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

can use amongst ourselves so we know when we’re talking about her.”

There was a pause, then he said in a rush, “I’ve got it, Jeannie; we’ll call her Jeannie.”

“What?” Doc blurted out.

“You know, like the TV show with the NASA astronauts and the genie that comes out of the bottle, Jeannie.”

“At a time like this, you come up with that? This is serious; we don’t have time for screwing around,” I said rather harshly.

Dimitri looked appropriately chastised and said, “Sorry, Colt, just trying to help.”

Reggie chuckled and shook her head side to side and said under her breath, “Dimitri, you big palooka.”

After a moment or two, I heard Eduardo say in a quiet, almost conspiratorial voice, “Senor Dimitri, I like the name, Jeannie.”

Dimitri looked at him and, smiling slightly, said, “Thanks, kid.”

I saw the others smiling and looking at each other.

I resigned myself as I thought, we have a Lair, why not a Jeannie, and said, “Joe, ask Jeannie what this city is—and let her know that we mean no disrespect by giving her a foreign name for our own use.”

Joe did, and Jeannie responded, “This was a colonization outpost. It was from here that we sent out our teachers,” she paused and then said smiling, turning to the boy, “I too like the name Jeannie, Eduardo.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Jeannie slowly turned and looked at us one by one and then turned back to Joe, still seated in the chair, “They have many questions.”

Joe said, “Yes, we are here to learn. Can you help us, teach us?”

“I can,” she replied. “I will answer your questions, but there must be order; chaos breeds inefficiency.”

Joe continued, “So, you can see our thoughts?”

“Yes,” Jeannie responded. “I have learned everything; all your knowledge is now part of me. I can now respond to you in terms that you will understand, Joe.”

“You know all of us by name and everything we know?”

“Yes, Joe, Colt, Dimitri, Doc, O’Reilly, Reggie, and Eduardo, everything.”

It was now so much easier to communicate since she was acknowledging and responding to the thoughts and questions of our entire group, even though Joe remained seated in the Cathedra of Knowledge as our main conduit.

“Okay, but you’re not a real person. Are you a machine?”

Jeannie’s smile broadened ever so slightly as she replied, “No, I am not a machine. I am the essence of the one you named Jeannie, a teacher and protector/overseer of the Citadel. I have been thus for thousands of your years.”

We were now just along for the ride as Joe kept asking questions.

“So, how long has this Citadel been here?” Joe asked.

“We constructed the Citadel forty thousand of your years ago. We have been visiting your planet for many thousands of your years.”

This revelation literally took our breaths away. No one spoke. Thousands of years, that means her race must have developed interstellar space flight long before that. Now, the number of questions expanded exponentially in our minds.

Over the last three and a half years, we had seen and experienced many amazing things, but this encounter has just blown them all out of the water. Stunned, we all sat there silently, trying to grasp the mind-boggling information Jeannie had just shared.

I broke the silence. It was my turn, and I said, “Joe, ask her if she is alive, a living being.”

Joe complied, and Jeannie responded, “Yes, I am a living being, but not in the same way you are. My race discovered long ago the secret to a form of transmutation, converting physical matter into its purest essence, energy.”

Another bombshell, every Sci-Fi movie I had ever seen was running through my head. This kind of topic had been part of many of them, but here it was for real. My next question to Joe, “Is she confined to this room, or can she move about the city?”

Jeannie answered Joe, “I can move about the city and be called to any location at any time. On the entry portal of every building, you will find a similar imprint as those on the Cathedra. Placing your hand on them calls me to that location.”

Now, Doc jumped in, “Why is the city so empty? There are no remnants of the residents anywhere.”

Now, Jeannie did smile, “That is not true, Doc; the city is filled with materials from its occupants.”

“But the buildings are all empty; nothing is there,” Doc said. It was weird; we were speaking to her but looking at Joe as he asked Jeannie our questions. A little disconcerting, but we were adapting.

Jeannie looked at Joe and said, “I can see you have some understanding of what I am about to say. I will rely on you to help your friends understand.” She paused, then continued, “Everything in the universe vibrates at its unique frequency: our bodies, our planets, the stars, everything. We have developed the ability to control those vibrations and rearrange or change them. You can think of it as phase shifting, slightly altering something’s frequency to shift it out of phase with this reality. I have shifted all the remnants, as you call them, of the Citadel out of phase; they are still there but not in the physical sense you understand. I can change them at will,” she paused, and the room shimmered, tapestries or banners appeared hanging on the walls. Two censers appeared on either side of the stone chair.

“I have restored this room to its original form and can do so with any or all buildings or outside spaces in the Citadel.”

As we gazed around the room, the realization of the power wielded by Jeannie was beyond our comprehension.

I said to Joe, “She can do this with the entire city?”

Jeannie responded, “Yes, of course. This is another protective measure that I take to keep the Citadel and its contents secure. Much like the cloak, as you call it, an energy field that I create to conceal the Citadel’s location.”

Joe said, “Yes, about that, you create the projection or visual that is seen from the other side?”

“Yes,