ENCOUNTER Hep Aldridge (best autobiographies to read .txt) 📖

As we watched, Jeannie’s glow began to diminish, and she slowly descended and touched down in front of the obelisk. Her arms dropped to her sides as she turned her head to look at us. Slowly, she floated over to us with a beautiful smile on her face and said, “You have done a magnificent job. I have re-connected with the source, and the Citadel lives once again.”

Chapter Thirty

Jeannie began briefing us on what it meant to her and the Citadel to be re-connected with the outside world and once again have full use of Thalian technology on planet Earth.

Of significant importance, she was now able to sense and connect with other outposts around the world that still had functioning power.

We were happy and tired. It felt good to see what our work had accomplished and that we mere earthling mortals had been able to, in a significant way, repay Jeannie for embracing us. Jeannie was genuinely ecstatic. She was more animated and smiling a lot, not as serious as she had previously been. She insisted we go back to the, I guess I’ll call it the “restaurant,” and dine. We readily agreed. After securing the gear, we all met there, greeted by a table laden with food and music playing softly in the background—melodic and yet unidentifiable, but very relaxing. We had all picked up goblets and were filling them with a new beverage from the flagons on the table. Our chatting abruptly stopped when Jeannie entered the room, now emitting a lovely teal-colored glow. I choked on my drink, not because of her lovely appearance but of what flew in behind her. Hovering over her right shoulder, glowing golden, about the size of a large parrot, was a dainty, humanoid figure. It had fluttering wings like a dragonfly and landed lightly on Jeannie’s shoulder, quietly observing us.

Dimitri was coughing uncontrollably; Joe had dropped his goblet. Luckily, it was empty. Somewhat awestruck, Doc said, “My God, it’s a fairy.”

Jeannie laughed out loud and said, “This is Lithel, my friend. She has come out of stasis now that power has been restored. She is from my home world. Her telepathic abilities are not as strong as mine, but she can communicate with you if she chooses. A number of her kind came with us when we brought the second wave of colonists to this planet.”

Doc was still grappling with his words and stuttered again, “She’s a fairy.”

“Not actually, Doc,” Jeannie laughingly replied, “but her race became the basis for the legends that your world has about fairies. She is, however, much more than that; she is a changeling. Lithel, show them, please.”

Lithel’s wings extended as she lightly lifted off Jeannie’s shoulder and moved a few feet away. A golden cloud began growing around her until it was almost five feet in diameter. As it began to clear, a large cat-like creature was sitting there. It was golden in color with the faintest brown irregular stripes on its body and a long tail with three distinct pointed tips of hair at its end. Her ears were large with a three-inch tuft of black hair sticking straight out from the ends, like a bobcat’s. They matched the color of the tips on her tail. Her head was very much the head of a saber-toothed tiger, only more elongated, with huge fangs and rows of sharp teeth clearly visible.

We were all staring at her as she slowly stood up and, with beautiful feline grace, walked over to us and sniffed us one at a time. Not sure what to do, we all stood perfectly still as this majestic, five-hundred-pound cat walked among us. That is, all except Eduardo, who, as she approached, reached out his hand and scratched her between the ears. This cat stood four feet at the shoulder, so that put her head at five feet, even with Eduardo’s chin in height. He was grinning as he stared into her brilliant amber eyes. We heard a low guttural sound that you could almost feel coming from her as his hand rubbed her head. Then, I swear, she started purring. Eduardo continued his scratching as Lithel began to nuzzle him with her head.

I think I heard everyone let out a huge sigh, and I looked at Jeannie, who was smiling broadly.

“I think Lithel has made a new friend,” Jeannie said as the big cat laid down next to Eduardo and leaned her head against him.

Jeannie continued, “Please, sit down; enjoy your meal. I have some new things to share with you. Much has changed now that you have repaired the power source. Some of this you will remember after you leave this place… and some you will not, for your own safety and that of your planet…

For the next two days, our world was “shaken and stirred,” sorry, J. Bond, as Jeannie continued educating us on the history of our planet from her Thalian perspective and experience. Everything from the advanced worldwide civilizations that were here and thrived thousands of years before the last ice age, the builders of the great pyramids of Egypt, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Near East, Antarctica, and the other continents and countries. She detailed the exodus from the planet that occurred and the initial colonization of Mars. That’s right, Mars! She also shared that Egypt had indeed been a fertile, forested land when the pyramids were submerged in floodwaters for hundreds of years, caused by the self-inflicted explosion that destroyed Attalia.

After the earth regained its equilibrium and the floodwaters receded, the reforming of civilization as we know it on all the major continents began anew, helped along by the teachers and scientists of Thalia.

The unbelievable historical record grew and grew. Jeannie informed us she was just covering a portion of it; the full record was recorded and kept in the library.

That was my cue, “So, Jeannie, when will we be able actually to see this library?” I asked.

“Tomorrow, we will take