Lehal Library

The bright figure began to dwindle rapidly and I was right behind, using the method I had learned to keep up, and homing in on his energy field. It could have been an eternity—or only an instant—that period in the blackness with just the pinpoint of light ahead of me. Then there was an explosion of bright colors in tiny dots which formed what appeared to be several irregular shapes ... first bright green ... then yellow ... and then I was pulled into one that was bright orange. I waited motionless as the orange pressed around me, holding me in a tight grip. I made no attempt to struggle nor was I afraid. I had learned much. Suddenly a series of beats pounded into my awareness, like a succession of electric shocks. They were not severe, but irritating, demanding. I could only interpret them as a sort of computerese, a binary code. But what was communicating was a living organism, of that I was sure. The beats continued, thudding into my head. I could not read them, so I tried to send my own weak version of nonverbal communication. I thought of an inner model of our solar system, then mentally pushed an arrow emerging from the third planet and ending where I was. This produced in response a long succession of beats—they reminded me of a primitive form of Morse code but did not translate into letters. But as my mind became accustomed to them, a picture began to form ... a flaming sun, with an arrow pointing not from it, but into it. Was that where we were now? The beats stopped. Then a short pattern began and repeated. Was that affirmative—did it mean yes?