Col. Garrett Davis was still in his capsule when he awoke, but he was not in outer space and he was not hurtling toward Mars. The capsule’s hatch had been removed and Davis heard voices from outside the craft. He looked to find himself surrounded by alien Gray’s busily inspecting his craft in an alien hangar holding a dozen flying saucers and assorted other craft.

That craft, the Mars Express, was the high mark of the secret space program. Everybody knew about the Mercury 7 and their heroic efforts to escape the bonds of Earth, but as NASA learned the fundamentals of space travel from the ground up, earning that knowledge step by step, the secret space program was outright cheating.

They strapped a modified Martian space drive to the back end of a Mercury space capsule, launched it into orbit, pointed it toward Mars and engaged the alien engines. There was no dearth of volunteers to pilot the craft, but Davis, with his engineering background and skill as a pilot, was the obvious choice. He did not know what to expect on his voyage, but he never thought he would be captured.

“Get away from that damned thing,” Davis said as he climbed out of the craft. The alien Gray’s did not even acknowledge him as they investigated the Earth vessel.

He could not allow this technology to get into the hands of the enemy. There was a self-destruct device in the capsule. He just had to press a button to transform his craft into a twisted mass of burning ruin.

“Don’t bother. The bomb has been deactivated.”

One Gray was standing next to Davis, looking at him.

“How…? Were you in my head? Can you read my mind?”

“Yes, my people are skilled telepaths,” the Gray said. “Your species is very easy to communicate with. I believe that is because your minds are so simple and linear.”

“What do you want with me?”

“We have little interest in you and even less interest in your craft. Your use of outdated Martian technology is inept to the point of sadness. Personally I expected more. Still, we cannot allow your species to take this step. I’m sorry, Col. Davis, but your journey is over.”

“The hell it is”, Davis said. The Gray was maybe four feet tall. Davis came up with a plan to punt the alien in the head as if he were kicking for the extra point. He shifted his weight, and then awoke once more in his spacecraft. The hatch had been replaced and the alien Gray hovered outside.

“Very well,” the Gray said. “If you wish to continue your voyage you may accompany your craft to its destruction. Goodbye Col. Davis.” There was a tone in the alien’s mental voice as if he was insulted by the prospect of having his head punted like a football.

The Mars Express hovered slowly toward an iris opening on the far side of the hangar. On the other side of the iris Col. Davis found himself outside of a massive Gray mothership in Mars orbit. The Martian engines engaged once more and the Mars Express lurched forward. The instrument panel had been disassembled and Davis had no idea how fast he was moving until he reached sight of Earth growing large in his viewport. The Grays must have tricked out the Martian space drive. For a brief second he thought he was going to crash into the planet, but then he zipped by it, quickly leaving it behind.

The disk of the Sun loomed larger and larger. It became clear that this was his destination. Davis worked frantically to reassemble the ship’s controls, and worried that he did not have enough time. He worked until he was struck blind by the intense radiation, and a moment later he was dead.

*****
“Who are you?”

Col. Davis opened his eyes and found himself floating in a bright golden sea. He was alone. There was nobody around to account for the voice.

“Who are you?” The voice asked again. It came from everywhere at once.

“I am Col. Garrett Davis with the United States Air Force. I come from Earth.”

“Is Earth the name for one of my children? Which one?”

Davis reassessed his situation. He was not in a sea. He was surrounded by glowing, bursting energy. Was it fusion? How was he surviving this?

“Earth is the third planet from the Sun.”

“The blue one?” the voice asked. “I like that one. It’s pretty.”

“Where am I?”

“You are with me, which is peculiar. I rarely get visitors, actually I never get visitors. You are the first. Why are you here? This is not a good place for you. You were broken, and I had to fix you.”

“I don’t even know where here is.” A thought occurred to Col. Davis, but it was too fantastic to take seriously. “Who are you? What do you do?”

“I warm my children and keep them close.”

That verified Davis’ fantastic thought, but he refused to believe he was deep within the Sun chatting with the Almighty. “Are you God?”

“What is God?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. Are you God?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so? How would I know this? Who are you? What do you do?”

“I was sent here against my will by invading aliens. They sent me here to die.”

“They broke you? Why would they do such a thing?”

“They have declared war on us. They wish to destroy everything we hold dear and take us as slaves.”

“I do not like that. I really, really do not like that. I believe that makes me angry. Yes, I am positive it makes me angry.”

“Can you help us? Can you destroy our enemies?”

“I can swell my mass until I engulf the inner planets, burning everything I approach. Would that be helpful?”

“No. That would not be helpful. Under no circumstance should you do that.”

“Good. I really don’t want to do that. Maybe you should do something about the aliens.”

“I’m not sure what good I can do,” Davis said, “but I should get back to Earth to report what has happened to me.”

“Okay, bye.”

“It’s not that simple. Can you recreate my spacecraft as you recreated me? That would be helpful.”

“Why?”

It had been a horrible day and Davis struggled to be patient with the omnipotent child. “I need my spacecraft to get back to Earth.”

“Really? Why don’t you just go?”

“Because I can’t, damn it. I can’t just fly 92 million miles through space. I’m just a mortal man.”

“But I fixed you.”

Amid the weirdness of the encounter Davis had given little thought to his physical situation. He was deep within the Sun, and he was unharmed. At first he assumed that the omnipotent being was protecting him, but he began to think differently. Was he resisting the heat, pressure and radiation on his own? His body looked more idealized than before, trimmer and more defined. His physical senses were not overwhelmed by the overabundance of input. The voice said he fixed him. Did it mean it fixed him to survive the most hostile environment conceivable?

“You were broke. I fixed you.”

Davis began to fly around in circles and soon became giddy. There was so much opportunity now. He could protect the Earth from the Gray’s and their commie puppets, and maybe get rich in the process. Beth would like that.

“I have to go now,” Davis said.

“Okay, bye.”

Col. Davis burst from the Sun and flew straight for Earth. He did not need to calculate his home planet’s position. He just knew where it was. Within a day he would be back at Cape Kennedy, within a week he would be known to the world as Star Sentinel, and within months he would be the new leader of Justice Patrol.