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Part 72: Where All Journeys Grow

Chapter 20: Osiris

V2.0 – 10/08/2025

I drifted in darkness, bobbing up and down on the rolling waves of the ocean. The only sound I heard was the lapping of the waves against the scattered floating debris that surrounded me. Strangely, though being drenched from head to foot, I was not cold. I was almost comfortable. I drifted between wakefulness and sleep. I wondered if my body had gone numb, but it didn’t feel like it. My legs hung down into the deep water below. I tried not to kick them but just let them dangle freely, conserving my energy.

There was no moon out tonight. The fires of the shipwreck had long since burned out around me. The darkness that had descended was absolute. The stars shone brilliantly across the pitch-black sky above me. They seemed to stretch out to infinity in all directions. For a moment I wondered if I had actually died and this was some spiritual place I had found myself in.

I heard a quiet sound echoing off the water in the distance. It was a low rumbling sound. It sounded much like the engines of the cargo ship. I turned my head to look around and saw a looming black shape against the stars. It was another massive cargo ship. It sat low in the water, heavy with cargo I guessed, as it glided almost silently past me.

“Help!” I cried out and heard my voice carrying across the waters. “Help me! I’m down here! Down here in the water!”

There was no response.

I cried out again and again hoping that anyone would hear me. I splashed the water around me. I had nothing to use as a light to guide them to me or to make myself seen. The giant ship was moving closer. I could see tall cranes on its fore deck and toward the rear of the massive vessel. I couldn’t tell what color it was or read its name in the darkness. There were only a few lights illuminating the ships upper decks but the light from them didn’t reach down to where I floated helplessly in the water.

The massive ship slowly crept closer and closer to debris field around me.

I heard a chorus of shouts and voices from the deck of the ship. Brilliant spotlights illuminated the scene around me, blinding me. I heard men shouting in a language I couldn’t understand. I shielded my eyes from the lights with my arm and waited.

I heard the cranes of the ship creek as they jumped into motion. I watched in awe as the cranes began pulling up the bobbing cargo containers around me one by one and placed them on the deck of the ship. They were collecting the debris and whatever else drifted above the waves.

“Help me! I’m down here!” I shouted again.

A spotlight found me, blinding me again.

I heard a metallic groan and what sounded like a door being raised. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of the motor of a small boat coming closer and closer to me. I was saved. They’d found me.

The boat approached me and slowed. It came right up to me. I felt hands reaching down to grab me by my collar and pulled me up and into the small boat. As I sat up in the seat I found myself looking down the barrel of a rifle pointed at my face. The three men around me wore black masks and camo military jackets. I couldn’t see more than that in the darkness.

“Who are…” I began but was cut off with the rifle pushed closer to my face.

The man with the rifle held a finger up to his mouth commanding me to be silent. I sat still as the man behind me secured my hands behind my back with a zip tie. Once they had secured my hands behind my back they put a blindfold over my eyes. I sat in silence as the boat was driven back to the ship. I felt arms lead me up and out of the boat. I stood on the swaying deck of the ship.

I heard the men around me tying up the small boat and securing it again. I heard the sea door closing. The men spoke softly to each other in a language that sounded middle eastern. I thought it sounds similar to Arabic but couldn’t be sure.

I felt the barrel of the rifle against my back. I was led by the arm into the depths of the ship. We walked through doors, down corridors, up a set of stairs, and then we stopped.

I thought they must be pirates or scavengers. The lack of deck lighting as they approached the debris field, their masks, the rifles, and how they collected the cargo all seemed to point to illicit activities.

I was led through a doorway, and the blindfold was taken off. I was standing just inside a small shower room.

A masked man wearing a camo uniform and holding a rifle took everything out of my pockets. He put my things in a black bag and handed it to another man who waited in the doorway. That man disappeared with my things down the corridor.

My remaining guard turned me around and cut me free of the zip tie. He handed me a pair of clothes and a towel then he nudge me toward the showers. He pointed at the shower, then at me, and then at the clothes. I nodded to him. He turned and stood watch at the doorway.

I walked into the shower room and removed my wet, salty clothes quickly and piled them on the floor.

I showered quickly, so grateful that the water was hot.

I put on the simple gray shirt and pants I had been given and walked back out to where the man waited for me. My feet were bare against the cold metal of the deck but even that felt better than the cool ocean waters. He nodded to me, apparently approving of my transformation. He motioned for me to walk and I did. He guided me down the corridor and into another room that held a metal desk and a small chair. I saw the bag with my things in it sitting on the desk.

The man motioned for me to stand in front of the desk. He pointed to his gun and motioned for me to stay. I nodded to him. He left the room closing the door behind him.

I stood alone. I listened to the creaking and groaning of the ship around me. I could hear the distant sounds of people walking along the corridors and upper decks of the ship. I could hear the whining of the cranes as they continued to pull their looted cargo from the ocean.

I’m not sure how long I waited. Eventually I stopped hearing the cranes and heard the sound of the ship getting underway. Had I been rescued, or had I been captured? Captured seemed more likely. It was a strange new feeling. I had seen things like this a million times in movies and tv shows but this was the first time in my life someone had tied my hands behind my back and pointed a gun at my face. Strangely enough I wasn’t scared in the least. I knew God was still in control of all of this.

My body ached from being thrown into the water by the explosion. My face and stomach still hurt from the beating I had taken when I was jumped by the three men the day before. But I was alive. I counted that a blessing.

I waited.

I heard footsteps outside the doorway and watched as it opened. A man stepped in wearing a robe with a belt tied around it. He looked Arab to me, or at least middle eastern. He had dark skin and dark hair. He smiled at me as he took the seat behind the desk. I saw the guard from earlier pull the door closed and I knew he remained outside it.

The man at the desk dumped my things out in front of him and picked up my passport. He read over it and looked up at me.

“You’re quite lucky to be alive, Andrew.” He said in perfect English.

“You speak English!” I said excitedly.

“I do; my men don’t.” He replied.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He sorted through my things one by one. He looked at my wallet, my phone and its charger, and my passport then put them all back in the bag. He called out something in his language and the guard came in, collected the bag from him, and left the room again.

“What language is that?” I asked him.

He looked up at me and thought for a moment, then with a sigh said, “Egyptian. You’ve found yourself aboard the Sekhet Royal. I go by Osiris.”

He watched for my reaction, then asked, “Do you know what Osiris means?”

“I don’t.” I replied, “I only know that Osiris was an Egyptian god.”

He let out a small laugh and said, “Yes, yes. But do you know what the name Osiris means? It means Owner of Lives. And… now… I own your life, Andrew.”

I let his words sink it. He was a slaver, and this was a slave ship. Now the guns, masks, and everything else made more sense. It seemed surreal somehow to find myself a slave in 2025, but I had heard stories of such things over the years.

“I see.” I replied.

“You have two choices. One: I can throw you back into the sea or Two: you can cooperate, be sold when we arrive at Port Said, and be a good servant to whomever buys you.” He told me with a smile.

I stood there thinking for a moment. I listened and heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “You are right where I want you.”

I nodded to him and said, “I’ll cooperate.”

“Good.” He said, “That will make all this much more pleasant for us. I imagine you’re going to fetch quite a good price for me. I have just the man in mind to sell you to. He loves Americans, and, as far as owners go, he is kind to his possessions.”

My stomach turned over at the thought of being sold, but it certainly sounded better than being thrown overboard back into the ocean. And at least we were on the way to a place that was closer to my destination. I knew that Port Said was seaport on the northern shores of Egypt. Egypt was close to Israel.

The man called out again in Egyptian to the guard and the guard entered the room. Osiris motioned to the guard.

“I will see you again soon, Andrew.” Osiris dismissed me, and then the guard led me out into the corridor.

The guard led me through the ship to a door that was locked from the outside. He unlocked the door and motioned me in. I stepped through the door into a large, brightly lit room. I saw other people dressed as I was in the room. I heard the door close behind me and heard the guard lock it and walk away.

The people in the room stared at me. I saw they were from a wide range of races, genders, and ages. Some of them lay on the bunk beds to one side of the room, some sat around the table at the center of the room, and others stood by small windows looking out across the ocean. A middle-aged man, who looked Hispanic, rose from the table and walked over to me.

He held out his hand to me and said, “Welcome to the Sekhet Royal. I’m Marcus Hernades from Costa Rica.”

I shook his hand and replied, “I’m Andrew from the USA. They just pulled me from the ocean.”

He smiled and said, “Let me introduce you to your fellow captives.”

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