important job for them, that
they cannot do themselves. This could be interesting.
I do, he replied, as would be said in the ritualistic way of these meetings.
Then, said the voice,I will tell you the story, then we will tell you what you must do.
The voice continued.
You have been brought here to be asked if you will do the work of the council because, as
the human race has no representative on the council, or will have for many centuries, we
cannot, and will not, force a lesser being to do our will without consent. We therefore must
ask you directly if you will help the council to solve a problem that has recently arisen.
Roberts curiosity was really starting to take effect now. They cant force me to help, but
would like me to! I am but an earthworm compared to them. This should be very interesting.
As you know, the voice continued, Many of our member races are telepaths, some of
which possess a very highly tuned ability to be able to communicate over vast distances
Robert nodded, he did indeed know of this race.
So, the voice carried on, When those lines of communication are compromised, and
their thoughts are being jammed, well, they are not very happy, so seek the help of the
Supreme Council.
Robert was starting to get a little confused, and broke the rules, saying, But, excuse me for
my interruption, but what can I, a mere human, do to help. We are not telepaths.
The voice softened a little. We know this, but it is the humans, or one human in particular
who is causing all of this, and, we think you could be of great assistance to us.
Robert was finding this difficult. Was he missing something?
The voice spoke again, In your chamber, where you will stay as our guest, you will find a
complete briefing as to this mission. Please read it, and give us your decision tomorrow.
The auditorium lights faded, the door opened, and Robert left the chamber.
This time the guards were to take him to his room, which turned out to be a luxury suit, to
look at this mission thing. It still nagged him though. Why me?

CHAPTER FOUR
Robert sat, having eaten for the first time in a long time, and relaxed in the comfort of the
suite. He could clean himself, wash himself, and feel, well, human again.
The portfolio that he was to read lay tantalising, on the coffee table, though these people
used tables, but didnt use coffee. No, he thought, Ill look after Ive got myself settled.
After about half an hour of trying to do nothing, which he found very difficult, he thought to
himself that it was time to open this pandoras box, to see what this was all about. Maybe the
first chapter or two.
He sat on the sofa, picked up the portfolio, opened it, and started to read the contents. In
this highly advanced civilisation, with data cubes, hologram reinactments, and various other
tools, the Supreme Council had decided to use what was familiar to Robert, and therefore, not

spook him completely. He would be the spook, but he didnt know that yet.
The first two pages explained, and apologised for the rushed way he had been brought to
the Council, and that all of the delegates really wished him well.
It was the next few pages that really told the story.
In the nether regions of Alpha Centauri, there resides a race of telepaths, who, can
communicate over vast tracts of space, by telepathy.
Their commerce depends on it, their education system need it, and their very being relies on
it. Its like all of your television, radio, internet, books, and speech all rolled into one.
Everything they do uses this. So, when something unexpected jams up the works, it almost
cripples their very fabric. What makes it worse is that they cannot stop it, or block it, because
it is non telepathic in its origin. Where is its origin? Earth.
The telepaths from the Alpha region asked the Supreme Council to send a Sheidal, which is
a shape changer, to this backward planet, to see if they could pinpoint the source of this
telepathic signal, a task which was almost done. The Sheidal was confronted by a number of
hostile humans, as he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, got hit, momentarily lost
consciousness, reverted to natural state, frightened the life out of the locals, and had to invent
some hallucination theory to survive. Something about the local police using some new gas to
make you see things. This made not just the mission difficult, but also how to execute it.
The Sheidal had found out where this jamming was coming from, but could not intervene.
It appears that, in a house, in a district, on Earth, a little girl was lying in bed, dying from
some bone degenerative cancer. Her mother, sat, at her side, all day and all night, praying for
a miracle to happen. She prayed a lot harder than normal people prayed, she prayed as hard as
she could, so that God would hear. He didnt, but the Centauris did.
While the Supreme Council made it clear never to interfere with developing races, pressure
was being brought from the Centauri people that this block had to stop, and stop now.
There were two ways open to debate. A sheidal would infiltrate, the little girl would die, the
telepathic messages would stop, and everybody would be happy.
The second way was to cure the girl, the technology was available, but how to deliver it
would be a nightmare. Or better still, a dream. Or even better, a miracle.
The Great Council had decided that, in order to solve the problems of the Centauri, that
little girl would be cured, and, as the mother prayed for an angel of mercy, then that is what
she would get. An angel. This angel would be packed with 93rd century technology, this angel
would cure the girl. This angel was called Robert.

CHAPTER FIVE
Robert had never thought of himself as an angel, in fact, hed never thought of himself as
anything other than lucky to be alive. How can I heal, Im a human!! His mind raced, in
nicest possible way, because he knew he could trust these beings, and, if they had decided on a
way, then, that would be the way. They knew what had to be done.
Robert read on.
He was to be taken to Earth, where, he would appear in the little girls bedroom, as a
glowing angel. Many little tricks were to be used to create the impression. Religion would
cover the seams. He would place the regenerative device on the back of the girl, anywhere
near any part of the spine, and let it cycle for about 8 minutes. This period was crucial for the
success of the operation, then leave. Immediately. No conversations, no words, no change of
expression, just leave.
The regenerative device that he was to carry was the real technological wonder. Small,
cylindrical, and silver , with a bubble glass in the centre, rather like a small spirit level and
could easily be passed off as one, if things went wrong. This was to be strapped to his body.
He was also to wear a special suit, which would make him glow, all golden, and create the

illusion that he was at least 12 inches off the ground. This suit had its own impressive built in
lighting effects, lighting a little from below, so it was difficult for anyone to recognise his face,
should there be any problems. So far, so good.
From there, job done, home for tea. Piece of cake.
He felt much better. He knew what was required of him, and he knew he could pull it off.
That night Robert slept like a baby.

CHAPTER SIX
Those large doors to the chamber opened to admit Robert, only this time he was alone. No
guards, no escorts. He was ready.
That morning, he had awoken to the sound of, well, nothing. He was used to the banging
and clattering of the mornings in his serving quarters back on his own planet, and, it is possibly
the lack of the noise that woke him so early.
Over a good breakfast, he picked up the papers hed been given what seemed a lifetime ago,
for this quest again, reading it objectively first time, and then, read them constructively the
second, so he could see the pros and cons, with a clear head. He had to make a decision that
day, which was not an easy one at face value, but, he stuck with it for a while. By the time he
was due at the meeting, he not only knew his answer, but why too.
The lighting was exactly as it had been the first time, and Robert walked, this time with
purpose in his step, to the centre star, and awaited the voice. It boomed,
Robert, are you willing to take on this quest to help the Great Council?
Robert turned to where he thought the voice was coming from and replied,
No
There was a sudden flurry of activity around the room at this point, no doubt most of it
telepathically. Robert continued,
Not for the reasons you have stated
The voice, with curiosity in the question asked,
What do you mean?
Robert replied, with possibly the first thread of confidence in his body for years,
I will undertake this quest, but not to make the Centauri happy, or to help the council out
of a very unusual problem. I do it to help two members of my race, my lowly suppressed race
of humans. With my help, one will survive, and one will get her daughter back.
There was a strange sort of sound, a mixture of squeaks, clicks, grunts, and rumbles.
Now Ive done it! Robert thought.
It took quite a few seconds before the voice returned to speak. It began,
Robert, the whole of the Great Council agree that, while you are happy to undertake this
quest, and help us, your reason for doing so is original.
It continued,
We, on the Council, are perhaps a little suprised at this reason, since your race tend to
make war continually, and have done for eons,
However, we all agree that the quest goes ahead. To be finalised in one hour
The doors to the chamber slid silently open, signalling Robert to leave, something he had
wanted to do for quite a while, and, he turned smartly and exited the chamber with head held
high. Today, he had been the voice of the whole human race.

CHAPTER SEVEN

His room seemed strangely different as he prepared himself for this task he had been set.
The clothing he was to wear looked quite heavy and a little bulky, but, after he had put it on, it
was extremely light. It had other strange attributes too. As he used his thoughts, the gown
glowed brighter, and by using his mind he could vary the intensity of the glow. This was his
practice time, and he was making the most of being allowed to use this technology. In a way
he was helping another human being, so he didnt really mind, but he was not going to roll
over for the Council.
His thoughts were interrupted by the door alarm, and the entry of four guards from the
Council, arriving to escort him to the transport. He would prove his worth.
As they walked to the docking ports, he, surrounded by the guards, became a bit of a focal
point for the regular inhabitants who would assume that a human must be being arrested, as
they served little useful purpose on this world. If only they knew.
The group arrived at the airlock rings, and Robert proceeded to walk along the corridor to
the airlock. The guards did not follow. The door rolled open, and he entered the first chamber,
looking around for others who were to go with him. There were none. He was alone. The
door rolled shut, sealing the tube to the main Council habitat. Even though this planet had an
atmosphere at about the same pressure as all of the other inhabited ones, these airlock rings
were more for infection control that air pressure, something that could still cause the Great
Council problems should some outland disease arrive here. Robert didnt worry too much
about these things as humans were way too far below the others on the evolutionary scale to
carry any infections which may infect the Council, or its many smaller administration planets
around this area of space. Perhaps this could be to the human advantage some day. Biological
Neutrality. Sounds good. Not helping now though.
Some strange looking being was strapping Robert to what could only loosly be described as
a chair, and inserting wires and tubes into the side walls of this seat. They did not physically
contact him in any way, but could monitor or even control his life force should it become
necessary at any point in the mission. Only then did he notice his travelling companions.
Sheidals. Two of them. They would shape-change to near human form to resemble what would
be taken as Ancient Roman in appearance, and monitor the actual quest in a sort of hazy form
to confuse any close scrutiny. Only Robert would appear real, hence the use of a real human.
This was all of the information he had or was given about any other being present at the actual
operation. The Sheidals were their usual quiet selves, they were telepathic, so why speak to
Robert. The doors were sealed, and the flight plan sorted by some unseen Captain and crew,
then, woosh, all of us on our way.
The journey itself, though halfway across the galaxy, seemed to be a very short ride indeed,
the need for a rapid moving ship being high on the priory list. It also had to be very easy for
the ship to hide in the shadow of the planets around the Sun, totally avoiding detection, then
getting into a geo-stationary orbit and holding that position totally undetected, and then, after
the job was done, get out of the solar system before any of Earths primitive electronics
detected anything at all. Not an easy feat, but this captain was supposed to be the best.
The ship approached Earth and got into orbit as planned. No alarms had been triggered, so
now, it was up to Robert and the two Sheidals to complete the mission. The sitefinder located
the exact location of the dwelling they were to go to, and the two Sheidals confirmed that they
could hear the thought emmisions from the dwelling in question. It was now all systems go.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Doris Evans knelt, as she had done for the last six months, at the side of her bed at first, and
lately that of her son, and prayed to God, angrily, for His Divine Intervention. It was really

nothing to ask she had said, for the life she had had to endure. Her husband, now deceased,
had been a lot older than her, and in the latter years of his life had given her a special gift, a
son, a loving human being whom she idolised. He was her world, he was her everything.
She had remained a spinster most of her life, caring for her elderly, and very religious mother
almost exclusively, till she had died at the age of seventy six. Now, Doris loved her son with
all of her heart, and when he was diagnosed with a cancer of the spine, the news almost killed
her. Slowly, the body of her boy was being eaten away by this thing, this nasty thing that
would eventually take him away from her. The only thing she had left to live for, soon to be
taken away from her. Gone. She was angry, very angry. Her mother had said something about
having faith, and it is Gods way, and all the purile excuses that mankind had made up to ease a
burdon, and shift the blame. Doris wasnt having any of that. She was challenging this God,
she was shouting at him to stop the torment, and save her son. No-one answered. The Divine
never do. Her son had got steadily worse, now bedridden, and the doctors just shrugged their
shoulders when asked how long the boy had left to live. Doris, who had lived her life giving
her all to others, finds that now in her time of need, she was receiving nothing but words.
Tonight she was really going to tell God what a total shithouse he was, and what a waste of
time too.
She knelt, as she had done for the last six weeks, at the side of her sons bed, and started to
tell God what she thought of Him, when something slowly seemed to start to happen.
The wall opposite her as she looked up from her prayers seemed to go out of focus, and a
light started to glow at the other side of the bed, gradually getting brighter, and getting bigger
from the centre. She feared that God had heard her damning Him, and was coming to put her
back in line. She looked up, into the shining face of an Angel, dressed from head to toe in
white and floating above the floor. The Angel looked straight at her and smiled. She lowered
her head in fear and reverance. She did not see Robert take out the device, turn it on, and
place the small item on the spine of her son, watching it turn red, as the cycle began. She did
not see the two Sheidals creating this mural background to Robert to make him appear in the
sky, almost angelic. She was totally afraid. Had her mother been right all along? Respect God,
or else, fire and damnation! She looked up. Everything seemed to stand still. The Angel just
hovered, smiling.
Robert was hovering, and smiling, as he had been instructed to do, with his cloak lights on,
waiting for the cellular reconstructer to finish its work when he saw Doris look up. The tears
in her eyes said it all. He smiled wider, which he should not have done, but he did anyway. She
smiled back. Not a word was spoken, the device carried on doing what it was supposd to do.
She thought she was in the presence of a divine messenger. She lowered her head and prayed
again, this time without any anger.
In just a few short minutes, the device turned green, and the molecular change was
complete. Robert looked at Doris, placed a finger across his lips in a shhh gesture, retreived
the device, putting it back in his pocket, and in an instant, together with the Sheidals, they
were back on their craft.
Doris stared at the place where Robert had stood for a full five minutes, in total disbelief.
Her son stirred on the bed, and asked for food. He was very hungry.
As the ship made its way, undetected by the Earth radar, to his home planet, Robert had
been able to prove that the lowly humans were able to go out on missions to help others, as
the other races could do, though and missions he would go on would have to be restricted to
helping other humans for the foreseeable future, He was now quite capable of helping when
requested to do so by the Council. He did, many times, but thats another story.

John Baxter 2009