21



March 25, 2020: My confidence has been shaken. As I sit here in my living room typing, I’m beginning to wonder about the efficacy of time travel. I keep thinking, how I can be here right now, and also be there (there being whatever time period I happen to find myself in)? The narrative is starting to break, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I just have to keep telling myself that.

There are certain things there are no point in discussing. People have already made their minds up about them and to discuss them would only invite a hostile reaction.

I guess my job now is to wander through each night looking up at the sky and hoping to see a shining figure resembling a human torso with head, arms and legs.

What happens next shouldn’t surprise you. Remember, I’m operating in both a superimposed and a condensed reality. When things happen, they usually happen quickly.

I stumble upon an old fire tower or lookout tower, if you prefer. I estimate it’s about a hundred feet high. It looks to be in a state of abandonment. The stairs are in a sad state of disrepair. The whole structure is teetering on the brink of tumbling down. Yet, something in my mind is telling me to climb to the top. I fight off a sense of deepening frustration and began walking up the  stairs. When I reach the top of the stairs, I climb up through a trap door into the lookout section of the tower. In the corner across from me is a shining figure resembling a human torso with head, arms and legs.

Neither one of us said a word, but I immediately realized I was dealing with a being who had telepathic abilities. I had none myself, but the being had obviously constructed a telepathic bridge between us so we could communicate. The conversation and eventual argument that now follow is a rough translation of what transpired. It was a little time later when I came up with a term for them which was Telepathic Light Beings or TLBs, (an abbreviation which is utilized in the following conversation for identification purposes).

Me: “I guess it’s not a coincidence that I ran into you.”
TLB: “I’m almost impressed.”
Me: “Why is that?”
TLB: “You have limited reasoning abilities, yet your presumption is correct.”
Me: “Well, let’s get down to the brass tacks. Are you willing to help Humanity?”
TLB: “Why should I? What’s in for me and my associate TLBs?”
Me: “You have to answer that for yourself. My job is merely to ask you to do so. As you said, I’m just a limited creature. I use ordinary speech to communicate, ordinary legs to travel, and an ordinary brain to devise methods of survival. None of those limitations you could begin to understand. But humanity wants more and the only way for that happen is be free of the bounds of earth. And that’s where you come in.”
TLB: “Ain’t gonna happen.”
Me: “I think it will.”

Then ensued the greatest mental struggle of my life. The TLB had made one mistake, but it was a big one. In his arrogance, he had opened his mind to me when he had created the telegraphic bridge between us. Yes, he could wreak havoc in my mind if he wanted to, but he thought so little of me he didn’t attempt to do so. This gave me the opportunity to invade his mind with my wish list for humanity. I suspected (and it was later confirmed) that his mind, because of its telepathic nature, was part of a collective mind. All the information I sent to his mind went to an untold number of similar minds. Even though there was a collective mind, individuality was not crushed. I could tell just by the one TLB I was dealing with, they likely had unique personalities. This one might be against helping humanity, but there might be some who were willing to help. That could turn the tide. And I think it did. But I didn’t know for sure at the time because the horrific mental strain finally made me pass out. And while I was passing out the whole fire tower structure began to crumble.

The world began in darkness, then the light intruded. We follow the light.

When I came to, five days had passed, and two park rangers were staring down at me. I was covered in debris from the fallen structure. Thanks to my aura, I wasn’t injured in any way. How would I explain that to the rangers?

Ranger 1: “Hey, fella, we’ve been standing here for several minutes just wondering how in heaven’s name you’re not broken into a thousand pieces.”
Ranger 2: “What were you doing up in the top section? Can’t you read?” 

I thought, shouldn’t he be a little bit sympathetic?

Me: “I couldn’t resist the chance to see the how the surrounding countryside looked from that high a vantage point.”
Ranger 2: “When did you realize the thing was about to collapse?”
Me: “It started swaying rather badly when some strong winds started gusting. I began to climb down the stairs but then I thought it might be safer to just to stay on the top.“
Ranger 1: “I see your thinking. Less of the structure would fall on top of you that way. But then the drop to the ground would be longer and therefore more impactful. But you’re not hurt at all! At least you don’t appear to be. I just don’t understand it.” The Ranger made a move to scratch his head but realized he has his hat on.
I made an effort to downplay their amazement, “Have you ever heard of someone falling out of an airplane without a parachute and surviving? Well, maybe something like that happened here.”
Ranger 2: “I think we’ll leave you out of our report. No one would believe it.”
Ranger 1: “Good thinking.”
They walked over to their truck and drove off.

I got up and dusted myself off. A nice bath was in order. Where was the Chokahaney River when you needed it?

I never found the river, but a pond turned out to be not too far distant. It must have been fed by an underwater stream because the water was on the cool if not cold side. At one point I was totally immersed in the water. When I arose from the water, the surrounding landscape had made a dramatic change. Instead of trees, green pastures and rolling hills, there was sun, sand and stone. All in great abundance. The air was very dry,and I myself was totally dry in a matter of a few minutes.

Even though it was a bright, sunny day, there was an incredible, high-octane coruscation that erupted in the near distance. I would have to describe it as a blinding light though I was protected by my aura. I got dressed and ran as quickly as I could to the source of the flash.

When I reached the location of the coruscation, a solitary man was lying on the ground. He was a small man, but he gave the impression that he was as tough as nails. He was still breathing, thank goodness. I lifted up his head. His eyes opened.

He said, “I can’t see you. That light blinded me.”

I helped him over to the shade of a large boulder. Looking more closely at him, it dawned on me he was the same man that had been stoned in one of the earlier chapters of this book. Later I thought it was just a movie scene but maybe it had been the real thing after all.

I said, “We’ve met.”
He replied, “Yes, I recognize your voice. Maybe one day we’ll meet in less volatile circumstances.”
I asked him, “Are you a time hopper?” That was the only explanation I could think of, but I would accept whatever he said.
Man: “I am a prototype. My aura quit working several years ago but the mission has gone on.”
Me: “It seems you subject yourself, willingly an/or unwillingly, to all kinds of physical abuse."
Man: “Never willingly. But you’re right, I seem to be a magnet for pain.”
Me: “Are the TLBs responsible for your blindness?”
Man: “My temporary blindness. The aura is still capable of protecting from me from ultimate outcomes. I should regain my site in a hour or so. What do you mean by a TLB?”
Me: “Telepathic Light Being.”
Man: “The ones I deal with are not telepathic. They talk like humans but at times they a little slow-witted..”
Me: “That sounds more like a sentient light beam. They take the shape of humans in the daytime.”
Man: “I think a better term for mine is DLBs. That stands for Demon Light Beams. They don’t take the shape of humans. They invade human bodies and take them over. Nasty little critters. I’d rather walk through a sandstorm or get tossed on a stormy sea than to deal with them. But one of my jobs is to drive them out. That’s when they attack me with the blinding light. As a result, I have a lot of eye trouble.”
Me: “What year is it, by the way?”
Man: “I think your historians will label it as 52 A.D.”
Me: “My goodness, you must be the Apostle Paul.”
Paul: “Guilty as charged.”
Me: “When was your first instance of temporary blindness?”
Paul: “It was a come to Jesus moment, both literally and symbolically.”
Me: “No DLBs at that time?”
Paul: “No, but I think because of that incident, the DLBs picked up on the fact my eyes were more sensitive to bright light and they’ve taken advantage of it many times. Without the aura, I’d be blind as a bat right now.”
Me: “What do you know about bringing people back to life in the future? Are you one of the first ones?”
Paul: “There are not firsts in the time jumping business. Not for long anyway. You can be first for awhile but then someone else goes back to the day before that and they’re first. Before you know it, you’re last instead of first.”
Me: “You mean the first shall be last.”
Paul laughed, “That’s about it.”
Me: “Tell me about the process itself. I’ve got a theory, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
Paul: “Are you familiar with the basics? Super-telescope placement on a distant star, videotaping, overlay, 3D Process, etc.”
Me: “Yes.”
Paul: “When they have the completed tape, then they’re able to extract from the individuals a DNA sequence and a MPC chip.”
Me: “What’s MPC?”
Paul: “Memory, Personality, Character.”
Me: “Then comes re-integration and enhancement.”
Paul: “You’re basically look the same except your best features are highlighted. People won’t all be the same height, but there won’t be extreme differences in height. Everybody will be extremely healthy.”
Me: “How about brain power?”
Paul: “Everybody will be enhanced to at least slightly above average. But if you were above average to begin with, you stay at that level. The thing is, everyone will get smarter as time goes by.”
Me: “Because of immortality coupled with roaming the universe.”
Paul: “I think you got a handle on it. By the way, my sight is coming back but for some reason I’m having trouble seeing you.”

I was fading away.

52 A.D. was way out of my normative working time period of 1920 to 1970. But nothing in this line of work happens for a reason. Not one reason anyway. More like a million reasons and almost everyone is totally out of my ability to comprehend.

Don’t be afraid of new ideas – be afraid if you don’t have any new ideas. Quality counts but it’s better to have a bad idea than no idea at all. At least your mind is engaged, and your brain is employed.