This is from the book “Thiaoouba Prophecy” - about a
    direct contact to a superhuman race of nicelooking giants that happend in
    1987 in Australia - when then 58 year old Michel, suddenly got a thought of
    leaving bed half past twelve in the night - then writing a message to his
    wife that he 'would be far away for ten days'. He then left the house and was
    soon taken aboard on a big space-ship......
      It took many years before he succeeded
    in getting the book out. He says he got special help from the ETs in
    remembering the incident and in the writing of the book.
    "Believing is not enough... You need to KNOW
    
     
    
    Preface
    
    I have written this book as the result of orders received
    and which I have obeyed. Further, it is an account of events that happened
    to me personally - this I affirm.
    I imagine that, to some extent, this extraordinary story
    will appear to some readers as science fiction - a story entirely invented -
    but I do not have the imagination that such a fabrication would require.
    This is not science fiction.
    The reader of good faith will be able to recognise the
    truth in the message I transmit from my new friends to the people of the
    planet Earth.
    This message, in spite of numerous references to races and
    religions, reflects neither racial nor religious bias on behalf of the
    author.
    Michel Desmarquet,
    January, 1989
    
     
    
    They have eyes but they do not see -
    ears, and they do not hear...
    
    The Bible
    
    
     
    
    1.chapter
    Thao
    
     
    
    I awoke suddenly, not knowing how long I had slept. I was
    completely awake - fresh and alert - but good God, what time could it be?
    Lina was sleeping beside me, her fists closed, but then Lina always
    sleeps...
    I had no desire at all to go back to sleep and besides, it
    was possibly already five in the morning. I got up, made my way to the
    kitchen and checked the clock. Only 12.30am! It was unusual for me to wake
    up at such an hour, took off my pyjamas and dressed in trousers and a shirt,
    why, I had no idea. Neither can I explain why I went to my desk, took a
    sheet of paper and a biro and watched myself write, as if my hand had a mind
    of its own.
    ‘My dear, I’ll be away for about ten days. Absolutely
    no need to worry.’
    Leaving the note by the telephone, I headed through the
    door and on to the verandah. I avoided the table on which last night’s
    chess game remained, with the white King still in checkmate, and silently
    opened the door leading on to the garden.
    The night seemed to be suffused with a strange brightness,
    which had nothing to do with the stars. Instinctively, I tried to recall
    what phase the moon was currently in, thinking that perhaps it was about to
    rise. Here, in the north-east of Australia where I live, the nights are
    generally quite clear.
    I descended the outside stairs and headed towards the
    pandanus. Usually, at this time of night, we would have a veritable concert
    from the frogs and crickets whose chirring sounds fill the night. Now
    however, there was a heavy silence and I wondered why.
    I had only walked a few steps when, quite suddenly, the
    colour of the philodendrons changed. The wall of the house too, and the
    pandanus - all were bathed in a kind of bluish light. The lawn seemed to
    undulate beneath my feet and the ground beneath the pandanus waved also. The
    philodendrons distorted and the wall of the house resembled a sheet floating
    in the wind.
    
    
    here came Michel down the stair when he was taken away....
    
    Beginning to believe that I was not well, I decided to
    return to the house when, at that precise moment, I felt myself lifted quite
    gently from the ground. I rose, slowly at first, above the philodendrons,
    and then quicker, until I saw the house becoming smaller and smaller below
    me.
    ‘What is happening?’ I exclaimed in utter
    bewilderment.
    ‘All is well now, Michel.’
    By then, I believed I was dreaming. Before me, a human
    being of impressive size, dressed in a one-piece suit and wearing a
    completely transparent helmet on ‘her’ head, was looking at me -
    friendly and smiling.
    ‘No, you are not dreaming,’ she said, answering the
    question in my mind.
    ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘but it always happens this way in
    a dream and in the end you find you’ve fallen out of bed and have a lump
    on your forehead!’ She smiled. ‘Further’, I continued, ‘you are
    speaking to me in French, my native tongue, and yet we are in Australia. I
    do speak English, you know!’
    ‘So do I’.
    ‘It has to be a dream - one of those stupid dreams,
    moreover. If not though, what are you doing on my property?’
    
     The long-range spaceship was perfectly spherical,
    shiny metallic, @80 m diameter, no doors, no holes whatsoever, levitating
    when not in flight. You enter levitating with a special instrument, through
    a sort of piston that opens when you approach. When inside, you watch the
    outside using enormous 3D holographic displays with unbelievable clarity,
    color, zoom etc.. .(from Q&A)
    Illustration here not from book.
     
    ‘We are not on your property, but above it.’
    ‘Ah! It is a nightmare. You see I was right. I’ll
    pinch myself!’ I accompanied the words with the action. Ouch!
    She smiled again. ‘Now are you satisfied, Michel?’
    ‘But if it’s not a dream, why am I here sitting on
    this rock? Who are those people over there, dressed in the fashion of the
    last century?’
    I was beginning to distinguish, in a milky light, people
    talking and at a slight distance, others moving around.
    ‘And you, who are you? Why aren’t you normal sized?’
    ‘I am a normal size, Michel. On my planet we are all
    this size. But everything in good time, my dear friend. I hope you don’t
    mind me calling you that? If we aren’t good friends already, I am sure
    that we will be soon.’
    She stood there in front of me, intelligence reflected in
    her smiling face and goodness emanating from her entire being. It would not
    be possible to meet anyone with whom I could feel more at ease.
    ‘Of course, you may call me what you wish. And what is
    your name?’
    ‘My name is Thao, but first, I would like you to know,
    once and for all, that this is not a dream. Indeed, it is something quite
    different. For certain reasons which will be explained to you later, you
    have been chosen to undertake a journey which very few Earthlings have made
    - particularly in recent times.
    ‘We are, you and I, at this moment, in a universe which
    is parallel to that of Earth. In order to admit you, as well as ourselves,
    we have made use of an ‘airlock’.
    
     
 
    
    At this instant, time has stopped for you, and you could
    remain here twenty or fifty of your Earthly years and then return as if you
    hadn’t left. Your physical body would remain absolutely unchanged.’
    ‘But what are these people doing?’
    ‘They exist as well as can be expected and, as you will
    learn later, the population density is very low. Death only occurs by
    suicide or accident. Time is suspended. There are men and women, as well as
    some animals who are 30 000, 50 000 or even many more Earth years old.’
    ‘But why are they here and how did they come to be here?
    Where were they born?’
    ‘On Earth. . . they are all here by accident.’
    ‘By accident? What do you mean?’
    ‘It’s very simple. You have heard of the Bermuda
    Triangle?’ I nodded. ‘Well, quite simply, in this spot and in others
    less well known, this parallel universe becomes confused with your universe
    so that there exists between them a natural warp.
    ‘People, animals or even objects finding themselves in
    the immediate vicinity of a warp are literally sucked into it. Thus, you can
    have, for example, an entire fleet of boats disappear in several seconds.
    Sometimes a person, or persons, can pass back into your universe after
    several hours, several days or several years. More often, however, they
    never return.
    ‘When a man does return and relates his experience, the
    vast majority of people don’t believe him - and if he persists, he is
    assumed ‘crazy’. Most of the time, such a person recounts nothing at
    all, realising how he will appear in the eyes of his peers. Sometimes too,
    he returns amnesic, and if he recovers some memory, it is not of what
    happened in the parallel universe, and therefore sheds no light on the
    subject.
    ‘There was,’ Thao continued, ‘a typical case of this
    passage into a parallel universe in North America, where a young man
    literally vanished while going to fetch water from a well which was situated
    several hundred metres from his house. About an hour later, family and
    friends set out in search of him and, as there had been a fresh snowfall of
    about 20 centimetres, it should have been quite simple - they had only to
    follow the footprints left by the young man. But, right in the middle of the
    field - the footprints stopped.
    ‘There were no trees around, no rocks on to which he
    could have jumped - nothing strange or unusual - the footprints just stopped.
    Some people believed that he had been taken by a spacecraft, but that could
    not have been, as you will see later. This poor man had quite simply been
    sucked into the parallel universe.’
    ‘I remember’, I said, ‘I did hear of that particular
    case, but how do you know all about it?’
    ‘You will find out later how I know,’ she replied
    enigmatically.
    We were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a group of
    people so bizarre that again, I wondered if this was all a dream. About a
    dozen men, accompanied by what seemed to be a woman, emerged from behind a
    pile of rocks a hundred metres from where we were. The sight was even
    stranger, since these human beings appeared to have stepped out of the pages
    of prehistoric records. With the gait of gorillas, they brandished enormous
    clubs which modern man would not have been able to lift from the ground.
    These hideous creatures were coming straight for us, howling like wild
    beasts. I made a move to retreat, but my companion told me there was nothing
    to fear and that I should stay still. She put her hand on the buckle of her
    belt and turned so that she faced them.
    I heard a series of small clicks and five of the strongest
    looking men fell to the ground, motionless. The rest of the group stopped
    cleanly and began moaning. They prostrated themselves before us.
    I looked again at Thao. She stood like a statue, her face
    set. Her eyes were fixed on those people as though she was trying to
    hypnotise them. I later learned that she was giving orders by telepathy to
    the female of the group. Suddenly, this woman got up and began, it seemed to
    me, to issue orders in a guttural voice to the others. They then helped
    remove the bodies, carrying them on their backs to the pile of rocks
    mentioned earlier.
    ‘What are they doing?’ I asked.
    ‘They will cover their dead with stones.’
    ‘Did you kill them?’
    ‘I had to.’
    ‘What do you mean? Were we really in danger?’
    ‘Of course we were. These are people who have been here
    for ten or fifteen thousand years - who knows? We don’t have time to
    establish that and besides, it is of no importance. Nevertheless, it
    illustrates well what I was explaining to you a few moments ago. These
    people passed into this universe at a certain time, and they have lived in
    that time ever since.’
    ‘It’s frightful!’
    ‘I agree. However it is part of natural, and therefore
    universal, law. Furthermore, they are dangerous because they behave more
    like wild beasts than human beings. Dialogue would not have been possible
    between them and us, just as it is not possible between them and most of the
    others living in this parallel universe. For one thing, they are unable to
    communicate; and for another, they, less than anyone, understand what has
    happened to them. We were in real danger and, if I do say so, I have done
    them a favour just now, of liberating them.’
    ‘Liberating?’
    ‘Don’t look so shocked, Michel. You know quite well
    what I mean by that.
    ‘They are liberated from their physical bodies and are
    now able to continue their cycle, like every living being, according to the
    normal process.’
    ‘So if I understand correctly, this parallel universe is
    a curse - a kind of hell or purgatory?’
    ‘I didn’t realise you were religious!’
    ‘I just make this comparison to show you that I am
    trying to understand,’ I replied, wondering how she could know whether or
    not I was religious.
    ‘I know, Michel, I was only teasing. You were right in
    explaining it as a kind of purgatory but, of course, this is quite
    accidental. In fact, this is one of several accidents of nature. An albino
    is an accident, and a four-leafed clover can also be considered as an
    accident. Your appendix is just as much an accident. Your doctors still
    wonder what use it could possibly have in your body. The answer - no use
    whatsoever. Now usually, in nature, everything has a precise reason for
    existing - that’s why I list the appendix among the natural ‘accidents’.
    ‘People living in this universe suffer neither
    physically nor morally. For example, if I hit you, you would feel no pain,
    but if the blows were strong enough, although without pain, you could still
    die from them. This might be difficult to comprehend, but it is so. Those
    existing here know nothing of what I have just explained to you, and it is
    fortunate because they would be tempted to commit suicide - which, even
    here,
    is not a solution.’
    ‘What do they eat?’
    ‘They don’t eat, nor do they drink, because they don’t
    feel the need to. Here, remember, time has stopped - those dead won’t even
    rot.’
    ‘But that’s terrible! In all, the greatest service
    that one can render these people would be to kill them!’
    ‘You raise an important point there. Effectively it
    would be one of two solutions.’
    ‘What is the other?’
    ‘To send them back where they came from - but that would
    pose great problems. Because we are able to make use of the warp, we could
    return many of them to your universe, and thus liberate [1] them, but I’m
    sure you are aware of the enormous problems that would create for the
    majority of these people. Here, as I have already said, you have people, who
    have been here for thousands of years. What would happen if they found
    themselves back in the universe they left so long ago?’
    ‘They might go insane. In all, there is nothing to do.’
    She smiled gently at my affirmation.
    ‘You are certainly the man of action we require, Michel,
    but beware of jumping to conclusions - you have much more to see.’
    She put her hand on my shoulder, having to incline forward
    slightly to do so. Although I didn’t know it at the time, Thao measured
    290 centimetres, exceptionally tall for a human being.
    ‘I see with my own eyes that we made the right choice in
    selecting you - you have an astute mind, but I cannot explain everything to
    you now, for two reasons.’
    ‘Namely?’
    ‘First, it is still too soon for such an explanation. By
    this, I mean that you must be instructed further on certain points before
    proceeding beyond.’
    ‘I understand - and second?’
    ‘The second reason is that they are waiting for us. We
    must leave.’
    With a light touch, she turned me around. I followed her
    gaze and stared wide-eyed with surprise. About 100 metres from us was an
    enormous sphere, from which emanated a bluish Aura. I later learned that it
    measured 70 metres in diameter. The light was not steady, but shimmered,
    resembling a heat haze when one looks from a distance at sand heated by the
    summer sun.
    This enormous sphere ‘shimmered’ about ten metres from
    the ground. With no windows, no openings, no ladder, it appeared as smooth
    as the shell of an egg.
    Thao signalled for me to follow her and we set out towards
    the machine. I remember that moment very well. During the short time we took
    in approaching the sphere, I was so excited that I lost control of my
    thoughts. A constant stream of images flashed through my mind, resembling a
    film in the ‘fast-forward’ mode. I saw myself relating this adventure to
    my family, and I saw again newspaper articles I had read on the subject of
    UFOs.
    I remember a feeling of sadness sweep over me when I
    thought of my family whom I loved so much; I saw myself caught, as though in
    a trap, and it occurred to me that I might never see them again...
    ‘You have absolutely nothing to fear, Michel,’ said
    Thao. ‘Trust me. You will be reunited with your family very soon, and in
    good health.’
    I believe my mouth fell open in surprise, triggering in
    Thao a melodious laugh, such as is rarely heard among us Earthlings. That
    was the second time she had read my thoughts; the first time I thought might
    have been a coincidence, but this time there could be no doubt.
    When we arrived in close proximity to the sphere, Thao
    placed me in a position opposite her and about a metre’s distance away.
    ‘Do not touch me under any pretext, Michel, whatever
    happens. Under any pretext - do you understand?’
    I was quite taken aback by this formal order, but I
    nodded.
    
     
    
    She placed her hand on a type of ‘medallion’ I had
    noticed earlier ‘attached’ at the height of her left breast, and with
    the other hand, she held what resembled a large biro which she unclasped
    from her belt.
    She pointed the ‘biro’ above our heads and in the
    direction of the sphere. I thought I saw a green beam of light flash from it
    but I couldn’t be sure. She then pointed the ‘biro’ at me, her other
    hand still on the ‘medallion’ and quite simply, we rose, simultaneously,
    towards the wall of the machine. Just when I was sure we were going to
    collide with it, a portion of the hull retracted like an enormous piston in
    the core of a cylinder, revealing an opening, oval in shape, of about three
    metres in height.
    We regained our feet, Thao and I, on a type of landing
    inside the craft. She let go of her ‘medallion’ and with a dexterity
    that suggested she had done it often, she refastened her ‘biro’.
    ‘Come. We can touch each other now,’ she said.
    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 colour 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
    refreshing 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 colour 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 centre 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 colour 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 coloured 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 colours were wonderful - incomparable to anything I had ever
    seen on Earth. There were yellows, reds, greens, blues, oranges - within
    each colour, 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 colours 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 ‘colour’ 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 centre 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 colour 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.
    Thao took me in her arms, put me on the bunk and removed
    my mask. I saw that happen from two or three metres from my body! I imagine
    that certain things in this book will seem incomprehensible to the unwarned
    reader, but I saw my body from a distance and I was able to move about in
    the room just by thought.
    Thao spoke. ‘Michel, I know that you see me and hear me,
    but I am not able to see you myself, therefore I cannot look at you when I
    speak to you.  Your Astral being has left your body. There is no danger in
    this - you needn’t worry. I know that this is the first time this has
    happened to you, and there are people who panic...
    ‘I have given you a special drug in order to cleanse
    your body of all bacteria that is dangerous to us. I have also given you
    another drug that has caused your Astral being to leave your body - this
    will last three hours, the time it will take to purify you. In this way, you
    will be able to visit our spacecraft, without danger of contamination to us
    and without wasting time.’
    As strange as it seems, I found this quite natural - and I
    followed her. It was fascinating. She arrived in front of a panel that slid
    open to let us pass into one chamber after another. I was following at some
    distance and each time, if the panel had already closed by the time I
    reached it - I quite simply passed through it.
    Finally, we reached a circular room, about 20 metres in
    diameter, in which there were at least a dozen ‘astronauts’ - all women
    and all about Thao’s size. Thao approached a group of four who were seated
    in enormous, comfortable looking armchairs, arranged in a circle. When she
    sat down in a vacant seat, the four heads turned towards her questioningly.
    She almost seemed to take delight in making them wait: finally she spoke.
    I was again charmed to hear that language - the assonance
    was quite new to me, and the intonations so harmonious that one would have
    thought they were singing. They all seemed to be greatly interested in Thao’s
    report. I supposed they were speaking of me, believing correctly that I was
    the main purpose of their mission.
    When Thao stopped, the questions streamed forth, and two
    other astronauts joined the group. The discussion swelled and developed a
    tone of increased excitement.
    Not understanding a word of what was being said, and
    having noticed on entering three people positioned in front of screens
    displaying 3-dimensional images, more or less vividly coloured, I approached
    to discover that this must certainly be the control room of the spacecraft.
    Being invisible made it even much more interesting since each person was
    performing her duties without being disturbed, or even distracted, by my
    presence.
    On a screen bigger than the rest, I was able to discern
    dots - some larger than others and some brighter, which moved steadily and
    without interruption in their prescribed directions, several towards the
    left of the screen and others towards the right.
    Their speed increased as they grew on the screen and
    finally exited from it. Their colours were often brilliant and
    extraordinarily beautiful, ranging from subtle tones to a blinding yellow,
    like the light from our sun.
    I soon realised that these were the planets and suns among
    which we were navigating, and I was absolutely fascinated by their silent
    progression across the screen. I can’t say how long I had been watching
    them, when suddenly a strange sound filled the cabin - a sound which was
    soft and at the same time, insistent, and which was accompanied by many
    flashing lights.
    The effect was immediate. The astronauts who had been
    talking with Thao, now approached the control post and each took a seat that
    seemed to be personally assigned to her. Everyone’s eyes were fixed
    attentively on the screens.
    Right in the middle of these large monitors, I began to
    distinguish an enormous mass that is difficult to describe. Let me say only
    that it was round in form and blue-grey in colour. It remained immobile in
    the centre of each screen.
    In the room, all was silent. The general attention was
    focused on three astronauts in command of oblong-shaped pieces of equipment
    resembling in some ways, our computers.
    Suddenly, covering a huge area of what I believed was a
    wall of the cabin I was stupefied to see an image of New York - no! That’s
    Sydney, I said to myself, and yet the bridge is different ... was it even a
    bridge?
    My surprise was such I had to ask Thao, at whose side I
    was standing. I had forgotten however, that I was no longer in my physical
    body and no one could hear me. I was able to hear Thao and others commenting
    on what they were seeing but, not understanding their language, it didn’t
    get me far. I was convinced though, that Thao had not lied to me and
    therefore we had well and truly left Earth behind. My mentor had explained
    we were travelling at several times the speed of light ... and I had seen
    Saturn pass by and later, what I took to be planets and suns - so had we
    come back, and why?
    Thao spoke aloud and in French, which caused all heads to
    turn in her direction.
    ‘Michel, we are stationed above the planet Aremo X3
    which is almost twice the size of planet Earth, and as you can see on the
    screen, quite similar to your world.
    ‘I can’t explain at any length our current mission as
    I am required to participate in the operation, but I will do so later. To
    put you on the right track, I will tell you that our mission concerns atomic
    radiation such as you know on Earth’.
    Everyone seemed preoccupied: each knew exactly what to do
    and when to do it. We were stationary. The large panel projected an image of
    the centre of a town. The reader should understand that this large panel was
    in fact, no more than an immense television screen, projecting an image in
    relief so real, we could have been looking out the window of a tall building.
    My attention turned to another smaller screen being
    monitored by two of my ‘hostesses’. On this panel I could see our
    spacecraft, as I had already seen it in our parallel universe. As I watched,
    I was surprised to see, slightly below the middle of our vessel, a small
    sphere ejected, like an egg from a hen. Once outside, this sphere
    accelerated rapidly towards the planet below. As it disappeared from view,
    another sphere emerged in the same manner, and then a third. I noticed each
    sphere was being monitored on separate screens by different groups of
    astronauts.
    The descent of the spheres could now be easily followed on
    the large panel. The distance should have made them invisible in quite a
    short time but they remained in sight and I deduced that the camera had to
    have an extraordinarily powerful ‘zoom’. Indeed, the effect of the zoom
    was so strong that the first sphere disappeared from the right of the panel
    and the second from the left. We could now only see the middle one and
    followed its descent to the ground quite clearly. It stopped in the centre
    of an immense square, situated among apartment buildings. There it hovered,
    as though suspended several metres from the ground. The other spheres were
    monitored in the same detail. One was above a river that flowed through the
    town, and the other hovered above a hill, near the city.
    Unexpectedly, the panel projected a new image. I could now
    distinctly see the doors of the apartment buildings, or rather, the doorways,
    for where doors should have been, were gaping openings.
    I remember clearly that, until then, I had not realised
    how odd this town was...
    Nothing had moved...
    
     
     
    
    Atomic destruction
    
    A single word can impart what was being reflected from the
    panel: ‘Desolation’. The street we were observing, piece by piece, was
    cluttered with ‘mounds’ generally arranged one behind the other. Some
    stood apart while others lay right in the middle of the openings to the
    buildings. Imperceptibly, the camera zoomed closer and I soon understood
    that these ‘mounds’ had to be vehicles - vehicles that were somewhat
    similar in shape to flat-bottomed boats.
    Around me, the astronauts were attending to their desks.
    From each sphere emerged a long tube that descended slowly towards the
    surface. When the end of the tube touched the ground, a little cloud of dust
    rose, and I realised that the vehicles too were covered in a thick blanket
    of dust, rendering them formless and unrecognisable. Of course, the sphere
    that hovered above the river had its tube in the water. My attention was now
    riveted on the panel, for the scene was quite fascinating - one had the
    exact impression of being in the street.
    My attention was especially drawn to a darkened place in
    the entrance of a huge building. I could have sworn something moved...
    I also felt there was a certain agitation among the
    astronauts. Abruptly, and with a series of jerks, the ‘thing’ emerged
    into the light. I was horrified by what I saw. As for my ‘hostesses’,
    apart from some utterances spoken more quickly, and a few exclamations in
    which emotion could be discerned, I must say that they didn’t really seem
    surprised. However, what we were seeing so clearly on the panel was a
    horrible cockroach, about two metres long and 80 centimetres high.
    The reader will certainly have seen, at one time or
    another, these nasty little insects we have on Earth, particularly in hot
    climates, living in cupboards and damp places.
    You will agree that they are loathsome, but the biggest
    would be no more than five centimetres in length. Imagine then, one with the
    dimensions I have just described. It was truly an abomination.
    The tube from the sphere began to retract, yet was still a
    metre from the ground when suddenly, the creature hurried forward to attack
    this thing which moved. Untrustingly, it stopped again, when from under the
    building, a veritable swarm of the creatures emerged, spilling one over the
    other. Just then, a ray of intense blue light beamed from the sphere and
    swept over the group, reducing it instantly to carbonised dust. A cloud of
    black smoke hid the entrance to the building from view.
    My curiosity further aroused, I watched the other screens,
    but they indicated no problems. The sphere from the river was returning
    towards us, and the sphere on the hill retracted its tube, moved a little
    higher and lowered the tube again, along with a second cylinder above the
    sphere. I had guessed, of course, that the astronauts were collecting
    samples of soil, water and air. Being in Astral body, I couldn’t ask Thao
    any questions; in any case, she seemed quite busy conferring with two of the
    ‘hostesses. The spheres began climbing towards us and were soon ready to
    be ‘reabsorbed’ by our spacecraft.
    When the operation was complete, Thao and the two
    astronauts mentioned took their places opposite their respective desks.
    Instantly, the images we received on the panel and screens changed
    completely.
    I understood we were leaving when each one took her place.
    I observed that all the astronauts had a similar posture in their seats,
    which intrigued me. I later learned that a force field restrained them
    exactly as a security harness would have restrained a stuntman on Earth.
    The suns illuminated the planet through a reddish fog. We
    had left by then, and I assumed we were following the contour of the planet,
    at the same altitude. In fact, we could see a desert-like area passing by,
    dissected by dry riverbeds that sometimes crossed each other at right
    angles. It occurred to me they might be canals, or at least had been man
    made.
    The panel revealed images of a town apparently intact,
    then it disappeared and the screen went blank. The vessel had obviously
    gained speed in flying over the planet, as the images on the smaller screens,
    showing a lake or inland sea, flashed by quickly. Suddenly, several
    exclamations were heard and we immediately slowed down. The panel was turned
    on and presented a close-up of the lake. We stopped.
    We could clearly see a portion of the coast and, beyond
    some large rocks by the lake, we could make out cube-like structures which I
    imagined to be habitations. As soon as we had stopped, the spheres began
    their operations again, just as they had earlier.
    next part