Subject: Ancient Days. Part 3. Feb. 28, 2008.
During this time Michel was disinfected.
The space lady was said to be 290 centimeters
tall. There are 39.37 inches in a meter so
she would be 9.5144166 feet tall.
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Taking me by the shoulder, she guided me
towards a small blue light, so intense that I
had almost to half close my eyes. I had never
seen a color like it on Earth. When we were
almost below the light, the wall on which it
was located "let us pass". That is the only way
to describe it. From the way in which my mentor
was leading me, I could have sworn I was going
to have a handsome lump on my forehead, but
we passed through the walls - like ghosts!
Thao laughed heartily at the shocked expression
on my face.
That did me good. I remember that laugh -
like a refre****ng breeze and reassuring at a
time when I was not feeling at ease.
I had often spoken with friends of "flying
saucers" and was persuaded that they did, in
fact, exist - but when you are actually
faced with the reality, so many questions
cloud your brain that you think it will
burst. Of course, deep down I was delighted.
From Thao's manner towards me, I sensed
that I had nothing to fear.
However, she was not alone: I wondered
what the others were going to be like. In
spite of my fascination with this adventure,
I still doubted if I would see my family
again. Already, they seemed so far away,
when only several minutes earlier I was
in my own garden.
We were now "gliding" at ground level
along a tunnel-shaped corridor that led
to a small room, the walls of which were of
a yellow so intense that I had to close
my eyes. The walls formed a vault - exactly
as if we were inside an upturned bowl.
Thao covered my head with a helmet
made from a transparent material and I
found, by opening one eye, that this
enabled me to tolerate the light.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"Better, thank you, but that light -
how can you stand it?"
"It is not a light. It is just the
present color of the walls in this room."
"Why "present"? Have you brought me
here to repaint them?" I joked.
"There is no paint. There are only
vibrations, Michel. You still believe
that you are in your Earthly universe,
when you are not. You are now in one of
our super long-range spacecraft, capable
of travelling at several times the speed of
light. We will be leaving soon, if you
will lie down on this bunk..?"
There, in the center of the room were
two boxes - rather like coffins without
lids. I stretched out in one of them and
Thao in the other. I heard her speak in
a language unfamiliar to me, but very
harmonious. I wanted to lift myself up
a little but couldn't, being held by an
unknown and invisible force. The yellow
color progressively disappeared from the
walls, to be replaced by a blue that was
certainly no less intense. The "paintwork"
had been redone...
One third of the room suddenly became
dark and I noticed minute lights sparkling
like stars.
Thao's voice was clear in the darkness.
"These are stars, Michel. We have left
Earth's parallel universe and will be
leaving your planet further and further
behind, to take you to visit
ours. We know you are going to be greatly
interested in the journey, but also in our
departure that will be quite slow, for your
benefit.
"We can watch on the screen you see in
front of you."
"Where is Earth?"
"We still can't see it, being almost
directly above it, at approximately \
10 000 metres altitude..."
Suddenly, a voice could be heard,
speaking what seemed to be the same
language Thao had used moments earlier.
Thao answered briefly and then the voice
spoke to me in French - excellent French
(although the tone was more melodic
than is typical) welcoming me aboard. It
was very much the "welcome aboard" of
our airline companies, and I recall being
quite amused by that - in spite of the
unique situation in which I found myself.
At the same instant, I felt a very light
movement of the air and it became cool, as
though air-conditioned. Things began to
happen quickly. On the screen, appeared
what could only have been the sun. At
first, it seemed to touch the edge of
the Earth or, more precisely, South
America, as I later learned. Again, I
wondered if I could be dreaming. Second
by second America was shrinking. Australia
couldn't be seen, as the sun's rays had
not yet reached it. Now the contours of
the planet could be distinguished, and
we seemed to move around the globe, to a
position above the North Pole. There, we
changed direction, drawing away from
Earth at an incredible speed.
Our poor Earth became a basketball,
then a billiard ball until it finally
disappeared - or almost - from the screen.
Instead, my vision was filled with
the sombre blue of space. I turned my head
in Thao's direction hoping for further
explanation.
"Did you like that?"
"It was wonderful, but so fast - is it
possible to travel at such a high speed?"
"That was nothing, my dear friend. We
"took off" very gently. Only now are we
travelling at full speed."
"How fast?" I interrupted.
"Several times the speed of light."
"Of light? But how many times? It's
incredible! What about the light barrier?"
"I can well understand that it appears
incredible to you. Not even your experts
would believe it - it is, however, the
truth."
"You say several times the speed of
light, but how may times?"
"Michel, during this journey many things
will be intentionally revealed to you -
many things, but there will also be details
to which you will not have access. The
precise speed of our spacecraft is one such
detail. I'm sorry, for I know it will
disappoint you not to have your great
curiosity for all things satisfied, but
there will be so many new and interesting
things for you to see and learn, that
you must not mind too much when information
is withheld from you."
Her manner indicated that the matter was
closed and I didn't insist further, sensing
that to do so would have been rude.
"Look" she said to me. On the screen a
colored dot had appeared and was growing
rapidly.
"What is it?"
"Saturn."
The reader must forgive me if the
descriptions I give are not as detailed
as he/she might wish, but it must be
understood that I had not yet recovered
all my senses. I had seen so much in so
short a time, and was somewhat
"disoriented."
As we approached, the famous Saturn
grew rapidly larger on the screen. Its
colors were wonderful - incomparable to
anything I had ever seen on Earth. There
were yellows, reds, greens, blues, oranges
- within each color, an infinite range
of nuances mingled, separated, grew
stronger then weaker, creating the famous
rings and confined within them...
It was an amazing spectacle, which
filled more and more of our screen.
Realising I was no longer restrained
by the force field, I wanted to remove
my mask so as to see the colors better,
but Thao signalled that I should do
nothing.
"Where are the satellites?" I asked.
"You can see two, almost side by side
towards the right of the screen."
"How far away are we?"
"We must be approximately 6 000 000
kilometres or perhaps more. They know
exactly on the flight deck of course,
but to give you a more precise estimate,
I'd have to know whether our "camera"
is on full zoom or not."
Saturn suddenly disappeared from the
left side of the screen, which filled
again with the "color" of space.
I believe it was at that moment I
felt exalted, as I never had before. It
hit me that I was in the process of
living an extraordinary adventure - and
why? I had asked for nothing and had
never contemplated the possibility
(who would have dared?) of experiencing
such an adventure.
Thao got up. "You can do the same now,
Michel." I obeyed and we found ourselves
again, side by side in the center of the
cabin. It was only then, I noticed Thao
no longer wore her helmet.
"Can you explain to me," I asked, "why
just now, you were still wearing a helmet
while I was able to accompany you without
one, and yet now I have one while you
don't?"
"It is very simple. We come from a planet
bacteriologically different from Earth,
which, for us, is a veritable culture
medium. Thus, in order to contact you, I was
obliged to take this basic precaution. You,
yourself, were a danger to me but you are
no longer."
"I don't follow you."
"When you entered this cabin, the color
was too intense for you and I gave you the
helmet you are now wearing, which was
specially designed for you. Indeed, we were
able to anticipate your reaction.
"During the very short time the cabin was
yellow and then blue, eighty per cent of
the dangerous bacteria in you was destroyed.
Then perhaps you felt a coolness in the air,
similar to when an air conditioner is
working; this was another form of disinfection
by ... let's call it radiation, although
that is not the correct word - it cannot be
translated into any Earth language.
In this way, I have been disinfected one
hundred per cent, but you still have enough
bacteria to harm us considerably. I am going
to give you these two pills, and in three
hours you will be able to consider yourself
as "pure" as one of us." As she spoke, she
took a little box from beside her bunk,
removed the pills and held them out to me,
along with a test tube containing a liquid
that I supposed to be water. I swallowed
them both, lifting the base of my helmet to
do so. Next ... well, everything happened
very quickly and it was all very strange.
Part 3.
John Winston. johfw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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