24. For Such a Time as This

The terrorists had left the loading dock. When they returned once again, Ransom was waiting for them. Both his hands were up. One hand was empty. The other was holding Beatrice in it's sealed cryogenic cylinder removed from the leather bag and foam insulation.
The men were startled. When they saw Ransom, all four rushed him.
"Stay back!" Ransom held Beatrice over his head. "Stay back or I smash it!" Ransom was so nervous, his throat tightly clenched. He forced his words out in a low guttural growl.
All four of them were there, including the one Ransom recognized. One of them, not Jamie's father, an apparent leader stepped forward. Aiming his gun at Ransom, he spoke, "Listen to me very carefully. What you hold in your hand is a human life. Just as important as you or me. Now we don't want to hurt you. We have yet to hurt anyone in this station. But if you break that canister, we will have to... you will be forcing us to fill God's Law of an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life according to Deuteronomy 19:21."
Ransom didn't move.
"Please, give it to us. She is an unborn child waiting for a chance at life. We know that she even has a name, Beatrice. We have gone to the ends of the Earth and beyond to show the world that God's word will not be mocked. Do what is right and give me the canister."
Ransom's hands were shaking. His throat was completely closed. He had to summon all his strength to push the words out from the bottom of his lungs. They came out of his mouth, barely above a whisper. "Take off your masks."
Their leader held out his hand and palm facing out to the other terrorists, "Give us the child and no harm will come to you."
Ransom pointed at Matthew Bradford, "Take off your masks. You first."
Even though he was wearing a mask, Ransom knew that he was turning pale. He was pointing a gun at an unarmed man, and he was the one who was afraid. "Why... why me?"
"God may hate your son. He put him in that wheelchair. But even worse, he made you his father."
"I know you."
There was silence. The other three men gave each other anxious looks. After a moment, Matthew made his decision and slowly deliberately took off his mask.
"Take em off, all of you."
Their leader spoke, "We made plans for this contingency. Do what he asks."
They took off their masks. The other three, Ransom didn't recognize. But they were burnt. They would never sleep easy again, unless it was in a jail cell. Ransom tossed Beatrice to Matthew with careless disdain. He just barely kept himself from fumbling it to the ground. Their leader glared at Ransom with self-righteous anger. Ransom moved away from the path between the terrorist and the airlock leading to their vessel.
As they shuffled past him, Ransom felt one thousand times bolder. He felt rage towards them for taking Beatrice. He felt rage for everything that had gone wrong in his life. He decided that he wasn't going to let them off that easy.
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked in a loud belligerent voice.
"Isn't it obvious?" their leader turned to back towards him. "We're going to let her live. Don't think this is last time you will see Beatrice. We already have a woman volunteering to be a surrogate. Nine months from today, expect to see a newborn baby pointing a finger of accusation at her would be killers. She will just show up. Perhaps on the steps of the White House, or maybe Seventh Day headquarters. Most likely in a place you won't expect."
"That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard."
"Let's go." The leader turned back towards the airlock.
"It's not going to live." said Ransom.
"Don't listen to him." said the leader.
"I'm telling the truth. The embryo has been genetically modified. It wasn't meant to be brought to term. It lacks the alleles for proper development. It won't live past the first trimester."
"He's lying."
"Even with the tiny chance that it lives, Beatrice is guaranteed to be born with horrible deformities." said Ransom. "But the scientists assured me that it cannot be brought to term."
"Don't listen!"
"You here me Matthew? You did this for nothing."
Matthew didn't look back.
"You ruined your life for nothing."
Matthew cocked his head. "You think I wouldn't gladly sacrifice my life for The Lord?"
"Now Jamie will grow up without a father."
Matthew turned to face him. His eyes burned with feral paternal instinct. "Don't you talk about my son! You don't know! You don't know what it's like!"
"What don't I know?" asked Ransom.
"I love my son! I love him more than anything!"
And in that moment, something changed for Ransom. In all the hatred and impotent rage that Matthew directed at him, Ransom saw himself. He saw all the fear and doubt in his heart staring back at him, loathing him. Ransom understood. And he knew that he couldn't repay hatred with like. He just couldn't.
"You think you're the only one who feels pain?" asked Ransom. "You think you're the only one whose world ended one day? You think you're the only one who feels abandoned by God? Who feels like God was punishing him unfairly? Or even worse, He struck someone you love, and there's nothing you can do to help? Nothing you can do be watch them suffer? I know how that feels."
"You're just like the rest." said Matthew "All murderers."
"No! I'm not like the rest. I never looked down on you for having a disabled son. I hated the way you treated him. But I never hated you. I know that some people hate you for the choice you made. I know that some people look down on you and offer you no sympathy. Because you chose to take a chance on life. Even I was guilty of that sometimes. I should have been more understanding. It's a cruel world, and some people think you're just a fool for the choice you made. But I don't think you're a fool. I know that Jaime is the most valuable thing in the world for you. And anyone who criticizes the choice you made is wrong.
"But now, you're wrong. That's just a clump of cells you're stealing. What you're doing now is wrong."
He was listening. The leader came and grabbed his arm. "Matthew, lets go."
"Look in your heart, Matthew. You know this is wrong."
"You be quiet." said the leader.
"You aren't helping anyone."
"I said, be quiet!"
"You think that God is on your side? You think you've helped your cause? You've damned your cause!"
"BE QUIET!" The leader pointed his gun at Ransom.
"NO!" Matthew hit the gun with the cryogenic cylinder in his hand. The gun went off.
"You idiot! I wasn't going to shoot him. I only wanted to scare him." The terrorist leader looked at the floor. It was covered with bits of shattered plastic and the cryogenic fluid that once bathed Beatrice. "Oh God, no!"
A fifth new terrorist walked out of the airlock. "I just got a call from one of our informants. They're dispatching ships from Powell Station heading this way. It's a quick response force from the U.S. Space Guard. We gotta go, I mean now!
The terrorists, all four of them ran after their pilot into the airlock. There was a soft whine as their space vessel detached from the dock and swiftly departed.

Ransom was crouching on the floor, staring intently at a puddle of cryogenic fluid, now at room temperature. There it was. Smaller than the period at the end of a sentence. Dead. Ransom touched it and it stuck to his finger
Ransom stood up and looked at his finger for a moment, looked at the cause of all this trouble. Ransom figured he should put it in a baggy, or something. He thought that he should go and check on those hostages. He should connect with Kilgore Station Security again.
It was totally silent save for the air circulators. Before Ransom left, he stared out the window for a few minutes. It had caught his eye again. It seemed more real to Ransom than anything he had ever seen. He thought that maybe, the blue-green sphere before him was just an embryo for heaven. And for the first time in over a year, he thought that he believed in God again.