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

when we entered and said, “We must go to the obelisk in the plaza.” She reverently picked the crystal up off the table, where it had been sitting for days, and left the building. We followed her and stopped in front of the obelisk. She held the crystal before her and said something we could not hear.

Doc said, “The translation we have says the crystal will point the way to the library.”

“That is inaccurate,” Jeannie replied as she raised it above her head. The crystal was around twenty-plus pounds and at least a foot long, but Jeannie handled it like it weighed nothing. We saw a niche on the side of the obelisk facing us, the same shape as the long crystal, and Jeannie slid it neatly into place. She then took one palm and placed it in a palm print on the obelisk, and a blue glow began emanating from the crystal.

She turned to us and said, “The translation actually says the crystal will open the way,” and she pointed to the canyon wall behind us.

As we turned and looked, a section of the natural rock wall disappeared, revealing a large door. Our collective mouths dropped open. Our campsite was no more than twenty-five yards away. We had been that close to it since we arrived and had no idea. We walked to the door and saw the impression of a hand on the wall.

Jeannie said, “Colt, place your hand here.”

I looked at her questioningly. “Will I be able to open it?” I asked.

“The crystal is the key; once it is in place and the doorway is revealed, it may be opened by anyone.”

I placed my hand in the impression, and the large door slid silently open. It was dark at first, and then a glow started filling the space before us. It was a room cut out of solid rock about twelve feet square. There were two rows of bookshelves in the room, each holding books of a uniform size. The book covers glinted of gold and silver. There were even books that seemed to have glass or crystal covers. While impressive to view, I was a little underwhelmed, expecting something more vast and magnificent. I looked at the others and thought I saw the same reaction on their faces.

I turned to Jeannie and said, “So, this is the library?”

“Yes, access to all our knowledge is provided herein, and you will be able to find the answers to all your questions,” she said with a wave of her arm.

The script on the books was alien to us but looked like what we saw in the Citadel and on the obelisks. I wondered how we would be able to glean anything from them. Of course, Jeannie read my thoughts and replied, “By placing your hand on the covers or pages. As you have seen with many of our devices, the mind is the key. Placing your hand on the pages releases the information stored there into your mind. Placing your hand on the binding of the book tells you what subject or topic is covered within.”

“That makes sense,” Doc said aloud. “But there are not many books here. I thought there would be more or other devices necessary to hold the tens of thousands of years of knowledge you were referring to.”

We were standing between the shelves of books as Jeannie glided past.

“We chose to put our information in this format for ease in the transfer of knowledge since we felt it would look familiar for anyone who might find the library in the future. Books are a common object and something that has been used to house information on your planet for thousands of years.”

“That’s true,” I said, “we would definitely recognize the format and…”

Jeannie stopped me with a raised hand, “You would need to become familiar with the information contained in here before,” she had reached the rear wall and placed her hand on it. It dissolved and opened into a cavernous room filled with shelves of books and so much more, “You entered here,” she said with a smile.

The rows of shelves contained books: large books, small books with covers glinting silver, gold, and glass or crystal. And on other shelves were arranged a variety of strange devices. Further into the room, there were tables filled with artifacts of gold and silver: goblets, headdresses, helmets, some types of golden armor. Helms of gold and silver, adorned with long colored feathers, reminded me of the plumage of the Quetzal bird I had seen in Guatemala. We gazed about in silent awe at statues, effigies of people, birds, cats, and other animals that I did not recognize formed out of gleaming metals, stone, and crystal. I saw shelves with mineral and crystal samples on them. Several green stones caught my eye; the smallest was the size of my fist, the largest the size of a football. Could those be emeralds, I thought.

Jeannie’s answer came to me, “Yes.”

The room took our breath away. It was huge and filled with the remnants of past civilizations. As the light got brighter, more details revealed themselves. Like the outer room, it was hewn from the natural stone of the mountain. The ceiling was not visible, but floating overhead throughout the room were several orbs, three or four feet in diameter, providing the light. This room was so large you could have easily parked several commercial jets inside and have room to spare. Remember that last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they are putting the crate with the ark in it in the colossal storage warehouse? Well, imagine that warehouse ten times larger. That would be a close approximation to what we were seeing.

I heard Doc say, “Oh, my God,” as he turned his head to take in the scene before us.

Joe said, “This place is a library and a museum.”

O’Reilly added, “I have never seen anything so beautiful.”

The artificial light, reflecting off the various surfaces and objects, created a