They were astounded as John, Jim and Xiang removed their outer garments, revealing their royal robes as they knelt before the child. Xiang could see nothing remarkable abouth the child, but John and Jim were both regarding the child with much reverence. Saying nothing they presented the mother with their gifts who watched the scene with confused but joyful tears.

Jim used the telepathy that Isis had taught him to reach the mother and Joseph to convey his feelings and reverence as well as warning her to flee Bethlehem for the child's life was in danger. It wouldn't be long before Herod discovered where the child was, for many in Bethlehem now had been made aware of their existence, and the very protection that the authorities had given the magi had also allowed Rome and Herod to keep tabs as to their whereabouts. Jim dared to touch the child but felt nothing unusual at first. After returning the child to the mother the spirit of Yaohushua rushed through his consciousness. "Yes indeed I Am here, and you see My Son, the light and hope of the nations. But now you must leave and complete what you have set yourself to do. You shall come back to be his friend just before you die, and He shall show you more concerning eternal life, and He shall bring you closer to Me. I had promised you to show you my Son, and here you see Him."

Jim would have willingly stayed longer, but the Spirit which had brought him here now was beckoning that it was time to leave. Never a word was exchanged, but all seemed to understand the histroric significance of the encounter.

It was not difficult for the trio to lose anyone who was following them and find themselves preparing for departure. Within a matter of seconds John and Jim's merkabah units were merged, and ready to envelop the travellers. Xiang was glad to reenter the Box units and within seconds they were in Earth orbit retrieving satellites preparing for warp.

Xiang was full of questions. "What was all that about? You bend space and time to give rich gifts to some infant in a stable and claim him to be the greatest king of all time. What sort of nonsense is this father?"

John volunteered to explain Jim's behavior to his grandson. "That child is the first of the immortals, Xiang. You must bear in mind that we were all conceived at a time in the future of the Earth we just visited. Were it not for this child, we and civilization itself would not exist."

"How can that be, grandfather?"

"It is a great mystery, Xiang, and we may be the first to see this mystery unravel itself. You did notice that your father said very little to anyone and absolutely nothing about our origin. Now read this record from Earth's twentieth century archives."

John had Genie retrieve a few verses from the Biblical text of Matthew and showed it to Xiang.

"But we only just did that! How can it be that Genie already has a record? Did you know of this fact while you made the visit?"

"Yes, both your father and I knew. I just learned only after my rendezvous wiith the two of you when he revealed to me his plans, There is no telling what prompted him to do this. There could have been three other kings, but no, Jim has to grab that role for the three of us. It is that remarkable Genie of his which allows him to do such tricks. His unit is a little bolder than my own, yet as you see, it all fits in after all. We must also give him credit as well, Xiang. There is no telling what his imagination has in store for us and he will tell you that the adventure has only just begun."

Xiang did not know what to say. It suddenly dawned upon him how much power the owners of the dual merkabah units had at their disposal. He had always taken them for granted.

"Your ignorance of history protected you, Xiang, as it did Isis., Jim and myself at first. Now we all have realized that we have learned how to tamper with Earth's history, nor are we finished. Yet on board we have at our disposal a history of our own future if we dared to look. The paradox avoidance system restrains Genie from revealing to us information which we need not know. Every time, Genie has been able to confirm our experiences as being what really happened. "

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