Excerpt, Pastor Norton’s Prayer Diary

In the name of the Father, the blessed and most merciful, in whom we place our trust and faith. Guide us into your favor and lead us to your promised land. Hear oh Lord my prayers and read my words, written, as we have been taught, in our book of private prayer.

Holy Father, grant me wisdom, for I don’t know what to do.

Today Captain Kettering approached me. He asked me to keep what he told me in confidence. The implications are too large to grasp.

For more than 20 years we have been under a sentence of death. We have tried all that we knew to bring the whole flock safely to the Promised Land. We could not. More than 60% have sacrificed ourselves to give the remainder a chance to live. Greater love no man has, than to give his life for his friends.

The Captain has been told by someone he trusts, that this was not an error. That this was not a test you gave to your faithful. That someone has been diverting… I cannot say it. If true, it is heinous murder.