Visitation - Exodus (book 2 of 2)

What a gorgeous day. The sun was shining bright and it was pleasantly warm standing in its direct rays

There were a few cotton drifts of clouds skating gently and slowly across the clear blue expanse of sky and all felt well on such an entrancing spring afternoon. I really loved these types of days and not just for their pleasant weather, there was much, much more to these very special of days. The air was clean and beautifully scented by the wild flowers of this meadow.

A sense of excitement arose within me at what I knew lay ahead; I felt the adrenalin effect kick in as my heart started to race and my legs becoming twitchy for movement; I did not try to dissuade them from being so. I needed to move on quickly to what awaited me. I entered the expanse of woodland here at the top of the slope. Away from the direct warmth of the sun now into the coolness of the welcoming shade. A sense of anticipatory elation was building nicely within me. I was buoyed up with the excitement.

The sound of the birds within the forest was such sweet music and it seemed to drift effortlessly in my direction on the gentle waves of a sultry breeze. This was a truly gentle breeze, wafting up the wooded slope towards and past me, bringing with it a scented mixture of herbs to overpower my senses. Wild sage, perhaps sorrel, certainly a hint of mint gently refreshing the senses and that has to be anise, unmistakably anise.

A wonderful day to fill the senses with natural delight, bringing such a sense of life, of natural life, of a life in which I was surely a part, a natural part that embraced me with its loveliness. The warmth of this day, young muscles, an easy stride and so much to look forward to, was pure exhilaration.

The meadow like slope, moist still with the occasional spot of gentle dew on the lush grass, gave way to the great fir trees. The dark brown trunks of these great tall trees projected up from the undulating soft carpet of many years’ fallen needles while between them cradling moist, cool hollows.Their old low branch stubs created sharp points most certainly to be avoided and not to be walked into, although most were above my head height. The canopy, way, way above my head created a cool dapple lit permanence beneath an otherwise hot sun suspended in the nearly clear blue, afternoon sky.

Their predominant scent of pine, overlaying the hints of herbs, there still but barely detectable, was ringing bells in my head for some reason but I could not figure out why and in all honesty, I cared less. This day was another wonderful one, as most seemed to be this late spring, almost summer, to be enjoyed and to fill the soul with unbridled happiness. This day was also special for another reason and my heart was singing to an anticipatory rhythm of its own.

Carefully avoiding old fallen branches, hidden beneath the soft quilt or laid haphazardly on the surface, and trying not to fall over in the hollows where the barely dry stream beds lay between each crest, I slowly made my way to where I sensed my love was waiting. To the place we had always tried to meet whenever we could get away from the normal roles of our lives, a special place for us to be alone; the edge of a great lake of sweet fresh water. At this time of year it would be low enough to reach a large, cool, cave entrance by its shore.

I had received her message, had hurried to arrive at this, my usual starting point, as soon as I could get away from the tasks of my employment. I was enjoying the pleasantness of the passage through this particular section of woodland to where I knew she would be waiting for me. She was always waiting and ahead of me but then she had less distance to travel to be at our special place.

The day was barely past its mid point and there was so much pleasure waiting until the cool evening would bring the stars into a clear dark sky. Only then would we decide to return up this slope treading so carefully in the deep blackness of a magical night-time wood. Although we had often met on previous occasions at the top of the slope to walk through the woods together, of late she had become a terrible tease increasing my sense of anticipation by waiting at our destination, the large, cool cave entrance. I did not mind too much because the result was that our meeting was all the more passionate for it.

Soon the ground would increase its gentle slope onwards and downwards toward the sandy exposed shoreline but for now, I had to keep moving forward through this expanse of delicious woodland bordering the great expanse of cool fresh water. I did not need to stop to take in the cool scent of the pines nor of the wild herbs that grew in the odd places where the sun managed to penetrate. This heady mixture was all around and required but a brief pause where the sunlight penetrated the rich canopy for the wild herbs to be at their strongest, to ingest each time, their wonderful heady aroma.

It was no surprise to ourselves why we had chosen this place those years ago but somewhat strange that no one else had ever taken a similar advantage to the one we so enjoyed.  A new scent filled my nostrils as I continued forward, that arising from the lake. It had its own particular sweet odour I was sure the wild animals recognised when seeking a fresh drink. They did not give me much concern, because if any were present they would normally stay well out of sight of this noisy intruder. Only occasionally had I ever found myself eye-to-eye with a wild boar or a deer and then we both just walked away from each other without conflict. This wood really was a magical place, I felt certain of that.

Neither the animals nor I would have to search far for the lake, it was enormous and disappeared over the horizon in a shimmering haze of rising, moist heat on such days as these.The aroma of the sweet water drifted naturally up through the trees, being warmer than the cooler air here and added a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to the experience. The wafting of warm and cool airs with their multiplicity of gentle sensory assaults could only be described as enchantingly wonderful.

Even the coarse grass, when I would reach it springing out of the sandy shore in large clumps, after the water line had receded, had its own distinct scent. It was something akin to a herb yet subtly different. It would not be long before my anticipation was surpassed by the reality of stepping carefully between it, inhaling the distinctive perfume it released.

The ground took a general dip downwards now and the sunlight reflecting of the surface ripples of the great expanse of water came bouncing through the opening gaps in the great army of trunks. The sparkling flashes through a light misty cooling haze could be romantic and enchanting in a sort of magical way, but today, on a clear warm afternoon the effect became a random sequence of sharp flashes that was calling me on to my destination.

I could not see my love, my lady, not yet, but I was aware most surely of her presence. The aura of love and warmth that I now suddenly encountered, overpowering the natural aromas told me for certain that she was definitely somewhere near and not at all far away. I was now walking through her recent presence, she would surely be aware of this, and that I was enjoying every moment.

Shortly she would come into sight, standing by the water’s edge, but to feel her magic surround me now was a wonderful thing and I knew that I was closing the distance between us. I did not know how she managed to create this embrace from such a distance but I had no wish to dissect and reason how; it was delightful to be simply within the aura she projected. An aura that would always start with the announcement of her presence, her projected love, and then become a deeper sensation the closer I came to her.

The ground dipped a little steeper now and the downhill direction became distinct. The vast expanse of glistening water could now be seen as the trees thinned out slightly.

There, I could just make out her slim figure in the diaphanous, pastel blue, flowing gown she wore on our special occasions. There she was down at the waters edge, her bare legs gliding effortlessly, splashing her delicate feet through the sparkling shallows. She was moving away from me towards our cave, looking over her shoulder, brushing away her auburn tresses and even from this distance I could see her enticing, playful smile. In fact I felt more than saw her smile.

She was really teasing me now and moving further away along the shoreline kicking up clouds of spray and laughing as she did so. Then it was clear that as she moved quickly towards our cave and turning her head to glance in my direction, her smiling face had broken into laughter. “Oh you tease,” I thought, “wait until I catch up with you.”

Had she heard me? I was sure that she had. She was more sensitive at communicating than me and was quite capable at teasing from a distance, which she often did; I didn’t mind, it was always a delight to have her so close to me. A few more yards and I would break cover from this paradise into another, and from there to the other paradise of my lover’s arms.

I came clear of the tree line and onto the steep edge of the sandy, coarse grass-lined shore. I had to step carefully down this little scented slope, the winter shoreline but now devoid of water, to the soft, hot sands of the bay without twisting an ankle on any loose rocks. I reached the hot soft sand and looked up to see where she was, almost at the mouth of the cave some fifty yards or so away. Out of the water, on the silver white sand and carelessly swinging her hair this way and now that, in rhythm to her lithe body, draped from her shoulders and past her equally swinging hips barely concealed within her almost transparent gown. I could feel her teasing laughter within her aura that was now penetrating, very deliberately so, my very being; she was good at this little act.

The front edge of the cave was just short of the cool summer water and backed into the large cliff face of the wild rocky and wooded mountainous features behind. The cave would be cool, it was always cool and had cool dry rocks to sit upon; even its smooth white sandy floor was cool and dry; good to lay upon.

I removed my shoes and socks quickly to cut across the shallows to catch up with her. The hot, soft, almost silvery white sand, found its way between and over my toes, to tell me exactly where I was; on the way to a personal heaven. Over there, only a short distance away now, about to enter the cave she turned to face me and with this glance in my direction, I experienced the most wonderful ripples of her projected warm glows of love.

I stood in the shallows with cooling feet, being lapped by the ripples, but within an incredible aura almost capable of being touched or tasted. The aura lingered still as she entered the cool intimacy of the darkened but sensually welcoming cave.

I detected her scent now, not the perfume she wore but her personal scent and I was aroused by it. I had to move forward much faster, I did not want to linger a moment longer than I had to. I saw her face appear now from out of the darkness of the cave but with a bigger smile than normal; she was laughing out loud and waving at me to hurry to her side. She disappeared back inside to the darkness; she was teasing at her most intense.

I stepped forward hastily and immediately stubbed my toe on a hidden stone just below the water line. My gaze was directed downwards immediately to see what I had struck and I stopped in a cold, adrenalin pumping, shock.

I still had on my footwear or rather some white boots I had not been wearing before.

I glanced up, for some sort of confirmation of where I was. There was the cool water of the great lake, the sun in the near clear sky and the aura of my love still penetrating my very being from the depths of the cool cave. I looked down again to ensure that what I had seen had been some sort of aberration of the mind, a momentary loss of reality.

The water was now gone and only the once white sand, now brown and dusty, remained. I was stood upon it in feet clad in white boots.

I looked up. The lake had disappeared and I could no longer sense her aura. Where was she and most importantly, where was I?

My head was spinning; was I having some sort of breakdown or experiencing some sort of mental delusion? My heart was truly beating heavy now, compounded by a sense of fear hammering at my soul.

I looked up; the sky was no longer a clear bright blue, it was thin, dark and dusty. I was stood in a baked desert that was freezing cold. There was no water, no trees, no grass, no scent, no aura and my breathing increased rapidly as my head spun. I had to work hard to avoid falling over into a collapsed, sensory altered heap.

I was clad in a space suit that, while it was providing all the heat I needed, the sensation of cold was only too real. Why was I dressed in a space suit, one that I recognised from the old photographs?

What had happened? I could not fathom this out.

My world had suddenly inverted, I was lost in a time and a place that made no sense, and without a glimmer of an idea of how this could have happened? I was shocked, my heart was pounding too quickly and I could feel a sense of trembling fear taking an unmovable hold on me. My breathing was now short panting, gasping intakes of a generated air that I could hardly control.

Who was I, what was I doing here, where was my love?

Had I been transported into some terrible dream?

Was I dreaming, in some sort of delusional nightmare, had my mind simply lost control of its senses?

I looked out of desperation towards the cave, which was still where I had last seen it. There was no hint of greenery either above or behind it on any sort of wild mountainside. I turned to look for the forest I had just walked through but my eyes confirmed that it was no longer there. It had been replaced by a rock strewn, featureless slope, save for what I was now standing upon, the same brownish dusty sand that persisted as far as the eye could see.

Suddenly I was enclosed by the aura of warmth that I knew only my love could project. I spun round, with as much speed as the restrictive suit would allow me, to seek her at the cave. Yes, I had to be experiencing some sort of mental aberration; this sensation would soon right itself, I tried to convince myself.

A figure in a white suit, similar I guessed to the one I was wearing, was standing just outside of the cave waving at me, beckoning me to come over. It had to be her but where was the gown and why was she dressed like me in a clumsy, all embracing yet life preserving, white suit. I tried to shout but the enclosure of the domed helmet in which my head resided pulled me up short. I was completely encased, and there, so was she.

I could feel another panic welling up within and I desperately wanted to be free of this restriction, to feel the warm air on my face, to embrace the senses but I was also aware that it was this restriction keeping me alive. It must surely be the same for my love over by the cave.

I moved forward from simple reaction but not at the same speed that I thought I had been moving at only a few moments before; much slower now. My legs seemed as though they had minds of their own. They were carrying me forward automatically into the strengthening aura of a welcoming warmth, but this was not from my love, it was different.

Who was this? What was she, it had to be a ‘she’, and how was she doing this.

My confusion took me over, the adrenalin was flowing madly and I almost turned to run away but something deep inside was telling me to continue. There was a purpose for me being here but though I felt it, I could not give it a name. I was not able to rationalise my loss of reality or conflicting emotions as I was drawn to this person by something that was commanding; commanding me. That something was not me, it was she, and she was drawing me into her presence within the cave.

Was I to be a fly to her spider?

I could not stop my feet from moving forward and I was being drawn inexorably to goodness knows what. This experience of having a lack of self control was frightening yet was intermingled and shaded with a nuance of a most pleasurable sensation; I was confused. I reached the cave entrance desperately short of breath and reason. I was trembling madly when calmness was suddenly placed upon me, from her; I knew for certain that it was a ‘her’.

I stepped into the gloom, to where she had retreated, to find myself face to face with a white clad suit of a figure whose face gently smiled from out of her helmet.

I was not frightened, yet I thought I should be.

She did not or could not speak but, frustratingly, neither could I.

She smiled again and the overwhelming sense of reassurance now engulfing me worked its strange magic. I found myself calmed down yet my heart was still thumping noticeably in my ears, albeit with a reducing intensity on each successive beat. I was returning to what I took as normal but not the illusory normality I had experienced a short time previous.

She stepped forward the few short paces to be directly in front of me. Her arms stretched out in an open greeting and I instinctively took her hands in mine. My breath was taken away and I took a long slow intake of the clean air within this suit.

A contact of some strange sort was made as we held each other’s hands, not a physical one, but a mental connection. Then my head started to spin. Not with dizziness or a disturbing sickness, but with a pleasant unusual movement encompassed within some sort of coloured mist that appeared to swirl directly before my eyes. I instinctively knew, or more accurately hoped, that this was only an illusion within my mind. I had experienced swirling mists not too long ago and it was not at all pleasant; what was to come?

An embracing sensation of calm gently placed me in its embrace and my fears eased.

My eyes were open and I was looking directly into hers through our helmets. Her eyes were somewhere about hazel in colour and were focussed intently upon mine. She was not staring at me, yet she was, and the sensation was similar to that experienced when Caterin stared intently into my eyes to reach deeply within me for control. The name ‘Caterin’ instantly struck a hard chord with me and my memory returned in an instant. I knew who I was and why I was here.

What had happened in the time immediately before this, the trees, the lake and the lover’s aura which were vivid still in my thoughts?

There were two pictures of reality within my confused thoughts but which was the truth and which was not?

One seemed a distant memory and the other recent, but I was unable to determine which was which. As a trembling started inside and threatened to precede something that seemed intent to overtake me, I conversely found myself being placed at ease again by a forceful, though undemanding aura and a presence that exuded nothing but calm.

The coloured mistiness was also still present and swirling throughout but, it seemed, not in thought, or then again perhaps it was. It was most certainly real and I saw or sensed it changing its hue; white one moment, now drifting to a cream and then into a strong bright golden glow. The mistiness was taking over the full range of my vision, enveloping all and nothing else seemed to exist.

The gold colour pulled into a tight circular, or was it spherical shape, did it even have a shape. It expanded to fill my minds eye vision out of which I saw the face of this lady emerge in front of me. Absent of her suit’s helmet, her long elegant face slowly grew from within its centre of the glow, her golden hair dropping over her shoulders to blend with the golden haze.

A connection was being formed. Her face filled my entire vision now and the reality of the situation was overtaken by this mind’s eye view. I no longer saw a suited woman within this dim cave on the surface of Mars but the warmth of a subtle feminine presence into which I allowed myself to be drawn without resistance. I did not want to resist, I could not resist, I was being taken now and it was most pleasant; why should I resist?

Then the face changed slowly but inexorably, morphing from one to another, one that I instantly recognised as it formed fully.

I was now looking at myself.

There I was stood in front of me, except the gloom of the cave was not there, being replaced by the halo of the bright light round my helmet coming off that cold, wind swept desert and dusty pale sky.

I was looking at myself through her eyes, my thoughts were her thoughts and these truly became mine. Her eyes were now my eyes and she must be looking back at herself, me. We became as one, our minds melding together, our thoughts and emotions shared in the single sphere of a loving, knowledgeable, physically erotic, embrace.

Oh the ecstasy, of being two as one, knowing and feeling her every bodily sensation as my own and her every thought mingled with my own. Were her experiences the same as mine, surely so; we were man and woman held together in one existence knowing each other intimately so.

Then in a slow, gentle untangling of our sensations, I found myself drawn inexorably back to the person I was and she surely to hers. I wished to stay conjoined but I was being gently separated to return to myself, to my own sensations. I wished to continue the pleasure of being as one with her but it was not to be so.

“Hello Ian,” I heard her words or was it my words spoken deep somewhere inside my head.

They were spoken in a manner that others must have heard me use previously, except this was not me speaking, or was it, it could not be; it had to be this entrancing image of sensuous womanhood before me.

These two words were spoken with a tenderness and meaning of which Caterin would have been jealous, so much sensation and emotion in two words spoken simply.

“Are you well?” she queried in the same gentle manner.

“You seem to be,” she almost whispered into my thoughts.

“Yes, fine I guess,” I managed but I found myself thinking that this was somewhere between silly and trite.

I saw her smile, I felt her smile, perhaps it was me smiling, she was not holding back, she was not ridiculing me, she was genuinely happy at the utterance I managed.

“How. . . .” I started.

“Because I have the gift that you have Ian,” she replied before I could form any more words properly.

“I was chosen because of you,” she continued.

“We have a similar talent.”

“The Seniors here were most aware of your gift because of your searching calls to find us.”

“My name is Shara, although you should be aware of that already, and we are to work together. To work to provide the method by which the remains of a once great civilisation, our people, can escape the prison that this planet has become for us all.”

I had not picked up on her name, but yes, as I glanced inside my thoughts, or was it her thoughts, there it was and her mental smile broadened even more. I felt nothing but a warm heartfelt glow within; she was most genuinely pleased that we had met, but how were we communicating like this. I did not need an answer to this as I thought I knew it already but she replied in any case and without any sort of criticism.

“That is a result of our talents coming together and our minds joining as one,” she explained.

“I am not speaking your language and you are not speaking mine but we are communicating so well, are we not?”

I had not considered that, but if she told me it was true, how could I not believe it. This was answering my doubts back on the Ark when I started calling out.

“Our thoughts are saying what we want to say to each other and now you will be able to talk to any of us, including our Seniors who are keen to meet you.”

I was stunned but in a most pleasant welcoming way. Each word spoken, or thought, or whatever, was a revelation. It was as though I had opened a long-since lost, esoteric book with words of scintillating gold letters, each flying off the turned page towards me to my most pleasurable erudition.

She was taking my thoughts, or were they hers, away from the bosom warmth of this total experience of immersed sensations, towards matters of concern now within her reality. My thoughts had to be mine, did they not and not hers; she was confusing me.

My thoughts raced, or were they driven, to the scene that I had once painted in my writings of the buggy command centre and the face that peered at the camera; there in the last words of the book that I had written, so long ago it seemed now. I was at the place, which I had described. I had been told, had I not, that I was describing a reality that others could not see or imagine.

“It’s outside Ian, did you not notice it,” she laughed gently.

“Do not worry about that toy; it will not be continuing its exploration work, ever.”

She laughed again, a gentle laugh.

“It was such a shame that we had to disable it; there must have been a great deal of expense and hard work to deliver it here. We could not let it continue, it was coming too close to finding the truth of our existence and this worried us.”

“Was it your face that was seen back on Earth?” I queried.

“No, that was the face of a fellow survivor who was sent out to, um, shall we say, make it unserviceable. It’s surprising just how much damage a heavy rock can do to sensitive instruments.”

I smiled, but I was still motionless, exchanging small talk, as pleasant as it may be, but in the desire to be within her once again, I remembered that I had a mission to complete. That came hurtling into my senses like a cold shower. The forest, how or when had I walked through it, what person had I been, had I been dreaming or hallucinating?

“I understand,” she now voiced, no it had to be in thought, in a somewhat more sober tone.

“I know of your journey to this place, I felt it, I remember as you remember, I feel as you feel and I believe I know what has happened.”

“The hallucination was very real in a very special way, Ian,” she continued, “but it was not expected by ourselves, nor am I most sure, by you. I felt your experience but could not influence it in any way, not until you came close, and then a fortuitous stubbing of a toe helped to break the spell and allow me in.”

“I believe you experienced something that probably occurred to another before you, many, many generations ago, something that was communicated to you for a reason, in a vision by a process we do not understand.”

“It may have been communicated to you perhaps, by what you know as the Universal Consciousness.”

“You were given that special experience for a reason that I cannot explain. Perhaps it was given to you so that you can describe, to those who have travelled with you, what was here before the Great Catastrophe.”

“I have seen what you have seen, I shall not forget and I shall pass this on with my abilities to those who will cherish it dearly. You have seen the reality of our home before its destruction.”

“There is a special nature about you that I have rarely seen before. I felt it when our minds came together and now I know of its capabilities. You have been chosen somehow to know of our ancient home and to tell of its beauty but I cannot tell you how or why.”

“You landed in one of the ancient crafts, did you not?” she brought me back to the present reality with a rapid change of topic; a cold reality that again struck home. She knew the real details of my presence here.

“But of course I do Ian, your memories and understanding are also now mine. You must bring the craft over to a position outside of the cave and facing towards the entrance, then the loading can start.”

“The loading,” I remembered now and that I had to make contact with and prepare all those who were here to be ready to leave.

“We are already prepared, Ian,” Shara responded to my struggling thoughts.

I felt suddenly lost, reality was leaving me yet again but it was also staring me in the face. I had experienced some sort of illusion. I was on a mission but I was someone else, yet it was me of whom I should be aware. I was this lady, Shara, yet I was still myself; my head was spinning and I could feel myself being overwhelmed. A steadying aura seemed to engulf me; to swirl through my thoughts as she continued to smile at me, then it held me together as my head was cleared.

I was not stressed nor disturbed by this enforced return to a reality of sorts.

“When you were circling the planet in one of the Arks, we heard you and knew that salvation was finally close at hand. We knew that we had to prepare quickly,” she explained.

“This is something that has been a feature of our myths and stories for many generations, an event we often dreamed of but one which we have never allowed ourselves to be fully prepared for.”

“Our ancient stories have come true with your presence.”

“I ask you again to talk to the pilot of your craft and bring it here to the entrance of this cave. I cannot communicate fully with him, as I can with you, without another melding of minds and I wish to keep our experience as something special to both of us. I feel sure that you understand.”

I did.

“I’m, already here, Ian,” Ivan’s voice came clearly to Shara and me alike although I believed, mistakenly as it turned out, that his words were only understandable to me. I turned to see the shimmering desert air outside, solidify into the craft that I left back up the rise, before my illusory walk through the forest. Ivan had been and was still, picking up on my thoughts and using his and my own talent to not only reply to me but also take the action requested.

“No Ian,” Shara jumped in.

“It’s because the two of us are thinking as one so that any other who may be near us, having a similar though slighter talent, are able to join in. It is something we sometimes use between ourselves.”

“When another speaks to you in your language, I hear the same but in my language and this will also work in the opposite direction; we are mutual translators between ourselves and receivers and transmitters for our own people.”

I had to think about that one but not for long, as very quickly it seemed to make complete sense.

“Do not lower the ramp, Ivan.” Shara was now taking control of the situation and issuing commands through me.

“Wait for my signal.”

At that, something started to happen deeper within the cave. It slowly became illuminated and it was clear that a flat construction, a wall, existed from cave wall to cave wall and from floor to roof, sealing the rear off. A small door at the base of this wall opened and two figures in suits of the same pattern as Shara and me stepped through.

“Ian you must come inside for a moment,” She told me as I was gently tugged, not physically but via our thought connections.

I followed her towards the door where the two suited people had just exited and as I passed, they turned and smiled warmly but silently at me. I stepped through the door into a brightly lit room, similar in appearance to the one at the base where I had been fitted for my suit; all white and seamlessly smooth but with a circular wall and roof reminiscent of the underground train system tunnels back on Earth.

The small door was not closed and I could see what the two figures outside were doing. They went to opposite sides of the cave and the one that I could watch further, the other now out of sight, reached up to touch the side wall. Then they were walking away from the wall hauling, with ease, a very wide but lightweight translucent tube with some sort of reinforcing concertina wire embedded within and expanding easily as it went. It was sort of oval shaped which I did not understand; very wide but maybe no more than say eight or nine foot high.

“Now Ivan, be ready to lower the ramp when I ask,” Shara was issuing instructions again.

I did not intervene as the plan being executed before me must have been some time in the planning and I was not aware of any of the details. I felt Shara smile warmly and convince me that all was well. Everywhere people seemed to be smiling. I just relaxed again and everything continued to be 'normal'.

Through the door, I could see that the two figures had taken the translucent tube up to the underside of the craft, where they appeared to attach it with barely any effort. They clearly knew where to place the tube and how to attach it, seemingly without effort. As soon as they stepped away, I heard Shara give her instruction and the ramp started lowering into the tube’s interior.

I could only see the figures vaguely through the flexible tube but I felt their communication with, or was it through, Shara who waived her arm in the direction of a side wall of this white chamber.

“Most of us have no gift at all, Ian. We two are specially gifted and there are others who are less so.”

“Your Ivan and one of the two men out there have a partial gift only. I sometimes have to talk and occasionally, as right now, wave my arm in a silent signal.”

I heard the air entering this chamber, but had no idea where this came from, and watched as the oval shaped tube expanded to the limits of its reinforcement. I kept my visor down and my dome intact; I was not sure of the events to follow and I did not wish to take chances, yet I was being calmed and assured, without words, by Shara.

A door in the chamber wall opened and a stream of people, all carrying various forms of small bags in their hands and shoulder bags, all in different colours each well stuffed with what I assumed were minimal possessions started to move out. The parade of young, old, adults, children, men and woman, some in family groups, filed past through the chamber, out of the door into the air filled tube and towards the ramp which they were easily ascending. A stream of refugees came to mind.

None gave me or Shara, a second glance; they kept walking past at a steady pace with a mixture of excitement and fear variously etched on their faces. Into the tube, they went and onto the craft's ramp. The stream came to an end and the last few continued behind the others to enter the waiting craft.

“Is that all for the present,” I asked Shara.

“That, Ian, was one thousand people, the first one thousand of many more. We knew exactly how many could be accommodated in your craft, from our old records and besides, you told me yourself when we first met; your memories really did become mine at that moment of our melding, mental singularity.”

“But I am not aware of your memories, Shara. Why is this?” I asked.

“Ian, you are my cousin, not my direct kin,” she started to explain politely but firmly.

“There are some things which you will never be aware of, which I cannot allow you to become aware of. Perhaps in the future our two races will mix properly, but until then you must accept this.”

“There are many things for you to learn here before we all leave but there are many which you will not. Do not be offended.”

“I had a duty to perform and I have done it well. You equally had a duty to perform and you have also performed well but additionally have been given an experience of great importance.”

“Caterin may provide you with an explanation as she is closer to yourselves than any of us, but do not count upon it; this may come as surprise to her also.”

I was taken aback; I had thought we were operating as equals in this great rescue project.

“When your earthly explorers of ages past met with previously unknown or hidden tribes on Earth, did they explain all the subtleties of your civilisation?”

“Did those previously unknown people spend their time telling the explorers of the intricacies of their civilisations, especially when they thought they were superior?”

“I’m sure that they did not,” she answered for me. “It's as simple as that.”

I felt pushed back now, put in my place, equated to an ignorant jungle tribe.

“How do you know of the Earth’s history?” I instantly queried back in something of an indignant manner.

“As I have already said,” Shara continued in a very gentle tone, not at all condescending as I thought she might be, but with certainty, as a matter of fact.

“I shared all your memories, everything, all your learning and experiences. I am now you when I wish to be, but please this does not mean that you have now been disposed of and of no further use.”

“You have become a great hero, a saviour of our race in all our eyes and there is still much for you to be involved in. Come Ian, enough of this, there is much still to be done,” she finished the subject of conversation with a finality I could not question further.

I looked through the door to see the tube retracted back into the cave and Ivan’s craft gone. We were in a reduced atmosphere again and I was pleased that I had resisted the temptation to lift my visor.

“I told Ivan to leave Ian,” Shara advised.

“While we were chatting and as soon as all our people were on board I instructed Ivan; he knows the procedure now.”

“When he returns empty, or his talented co-pilot, Mark, or any of the other pilots who will bring other crafts down, the evacuation will continue smoothly, I assure you.”

Another suited individual had joined us, presumably at the same time as the ’refugees’ but without my noticing his arrival or presence.

“Ian, this is Rilshen-por, he will supervise all departures from now on. The two men outside working the tube will continue to do so until they are the last to leave with you and me.”

Rilshen-por offered his hand, which I shook respectfully as he smiled and nodded in my direction. The proprieties seemed to be no different to those on Earth but things were happening now that I was not being included in; I was feeling surplus to requirement, a secondary player in another’s confidential plan.

“That is not so, Ian,” Shara spread her warm aura over me yet again, placating my increasing disquiet. She rapidly replaced it with loving warmth that I did not deny.

“Come with me, this will be a long day and Rilshen-por will handle all at that needs to be done to keep the loading running smoothly.”

“There are some very special people that wish to meet you but only after you have rested. Your mind needs to be fresh and your body is in need of a little recuperation.”

I wanted to argue because, I had never felt so sharp and my body was performing without complaint but, there again, I knew I was performing on an enhanced level of adrenalin and otherwise running on empty energy.

Shara’s intuitive guess was correct; she was reading me better than I could myself.

“Happy to take a break,” I replied.

“Good decision. Follow me inside,” she directed very simply while moving towards the side wall from where the ‘refugees’ had first entered the chamber.

The door to the outside tube must have been closed as I heard the pressurising air enter the chamber allowing us to leave in the opposite direction. The ‘refugee’ door opened and we stepped through.

A lengthy, smiling queue of the next thousand stood quietly. They greeted us with even bigger smiles and words of a language I had never heard before nor understood. I instinctively knew what they meant, however, and this was confirmed when a few communicated via Shara so that I could easily understand them and they all included, “Thank you”.

I smiled back as I was now able to raise the helmet visor and show myself properly.

If the air in the Arks was quite breathable I felt certain that it was here also. I was right. In fact it had a scent of summer flowers or herbs and was quite refreshing. What a pleasant environment this must be to live in, if the rest of the underground facility is similar to this.

Shara indicated that I should follow her as she left this departure area via a side door into a pleasant looking lounge of what I assumed were easy chairs and couches. There on a low central table on what I guessed to be a spread of squares of food and a large glass pitcher of some sort of juice together with a collection of drinking vessels of a translucent blue.

Shara sat on one of the chairs and proceeded to remove her helmet and her gloves, which she placed on the floor alongside her.

“Do not be over concerned Ian,” she spoke gently, “you are quite safe in here, you can relax and I would like you to.”

“Remove your gloves and helmet to eat and drink and lay back into the chair, it will adapt itself to your shape while you rest.”

I followed her suggestion, sitting and removing my helmet and gloves. The seats seemed to take up the additional shape of my backpack automatically and were truly comfortable. I was sure that she was right, I needed some genuine rest, it had been some time since my eyes were last shut and there was still a long process to get through.

I poured myself a drink and taking a good draught found the taste somewhat strange, not at all what I had expected, but refreshing none-the-less.

“It’s just a fruit juice Ian, nothing added as you might be expecting.”

Shara assured me yet again, being aware of my thoughts, no doubt.

It was good, tasting slightly of mango. I had a second glass quenching my adrenalin driven thirst quickly and I laid back to relax, not believing I was being ‘assisted’ and being genuinely tired from my experiences so far this day, I soon found myself dozing off to sleep regardless.