ENCOUNTER by Hep Aldridge (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

looking at the photos that the Hubble sent back. Everything started moving, and we seemed to be flying through three-dimensional space.

Holy Carl Sagan, I thought, as I viewed it in awe. This is like watching an episode of Cosmos. Red Giants, White Dwarfs, we passed the Pleiades star cluster, then the Orion constellation, star fields, galaxies, and nebula were flying by until we slowed, and a distant Yellow Dwarf sun appeared. My college astronomy class was paying off. As I viewed the Yellow Dwarf, I remembered our sun was also a Yellow Dwarf. I saw five planets orbiting it; two of the five were close to each other and orbiting their sun in what astronomers call the “Goldilocks zone.” Just the right distance from the sun to potentially be habitable. The others were further away. One of the planets now turned blue, and the lady turned to Joe.

In a hushed voice, Joe said, “That’s where they are from.”

Doc said, “But I never heard you ask her the question.”

“I know,” he said, “but when I thought it, she knew and responded.”

I now found myself leaning against the wall as I slid down to one of the benches around the room and thinking about the third set of celestial coordinates that Tony found on the silver cube. How is this happening? How is she doing this—telepathy?

Joe asked the question out loud, for our benefit, “How are you communicating with us?”

The unintelligible answer came instantly.

I jumped to my feet and said to everyone, “Did you hear that?”

Dimitri, who was standing next to me, said, “Yeah, I heard her but didn’t understand a thing she said. You did?”

I looked at the others, who were all standing and got the same blank look and then turned to Joe, who was grinning from ear to ear.

“I got it,” he said, “thought transference…”

“But nobody else but you and I understood it,” I said, very puzzled. “How did you do that?” I said to the lady. No response. “What the hell’s going on?” I asked.

Joe simply thought the question, “How can we hear you?”

She answered, “Those seated around the room may receive/hear the answers in their minds. Those not seated cannot. However, in all cases, only the interlocutor may ask the questions unless I chose otherwise.”

Joe paused and then said, “And I’m guessing the interlocutor is the one seated in this big chair.”

“You are correct. A person must be seated in the Cathedra of Knowledge to engage in two-way communication and learn directly from me,” she replied.

Joe turned to us, “Okay, she said if you are seated on the benches, you can receive her thoughts or answers at the same time I do, but she may not allow you to speak with her directly. Only the person seated in this chair can do that. If you are standing, you can hear her response verbally, in her language, but not get the thoughts.”

“So, we feed our questions to the person in the chair, they ask her the questions, and then we can all receive her answer through this thought transference as long as we’re seated on these benches?” I said.

“Yep, that’s what she said, unless she decides otherwise.”

“Okay, everybody, sit down. Joe, ask her what this place is.”

The thought formed, what is this place, and before it could reach Joe’s lips, the reply came to us.

“It is a place of learning and peace. You are welcome here; I sense you mean no harm,” the blue lady smiled and bowed her head.

I looked at Joe; he was beaming, and I must have had a massive smile on my face.

Doc, grinning, said, “I understood her that time.”

The others, eyes wide, nodded in agreement.

A thought struck me. “Joe, ask her if this is the library.”

Joe did, and her response to him was clear, “No, this is not the sacred library, but it is a repository of infinite knowledge.”

Only slightly dejected, I said, “This may not be the library, but I think we may have just gotten access to a cosmic encyclopedia.”

Doc laughed, “If you’re right, I have a million questions. Where do we start? What’s our priority?”

“Finding the location of the library. It sounds like she has so much information, we could spend days here, learning, but we don’t have days, so Joe, ask her the location of the library,” I said.

Joe asked, and the response was puzzling.

“The sacred library holds the information of the ages and will not be opened to those who are unworthy. It is protected, and few may gain access. I have looked into your minds and hearts. You have flaws, but you are not evil. You have the potential to do good rather than ill. You seek knowledge over riches as you are already individuals of significant wealth, yet your integrity prevails. I will answer your question thusly, in order to enter the library, you must elevate yourselves before the path reveals itself, and the way only then becomes crystal clear.”

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” I said, rather impatiently and somewhat confused.

Joe asked again and for additional clarification.

Her response was just as cryptic, “Look within. You have what is necessary to find what you seek.”

O’Reilly said, “Okay, guys, we’re just taking pot shots here. We need a new approach to getting answers from her. What did she say her name was?”

“She didn’t,” Joe said, and he asked her again for her name.

This time, we all got the response, via thought transference, that Joe had gotten earlier. The feeling of a cool, refreshing breeze with an underlying bedrock of great strength and an aura of benevolent knowledge. In a moment, her thoughts came to us, “I see there is no easy translation of my name in your language. I am sorry.”

Dimitri looked around and said, “Well, we need to call her something. I don’t know; maybe we give her a name for our benefit even if it isn’t right.”

“What the heck does that mean?” Doc asked.

“I mean, let’s give her a name that we