Juggernaught: Chapter 3 - The Transition

The Bible Study had historically called it The Transition, often speaking of it in awed terms.

How the event played out, was fairly simple to describe.

After a particularly harrowing mission, the existing members of the group decided that they wanted out.  The nature of the lifestyle was way too hot for some of them, while others began to feel their age.

Of the original group, only the youngest two members remained: Michael and his wife.

That meant that if the group was to carry on, they would have to begin recruiting the next generation of perilous individuals.  In a heartbeat, the Moasts would grow from being the youngest of the team to become the eldest -- from the rookies to the leaders.

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Likewise, a change swept over the mansion as well.
The few that witnessed the sudden transformation, likened it to one of those nature shows on TV.  One moment Death Valley would be a desert, bleak as the surface of the moon, but once a rare rainstorm began to fall, the place would be suddenly transformed into a hive of life.

Just like delicate blossoms that appear from the parched ground, trainers, specialists, and equipment began to spring up all around the Moast mansion.  (For such it was now called.)  Likewise, no order was spoken for any of this, but rather like nature knew the cycle and wordlessly took up what must be done.

Rooms that the Moasts had only seen once before were now re-opened.

Empty spaces were now filled with advanced flight simulators.

Storage areas were cleaned out and obstacle courses installed.

The mansion's many bedrooms were converted to... well... bedrooms, actually.  The big change here was that they would soon be occupied by hopeful students, laboring late into the night to learn all that the clandestine group would teach them.

While professionals of all kinds transformed the mansion from palatial estate to proving ground, others began scouring the country, indeed, even the globe to bring together a new class of students.

This was a ticklish task that had to be handled discreetly.  The new recruits would have to be screened carefully both for their safety and the safety of the group.

Their backgrounds were thoroughly checked and their qualifications doubly checked.  There could be no mistakes.

Into one end of the pipe were stuffed literally thousands of names.  Out of the other end, only one came out every now and then.  The process was painfully tedious to the eager young couple.

It became even more difficult when the actual interviews started.  Just because somebody met the proper profile, had the skills, and passed security muster, didn't mean that they'd actually want to join. 

After all, each person in this world gets to choose what direction they want to take their life.  The sort of future the Bible Study offered was one of hardship and danger with no physical reward to show for it in the end.  Nobody could blame the majority of the candidates, who looked it over and said, "No thank you."

Still, week by week, the list of names grew.

Soon there were enough to justify flipping the switch and moving ahead with the training.

NEXT CHAPTER >>

The preceding has been a chapter from Juggernaught: A Moast Unusual Bible Study
(Copyright 2016, Edmund Lloyd Fletcher.)

For more on this story, please visit its main page.

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