BOOKS
The first two books are 418pages and the last is 390. The three books relate the adventures and
drama of two small groups of heroes that must prove to God that mankind is worthy of an ulterior
life. It is a saga, an odyssey, a love story and fast paced action packed adventure.  It starts in
Naples, Florida but the action soon move on to Ghama-2, a gigantic, exciting and dangerous world
where mankind heaven will be created if they succeed in their mission.

This story is as fascinating and unique as the author best paintings. It is written in a light
humorous way but it touches matters that are important to all of us. Its reading is enriching and so
incredibly fascinating.  
Ghama-2, An
Afterlife Story


by
Richard Riverin




This book is a work of fiction. Places, events, and situations in this story are purely fictional. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

© 2006 Richard Riverin. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means
without the written permission of the author.

ISBN: 1-4033-4938-X (e)
ISBN: 1-4033-4939-8 (sc)
ISBN: 1-4033-4940-1 (dj)

Printed in the United States of America
Bloomington, Indiana

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

1stBooks – rev. 03/21/05



Contents
Prologue: P.4
Glossary: P.12
Chapter 1: P.14 First contact
Chapter 2: P.27 John in mission to Pakistan
Chapter 3: P.61 Joan the librarian
Chapter 4: P.68 The seduction
Chapter 5: P.84 The auction
Chapter 6: P.130 The destruction of the world
Chapter 7: P.158 The awakening
Chapter 8: P.202 Down to the valley
Chapter 9: P.213 Spaceship Endeavour - Year 2254
Chapter 10: P.237 New Alexandria
Chapter 11: P.260 The reception
Chapter 12: P.289 The visit of the town
Chapter 13: P.302 The first mass
Chapter 14: P.326 The awakening of George’s group
Chapter 15: P.359 George’s group trek
Chapter 16: P.377 The bugs
Chapter 17: P.396 Satan and God’s encounter

About the author P.418




Prologue


Most people believe in the presence of God. After all,
the more we know about the complexity of the universe
and the more we realize that it just couldn't have
happened without God's help; therefore the conclusion
that God does exist.


But then what does He look like? Was He created too? No,
for sure, God is God, He always was and He will always
be.


That means no beginning!


If we agree to that then we must also conclude that He
has always created, modified, and enhance the universe.
Otherwise he would have sit forever doing nothing and
after an infinity of zillions of years doing nothing He
would suddenly change and start to create... That is so
farfetched that it would take an imbecile to believe it.
It would be more probable that He would have found a way
of killing Himself! Who could stand an eternity of
idleness?


Let's say He waited 100 years after His beginning then
the universe would be an infinity of time less 100
years, since God had no beginning. That means the
Universe too has been there forever, it had no
beginning; it was always there, just as God was always
there.


But then, could the Universe as we know it be the same
as it was a zillion zillions years ago?


That would mean that God has done nothing for a zillion
zillions years? No for sure, that couldn't be.


The universe has to be changing, evolving; and it may be
changing as per God's will.


Billions, zillions of stars, billions, zillions of
galaxies made out of billions of stars are moving, as
new matter is being created.


These stars like our sun have planets gravitating around
them and for some of the stars; there are planets
gravitating at just the right distance to sustain life.


4




Protozoa, algae, fishes, plants and eventually mammals
will evolve on these planets leading to sentient
species.


Some of these species intelligent as they may be will
never think about the possible presence of God, will
never even develop sentiments like love and compassion.
Most of them will never wonder about the possibility of
life on other worlds and will never have the curiosity
to try to get there.


Mankind might be a rare species; we might have such rare
potential that great beings might be trying to help us
in our evolution.


Can you imagine a species of intelligent ants capable of
dreaming, of loving, capable of hate and compassion?
Praying for an afterlife in Heaven?


Over an infinity of time, in an infinite universe, is it
impossible that we would be the only ones? The only
species ever to be capable of these emotions?


For sure, there has been great civilizations before us
and some of them were utterly destroyed; at least in
their initial form, corporeal form.


Some of the stars are exploding in supernova giving
birth to a destructive wind of super energy that reaches
at light speed the neighboring stars systems scouring
all life from their life sustaining planets over a
distance of hundreds, thousands of light years; millions
of planets burned to cinder and some of them inhabited
by sentient and hoping species and it is possible that
some of those species having reached a high level of
evolution, having built great civilizations were
destroyed in a flash of irradiation.


That is only a theory but a highly probable one for we
have already discovered the super novas.


Does it mean that God is evil? That He doesn't care for
those species?


It is impossible to guess for God is probably not like
us and we are probably not created to His image. We are


5




the result of an evolution that took place on Earth
under certain climatic conditions.


Would there be other species, sentient species like
Mankind?


It is an inevitable conclusion that there have always
been civilizations that have evolved all over the
infinite universe. Even if there would be only one life
sustaining planet for a million stars, one that would
give birth to a sentient species over a period of a
billion years of evolution, we come to the conclusion
that a million of different sentient species are either
living now or have been living and evolving inside each
galaxy and there are an infinite number of galaxies!
Some must have evolve under similar conditions and
resemble us quite closely.


God has probably seen a great number of civilizations,
maybe an infinity of them blooming to a high degree of
evolution and wisdom before they were destroyed or
before they found a way to achieve immortality.


Each civilization might be like a grain of sand in an
infinite beach but the tiny distances between those
grains of sand is so enormous compared to the size of
our planet that we are likely to believe that we live
alone in our galaxy.


We humans are so tiny that we are totally invisible to a
far away observer, for whom our stars are the atoms from
which are made the matter of his world.


And yet, powerful beings, God Himself perhaps are
helping us in our evolution.


Each one of us wonders and hopes for the presence of
God, we wish for His approval and we dream of a great
afterlife in return for our good actions.


Can you imagine that God listens to the prayers of
billions of individuals from zillions of species all
across the infinite universe? That He listens to the
prayers of even those individuals from species that have


6




not reached maturity yet and are bound to self destroy
in a short term?


I have very good reasons to believe so. Somehow we are
probably all important for God's grand plan.


We might be pieces of a grand chess game, potential
soldiers in a war between our kindly God and a devilish
one. There might be more than one God or one God and one
Demon of equal power; possibly a species of
compassionate Gods and a species of evil ones are
fighting each other over the universe; the first one
working on establishing order and peace over a beautiful
universe, the other one trying to transform it into
chaos.


That theory is close to Hinduism.


Many years ago, I drowned and experienced a separation
from my body. I could see and hear the people rushing to
my help, trying to find my body and save me. The very
fat lifeguard was running like a gazelle underneath and
I found it very funny to see him dive overboard with
such spring in his legs.


I felt so wonderfully good, I couldn't care less if they
found me or not. As I was beatifically enjoying myself
floating over the beach, I saw that the big fat
lifeguard had found my body and was now bringing it to
the lifeguard cabin where he intended to work me back to
life.


At one point, I got sucked through the cabin's roof,
right back into my body and I was now coughing and
feeling miserable again.


After that wonderful experience, things started to
happen; things that you don't want to talk about for
fear of being ridiculed or even worst losing your
friends.


I can tell you though that I have been in contact with
spirits over the years and some of them of an inhuman
kind, some kind and some evil. A few times I saw
miracles happen.


7




I asked myself what I would have done if the lifeguard
had not rescued me.


I might have ceased to exist after a short moment; the
atoms of my soul might have started to disperse, my soul
losing its coherence as it became subjected to certain
forces.


But my will to live, my satisfaction of what I was, my
curiosity, my thirst for knowledge, my compassion and
interest in other people might have strengthened my soul
coherent bond and I might have happily started to wander
everywhere, looking at the plants and the animals and I
know that in such case, I would have soon become mostly
interested in people. I was so utterly happy and feeling
so marvelous that I wasn't submitted to impatience or
any kind of negative emotions.


I would have listened to people's prayers and sometimes
I might have found a way to help.


After a while, I would have tried to find other spirits
like me, kind ones with whom I would not have minded to
share thoughts and souvenirs and maybe I would have left
with them for a visit of the universe.


I would have visited other worlds, inhabited ones, have
a look at their cities, and listen to these sentient
beings' thoughts and possibly their prayers.


After a long time, millions of years later perhaps, I
would have returned to my home world and possibly found
it empty of life.


It is probable that in such case, I would have then
tried to find another inhabited world, one with a
species worthy of my interest, a species that would have
the potential of evolving into a great civilization and
I would have tried to help them creating opportunities,
special occurrences for some key individuals.


That might be what billions of spirits are doing right
now, all across the universe. Some of the most powerful
spirits might have become God's supervisors, archangels,
each with special duties and some of them able to do
wonders, great miracles. These super beings are probably
able to speak with God. They are probably able to tell


8




God, which one of those species would have the potential
of becoming helpful in turn if they got the chance to
evolve to maturity. And possibly, God would chose an
individual unit of that species, give it a spark of His
Godliness and the mission to help his species in its
evolution.


His brothers and sisters would call him Atlas, Buddha,
Confucius, Jesus, and Leonardo De Vinci perhaps; he
would be known under many identities and described as
the Son of God.


People would build religions after Him, religions that
would comfort people and give them hope and courage even
though some people would use them wrongly to achieve
personal power and wealth.


The truth is unknown but all hope is possible. We are
not left alone this I know, and those who deserve an
afterlife and wish for it might well get it.


What about Heaven, can we get an afterlife in a
wonderful world where we would be all awoken in young
and delightful bodies?


After all an eternity of wandering around as ghosts
might not be what most people are hoping for. I felt so
wonderfully good while I was floating over the beach
that I would not have wanted anything else.


Maybe later though; as I got accustomed to my delight, I
would have wanted to be with my children, my parents and
my closest friends. Maybe I would have been happier in a
healthy and immortal body on a strange yet delightful
world where I could meet everyone I had known before.


And eventually I might have started to wish for a new
purpose, one in which I could be useful to God's grand
plan.


That world, gigantic and beaming with life of all kind,
where all trees would bear nourishing and delectable
fruits, where there would be no insects nor viruses, no
sickness but yet the exciting possibility of being
killed by a predator. That world in which we humans
could roam fearlessly in enhanced bodies, that world
exist for I have described it in details to God or one


9




of his angels as I wrote this story. I named it Ghama-2
and it is located at a distance of 90 light years from
Earth.


Yes writers write and perhaps, sometimes, God creates
the worlds they have written about.


In this story, a species of immaterial beings called The
Guardians, universal voyagers, came into contact with
some of our descendants on Ghama-2. They visited that
world and discovered an abandoned city. The city was
built by a species that had achieved its highest
possible evolution. They had left the city a billion
years before and the city contained universal enhancing
devices that could transform anyone into a Godlike
being.


Many species had heard of it and are already on that
planet searching for it. The first species to find it
would become so powerful that they would become the
masters of our galaxy. Many of those species are
worthless and evil.


The Guardians found the two human cities on Ghama-2 and
they observed our descendants, reading their thoughts
and sharing their emotions and they realized that
mankind possesses a rare quality, compassion! They
decided that we should be the ones, the all-powerful
ones that will take control of this galaxy they call the
Milky Way. They tried to speak with the humans on Ghama2,
to tell them about the city and its location but were
unable to communicate with them.


Strangely enough for the Guardians, these humans had not
a shred of telepathic power.


So the Guardians used the timeline to find their world
of origin, Earth. Once they reached Earth, they looked
everywhere to find at least one person to whom they
could speak but there was not even one of them. They
traveled to the past and finally found one person, 700
years in the back time, a person which blood had been
altered by repeated immersion in pulsating magnetic
field. That person could hear them; the Guardians had
finally found a way to help mankind.


10




I am that person and now my mission is to write a book,
a novel relating the fictive adventures of a group of
heroes, leaving Earth for Ghama-2 to find that city and
enhance themselves with the devices left by that
ultimate civilization into Godlike beings. The Guardians
will influence certain people to come to my art gallery
and discover my book. Shall they read it; they will have
done their first step in becoming some of the chosen for
the coming odyssey.


I am writing that book for the purpose of recruiting
some people, possibly you! Will you join your efforts to
mine and participate to the most exciting odyssey in all
human history?


Please read that story and forgive me for my mistakes
and unusual ways of expressing myself, I am writing it
in a beautiful but foreign language which I have
recently learned for I am of French origin. Welcome to
Ghama-2!


11




Glossary


Bill: Bill Rate is a genius; he is also highly cultured,
likable and charming. He owns a software business and is
one of the richest men on Earth.


Father O'Leary: Duplicate of the initial Father O'Leary,
mid-age Catholic Abbott and preacher. He is extremely
courageous and possesses incredible oratory acumen. The
reverend father is a man with a magnetic personality
whose company is highly appreciated by everyone.


Garry: One of Joan's twins. Garry grew up with his
sister Nancy. He shared her friends even into adulthood.
Garry knew what women want and could seduce almost
anyone. He likes to talk for hours with his friends. He
is very kind and funny and appreciated by everyone.


George: George W. Wood is 69 and President of the USA.
George is a man of great resources and a born leader; he
was very athletic, handsome, highly cultured and
likable.


Joan: Elderly woman working at Naples library. She is
highly educated, very beautiful and very athletic. Her
courage has no limit. She had a previous life and was
once known as Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans.


John: Elderly gentleman, retired Navy officer and
secret agent. John is a born leader. He was also the
best close combat fighter in the navy. His sixth sense
warning him of incoming danger was an important factor
in the success of his missions. John is a very kind and
serious man and he looked like Sean Connery.


Krishna: Krishna is 59 and former Middleweight boxing
champion of the world. He is also a preacher promoting a
new global religion based on Hinduism, Christianity and
Islam. Krishna is extremely talented in sports and is a
black belt in Judo and karate. He was the undefeated
ultimate fighting champion for a number of years and
also an Olympic fencing gold medalist.


Les Semeurs: A species that evolved on Ghama-2 and
reached its ultimate level of evolution. They got bored,


12




stop breeding and went into extinction. Ten thousands of
them chose to go into deep sleep awaiting the members of
a younger species with whom they would share their
ulterior life. They stored their souls in the enhancing
devices that were left for those who would be brave
enough and resourceful enough to find them.


Nancy: One of Joan's twins. Nancy is a very determined
young woman. She has a hot temper, but she forgives very
quickly. She is as beautiful as her mother and also very
brave. Like her brother Garry, she is quite a seducer.


Nicole: Nicole Teaseman is 46 and once the sexiest
Hollywood star. She isn't very brave and this just adds
to her charm. She is kind and likable, very beautiful
and athletic.


Richard: Elderly gentleman, artist-painter and science
fiction writer. He possesses an exceptional intuition of
coming events. He is the first human able to communicate
with the Guardians. He is also the only one who fought
victoriously a demon and succeeded to imprison it in his
brain. He is a tight lip joker and a storyteller. He is
very interested in others and likes to know everything
about them.


Tom: Mid-age CIA agent, strong like an ox and quick like
a panther, he looked like Arnold Swatzerneger. Even
though Tom is not a big talker, his presence is highly
appreciated and most comforting. Like John he is a very
well trained fighter.


13




Chapter One – Richard - First contact


I have been dreaming almost every night for the last two
weeks and each morning as I woke up, I remembered
glimpses of those dreams. I tried to focus on them but
just could not retain anything. I had that feeling that
those dreams were unusual, important perhaps for my
future.


My mother had had those strange forewarning dreams, a
special talent surely and she could read her dreams; she
was very good at it and I wondered if I had not
inherited it suddenly now at the age of 62.


Probably not for I would have had them before but then
why do I have that gut feeling that these dreams are of
great importance?


There has to be a way of remembering them, maybe I
should tell myself before going to sleep tonight that I
will remember everything about my next dreams. Self-
suggestion, self-hypnotism, that's the solution.
Tonight, I will repeat it in my mind, all the time,
until I get asleep, "Tomorrow morning I will remember my
dreams".


I did it last night and this morning I remember those
strange landscapes, that multicolored sky with six
visible moons and those fruit trees. There were people
and tall birds, taller than the people and walking with
them. There was a sense of great wisdom and dignity in
the way those birds walked and mingled with the humans.
The people looked very happy and relaxed, some of them
had live teddy bears on their shoulders. Some were
playing while others were picking fruits from the lowest
branches.


There was such a feeling of peace and serenity that I
wanted to become one of them. But then I saw a black
cloud floating menacingly over their heads like a somber
presage of great dangers to come.


Suddenly I was flying away from them and now I had
stopped over a group of aliens, bipeds with a rat face
and pointed ears. Their body was covered with brown and
gray fur and their hands and feet were clawed.


14




They looked fierce, ferocious and evil. There were now
thousands of them and they were listening to a demon.


"Get to that city and you will become so powerful that
you will be able to enslave and torture every sentient
being in this galaxy." The demon said.


"Kill everyone that come in your way." The demon added.


Suddenly I was transported over a city of people
mingling with the tall birds and the teddy bears, the
city was beautiful; white houses with red roofs, trees
and flowers, parks and small lakes and half a dozen golf
courses. The city had been erected between the seacoast
on south side, a river branching on two sides and the
jungle along the last side.


There was a marina and all kind of sailboats.


I could sense that these innocent people were completely
unaware of the terrible menace from those wicked aliens
and demons.


Somebody had to help them, to warn them. Moreover, there
should be an expedition and the people had to find the
city described by the demon before anyone else.


Then I was transported thousands of miles away to a
jungle of very tall trees and I saw a camouflaged city
sitting on its canopy.


The people had carved their homes inside the trees and
the branches were as wide as roads. There were safety
nets on the side of those branches and the people seemed
to be calm and very happy. There were gardens, flowers
and fruits everywhere. There were birds, all kind of
birds flying around and singing or calling each other.
Little furry animals were scurrying everywhere.


Somehow I knew that the people from these two towns were
the descendants of the survivors of a spaceship crash
landing. They had called their two cities, New
Alexandria and Jungletown.


Then I woke up and remembered everything, crystal clear.


15




What a strange dream!


The following days, I dreamed again and each morning I
was remembering them clearly. My dreams had become more
than ordinary dreams, they had become part of my life
and I felt that I was living in two worlds.


Now I can sense the presence of very powerful spirits as
I dream of far away lands on another world and I guess
they are using those dreams to communicate with me.


Maybe I am becoming insane.


Last night, I woke up suddenly in fright. Could it
be...oh no, I thought, I am not going to start
hallucinating at my age, I told myself. These are
dreams, nothing else! But then how come I am so afraid
to close my eyes and sleep the rest of the night?


I forced myself to look back and remember what it was.


There had been a ghost, many ghosts speaking to me at
the same time, and I could feel their alien-ness, there
was the sensing of enormous power, knowledge and extreme
intelligence. I felt like a tiny insect spoken to by
giants. They had shown me stars rushing into a black
hole and I was a tiny speck amongst a cloud of
meteorites, I was falling towards that black hole at
tremendous speed from unimaginable height.


That was a dream; a nightmare and I won't have the same
nightmare twice, I told myself.


So I called for relaxation; it came and I slept again.
But the dream came back and they were there waiting for
me. The spirits had not thought that one could be afraid
of movement or vertical distance and they comforted me.
They showed me more scenes of those nice people from
another world.


At daytime, I was afraid that I was loosing my mind and
I was trying to forget the dreams but I just could not
forget anything. Moreover, my contacts with the spirits
were not frightening anymore, in fact I felt comforted
by them and I am becoming anxious to get asleep at
night. I want to see more of that other world, its


16




exquisite landscapes, its fauna and the smiling people
picking fruits from the multicolored trees...


One night, I woke up right in the middle of my dream,
loosing contact with the benevolent spirits, the
Guardians, they called themselves. I jumped in one
desperate attempt to get away with my thought thread
from the hard core in my brain.


It had been happening for years. When I dream, my
thoughts are like a thread flowing along the neural ways
but there is one of those ways that ends into a cul-desac.
If my thought thread pushes forward once it gets to
that dead end, something terrible will happen, I know
it, I would probably die or worst...


Is there something worst than dying? Yes, there is
something there, infinitely scary, lurking but unable to
escape. For that hard core is its prison.


I could not sleep the rest of the night, so I got up,
put some clothes on and went outside. My condo is on
the shore of an alligator infested lake and there is a
trail snaking its way on the lakeshore up to Marco
Island Airport right into the everglades.


It was in the middle of the night, there would be no one
outside at this hour and there were the alligators, the
Florida panthers and the black bears to be wary about. I
released the safety catch of my long knife sheath and
went on the trail.


I have flirted with danger all my life, unafraid of
losing it for I knew after that drowning experience that
I wouldn't really die, only my corporeal envelope would
be gone if I lose my life and I would feel wonderful
again.


When I lived up north, in Canada, I used to go skiing
across the plains and the forested hills, alone, and
knowing that if I broke an ankle, I would not survive
the night in such cold weather. I was going for long
rides where nobody would go, almost certain that I would
come back home safely. Stupid optimism perhaps or the
intuition that someone was watching over me, protecting
me, I don't know, but I was feeling elated by the risk
and yet confident of the outcome for I was in a real


17




good shape and my years of practicing judo and yoga had
given me a rare sense of balance.


I am now almost 60 years old and every time I look at
the sky on those starry nights, I feel an unbearable
attraction to go there and visit the worlds gravitating
around those stars.


Those spirits, The Guardians, they are showing me scenes
of another world and they said they want to help mankind
get to that old city first... wouldn't it be great if
they could somehow transport me there to lead an
expedition?


Tonight, I will question them.


I walked for an hour, came back to the condo, had a
snack and went back to bed where I laid awake and
daydreaming of exciting adventures on that strange
world.


The following night, I was dreaming and in contact with
the Guardians. They said they saw very clearly what
happened just before I woke up the night before. They
asked me if I wanted to be relieved from the presence of
what was lurking in my brain hard core. They could do
it, they said, but there was a risk. For they believed
there was a demon inside there, kept imprisoned there,
by an unknown force. They had never seen that yet, for
the demons are powerful adversaries and immortals.


They would guide it out, they said, and push it into an
alternate universe, so far that it would never find its
way back.


The demons, fortunately, are not very intelligent. They
are cunning and think highly of themselves rejoicing in
their power over weaker individuals and enjoying the
pain and the despair they can cause to others. The
danger for me was that it might be able to destroy
my brain on its way out. But the chances of that
happening were very slim for they would be there
protecting me, acting as a barrier.


I could also chose to live the rest of my life, knowing
that at any time, the hard core in my brain might weaken
and liberate the demon who would then torture me and


18




have its fun with me, its helpless and desperate victim.
The demon could also take my soul and bring it to
Hell...


I remembered how it happened, the demon had been
haunting me ever since I had drown and been rescued. I
had lived an out of body experience, which had made me a
focal point. If there was a forest of ten thousand trees
and the lightning hit one, it will be the tree I am
hiding under and yet I would somehow survive it. All
kind of things was happening to me, amongst them the
haunting.


The first time it came for me, I was picking wood and
coal in the shed for the night. My mother had forced me
to go to the shed against my will and to my shame; I had
slashed her with harsh words.


I knew that something would happen, that's why I had
rebelled so hard. I always had an intuition of coming
events but my mother wouldn't back out, I had to go,
period, and end of discussion.


I went inside the shed without bothering to turn on the
light for I told myself I was not going to cave in to my
fear. Beside that, I just remembered upon second
thoughts, the light bulb was burned out.


I had rolled the two feet log against the shed door to
make sure it would not close on me. I went to the coal
stack and picked up the shovel and filled my pail. Then
I walked to the wood cord and loaded my arms with the
firewood.


I was taking my time to prove to myself how brave I was.


I turned around and picked up the pail of coal and I
sensed or saw a movement of some sort of life inside the
darkness of the shed. I saw a shape of utter darkness!


My hair tried to levitate out of my head as I jerked
back in terror. The door slammed shut! I was stiff and
tense with fright and unable to move.


The shed was pitch black with the door shut and there
were no windows. I sensed a movement and I could still


19




see the shape of darkness for it was something else than
darkness, it was the utter negation of life, its pitch
blackness silhouetted I don't know how against the total
darkness of the shed. There was a coldness coming from
it and I could see some movement, there was a continuous
movement inside the entity, it was like the flowing
current of dark masses.


It looked at me; I sensed it, as though I could see its
malevolent gaze. Then it moved towards me; I felt I was
going to be engulfed in that negation of life and
suddenly I cried in terror, the most desperate cry you
could hear in a lifetime.


For I knew that what was coming would be worst than
death, infinitely worse, for the beast was coming for my
soul. It would take my soul and would bring it to hell
where I would suffer forever. Forever would I be plunged
in utter despair with no way out.


Anger flooded inside, I felt the spreading of an unknown
force as I revolted against that horrifying fate. No, I
thought, all mental claws out, I will not surrender.
God, you won't abandon me, please! Suddenly I felt I
could move and I don't know why I did it but instead
of backing up, I plunge into the blackness, rushing for
the door, which I hit at full speed, hands first. The
door burst out and I ran shouting inside the house.


The day after, my mother took me to the church to ask
for help for she didn't want me to be haunted again. The
priest, Father Poisson was his name, did some prayers,
sprayed holy water on me and told me to get lost, to go
back to hell. He was looking angrily at me as he was
showing me his crucifix. The whole ceremony was
exorcism, that's what he called it. Nothing happened,
and we came back home. I saw the demon again the
following year and many times more over the next few
years.


The last time, the demon came for me was at the
Benedictine Monastery on the shore of Lake Humphrey
Magog.


I was going there for a few days every year so that I
could forget about the materialistic world and plunge
myself into prayers and meditation.


20




It was the law of silence there and the walls and
ceilings were very thick, we could hear nothing at all
once in our cell with the door closed.


I was going to the 5 religious offices per day to listen
to the monks' beautiful chorals and I was spending the
rest of the day walking the miles of trails through the
forest surrounding the monastery.


At lunch and dinner, a monk would recite on flat tone
voice philosophical and religious verses. Since they had
made humility vow, they could not show that they were
good at reciting verses thus the flat tone.


One night, as I was lying down and reading in my bed, in
that small and blank monastery cell, I saw a black cloud
coming through the ceiling. It was coming from the cell
occupied by a Rosicrucian. I had met the guy, the
Rosicrucian, outside of the monastery as I walked the
trail and we had talked about his organization.


“We are a secret group,” he told me, ”working against
the spread of demonic influence on Earth. We are not
part of any recognized church. We are led by a spirit,
an angel and we work for periods of sixty years with a
40 years laps in between.”


“Why is that?” I asked.


“We don’t want to get known or to become too powerful
and then feared by political leaders, dictators and
religious leaders. Sixty years seemed to be the maximum.
There is also the fact that for the last few centuries,
Earth was visited regularly, every fifty years or so by
members of a very wicked alien species called Gargoyles.


A few spaceships of them land in secret places. Soon
after a lot of people disappear. We are food to them.
They have such terrible weapons that they can destroy
our planet if they wish so.


The only way we can fight them is through astral trips.
We can disembody ourselves; leave our body and travel,
fly as ghosts all around Earth until we find one of
their ships. Then we enter it and manipulate its


21




computers through telekinesis, start its ignition and
fly it into the sun. We must do that for each of their
ships. When we are done with the ships, we have to chase
the gargoyles one by one until we kill them all.”


“Is it easy to do those astral trips?” I asked.


“Not easy at all.” He replied. “You have to do mental
and physical work out, meditation, spiritual
enhancement; you have to learn how to draw energy from
your surroundings. There are initiations for each level
of emancipation. I am here to proceed to the fifth
degree initiation and that will involve an out of body
astral trip, my very first one. The danger is that it
could attract an evil spirit and if one come; there is
no guarantee that I could survive such an encounter.”


I remembered that conversation as I watched the black
cloud coming through the ceiling. It looked at me! How
did I know that it was looking at me? I don’t know but I
knew it and suddenly it rushed towards me at an
incredible speed. I could not escape so I got very angry
and all mental claws out; I brace myself for the
onslaught. It was on me, inside of me, I felt its
nauseating presence and it was like I was being step
over by an elephant. I tried to inflict pain to the dark
mass, the evil spirit, mentally, for the spirit was
immaterial.


It did not work so I started to push while I was calling
for God's help. I push and compressed the dark mass and
kept on pushing at it from all sides and it shrank! I
felt it shrinking and I went on pressing until it had
become smaller than the tip of a needle and now it was
imprisoned in a node of mental energy, there, in my
brain; there was a hard core in my brain, a black hole
imprisoned by a bubble of mental energy and I could
never let my thought thread flow into that bubble.


The Guardians seemed to be highly interested in my
story. Once I finish it, they were silent. Then I told
them to go ahead and do whatever had to be
done and get it over with.


I was terrified as I felt my thought thread moving to
the forbidden area towards the hard core and had a
tremendous feeling of panic as it penetrated it.


22




I saw or sensed the exultation of the demon as the
prison wall was destroyed but before it had time to
exact vengeance, it was taken away, swiftly, by the
Guardians and I could hear its enraged howling as it
disappeared into another dimension.


In a moment only, The Guardians were back and I decided
to ask the questions that had been bubbling in my mind
for a number of days.


Why did you come in contact with me? I asked them. Do
you want me to go to that world, to mount an expedition
to the abandoned city? Why did you not just pick some
people from one of these two human cities and carry them
to the abandoned city?


They told that they tried that and a very strange force
of unimaginable power prevented them to do it.


"Our action is limited there" they said, "and we believe
that the only thing we can do to help is to snatch your
soul and the ones of some other well chosen people from
your world, transport you there, give you a new body
with some improvements..., and wake you up close to one
of the human settlements."


"You can you do all of that? Are you some kind of God?"
I ask.


"We are not what you call God," the Guardians said, "we
never met such an entity even though we have traveled
across the universe for millenniums. The concept though
is fascinating and we think that it does exist. It might
be dwelling on that world or maybe a spark of it is
there for we never experienced before the presence of
such a powerful force as the one that prevented us to
help mankind over there.


But we can create material things, from the atoms in the
air; we can recreate you body and put your soul back
into it. We can travel in time so for us it would take
no time at all to take you and some others there."


"Well, now that it is all possible, I am not sure I am
ready to die right away." I answered.


23




"You don't have to die right away," the Guardians said,
"beside you are the only one with whom we can
communicate and you will need help, companions, for that
mission. We think that you should talk about it to a lot
of people and recruit a number of them."


"Easier to say than to do for if I talk about it openly,
I will be taken to a mental hospital and kept there
until I tell the doctors that it was an hoax." I
replied. "What I can do is write a book about a group of
people going to that world in a mission that will decide
the fate of mankind.


I will display the book in my art gallery.


Some people will ask me what the book is about and I
will tell them it is about a group of people in a
mission on another world. I will also tell them that I
wrote it to recruit the true heroes of a coming odyssey.


I will write in the book that if they want to be amongst
the recruits, they will have to buy one of my paintings;
one of a number of paintings that will show scenes of
that other world.


I will then proceed to make those paintings and once I
have enough of them, I will sell them in an auction. I
will invite all the people that bought the book to that
auction and the ones who will risk a sizable investment
to buy one of the paintings would be the ones you will
take to that world. And I want to be one of them.


I believe that the only ones that will spend a large sum
of money are the ones that have the ability to listen to
their intuitions, the ones that might be influenced by
God to do it and these are the ones that I want as
companions."


"That is a good idea, we will look around for the best
individuals" replied the Guardians, "and try to
influence them in coming to your gallery."


"Very good and thanks for your help," I said, "I am so
excited by the prospect of having that afterlife on
another world, thank you, thank you, thank you, I love
you."


24




The book will be used to attract the potential
candidates for the mission and the deal would be sealed
by the act of actually spending an important sum of
money to purchase one of the paintings.


We want believers; people able to take decisions, even
to the point of reducing the digits showing their buying
capacity. For what is the point of having a printout
showing great buying capacity if you are afraid to use
it...?


There might be too much to write for only one book and
if it is so then I would continue the story in a second
book. I should not delay though. There is a feeling of
urgency, I sensed it, they did not explain why because
telling me about the immediate future may change it and
then there would not be any spaceship later on going to
Ghama-2. So, as soon as the story had gone far enough, I
will print a limited edition of a few hundred books and
display them right away in the gallery.


Some people will read the book, I think, and some of
them will believe the story and buy one of the paintings
before it is too late, before the partial destruction of
the United States by terrorists happen, perhaps.


These buyers will be transported at the moment of their
death to Ghama-2 and we will be awoken altogether, wow,
I feel so excited that I wouldn't mind so much to die
right away. I mean as soon as I have written the books,
made those paintings and recruit enough of my future
companions to have a chance to make it through all the
dangers that will be awaiting us.


Who knows, maybe the book will be modified in the far
future and the new version brought back to our present
time by the Guardians.


From now on, anything can happen, sometimes fiction
becomes reality; a writer may have visions of coming
events and sometimes the fiction readers make the
fiction become reality.


I read once that all the worlds and the personages
created by the writers exist in another universe, from
Robin Hood to Cyrano de Bergerac to Superman...


25




I am calling that world Ghama-2, I guess it is a good
name for that world.


For once, I feel important. I would have like to be tall
and beautiful, strong like an ox with great athletic
abilities but I am just the average guy. I tried to get
the best of the body and mind I was given though. I went
to university and succeeded to get a Bachelor degree in
chemistry developing my mind to its maximum potential. I
practiced Judo for years and all sorts of other sports,
racquetball, badminton, golf, skiing. I was born the
average guy but I am proud of what I did and learn. What
I am the most proud of is my compassion and my ability
to see the child in a grown up person. I usually find
something to love in most people, I am also a true
believer in God and I felt his presence all along, right
to the point where I am now.


Who knows where our souls are taken to, even the
guardians don't know; but in my case, I know where I am
going, I am going to Ghama-2 to save mankind and perhaps
to meet face to face with God.


That night was over and even though I did not sleep
much, I felt very energetic as I sat in front of my
computer to start writing the book. The only problem was
that I had just recently learned to communicate in
English and now I had to write and this at an age where
we are often searching for our words.


I had to empty my mind and let my subconscious do part
of the work as I started to write it. The book would not
be a literary marvel but hopefully, it will be good
enough to attract the potential heroes of the coming
odyssey.


It took me many months but finally, the first two books
of the trilogy were printed and I had them in display in
the gallery.


John Foster was the first to be compelled by my book. He
came one day to the gallery, saw the book and bought it.
John was a most amazing man. Six feet five, former
Ireland track and field champion and still in top shape
at 84 years old. He showed a very calm and cultured
behavior and he impressed me a lot.


26




I will start the story with the events that preceded
John's visit to the gallery. These events played a most
important role in his decision to lead the mission to
Ghama-2.


27




Chapter Two - John in mission to Pakistan


It was 10:15 AM, Monday March 12th. John opened the door
and walked rapidly inside the Naples Municipal Library.
He went immediately to the counter and looked at a very
beautiful woman.


"Hi Joan, I am so pleased to see you today after such a
long absence."


"John...I didn't see you for months, what happened? I
was so worried about you!"


John Foster was a handsome elderly man in his late
seventies, holding himself straight and giving the
appearance of a vigorous athletic person. He was a
retired navy officer, tall, slim waist and a full head
of white hair and Joan Davies had no doubt that he was
made of the stuff of a true hero. She did not have to
look at his medals to believe that; just a look at his
piercing blue eyes was enough. He had a calm and
understanding expression and when he looked at her
she felt that there was nothing a person could hide to
this man.


This troubled her since she could hardly hide the
effects his presence had on her.


"Three months ago, when I came back home from the
library, a man was waiting for me in front of my condo.
He was sent by the Florida CIA headquarters to fetch me.
I had to go with him immediately, extreme urgency... I
would have called you if I could but it was not
possible. I worked for the secret services for the last
twenty years prior to my retirement. I worked most of
that time in Iran, Pakistan and the Middle East and I
speak their languages without discernible accent. They
needed me to go to Pakistan to retrieve two nuclear
bombs suitcases from the hands of a terrorist group.


I came back one week ago from that mission. As soon as I
got here I came to see you but you were absent for the
rest of the week. Finally we meet again and I am very
happy to see you."


"So am I." said Joan. "I loved my coffee breaks with


28




you...you said you were retired from the navy..."


"That I was, and I never thought they would call me
again but they needed my experience, my contacts and my
ability to speak the language. There was also the fact
that nobody is suspicious of an old man. They thought
that I could really help and the mission was important,
it could save the life of millions of people."


John did not mention his other talents. He was a black
belt in Karate and Judo and had achieved incredible
performances in all combat sports. He was a dangerous
man for the enemies of his country, even at his age.


At 18 years old, a Bully had attacked John. He had been
forced into a fistfight, which he had lost shamefully.
Since then, he had disciplined himself to one or two
hours of training every day. He had taken the decision
to become stronger than most other men, stronger or
faster. He had also developed over the years an acute
intuition of imminent danger. He could feel it coming.
He always knew in advance when something bad was about
to happen and had so far escaped it.


Men, John thought, can change their destiny
continuously. If I feel that something bad is going to
happen, I can either do nothing about it and let my
destiny shorten my life or I can change my destiny by
immediate action.


At the age of 21, he started to read on psychology and
motivation and became very interested in people. A few
years later, he was able to read one's emotions through
his unconscious body language and that ability had been
most useful.


"So, what did you do over there? Joan asked. I am sorry;
I should not have asked that question; but tell me, did
you succeed with your mission? Was it worth it?"


"Yes, it was a success, but I prefer not to talk about
it, there are other matters though about which I would
very much like to talk with you..."


"John, let us go to the coffee parlor." said Joan. "We
will be more comfortable there and we will talk at


29




length. We have much to talk about and my colleague here
at the library can manage for a while without me, it is
not busy today."


"Wonderful". said John.


They walked to their usual coffee parlor. It was nice
and sunny outside, Joan was euphoric and John felt
great. They walked slowly enjoying their companion's
presence.


John Foster used to come twice a week to the library. He
usually came early afternoon and stayed for a few hours
looking through a number of books waiting for Joan’s
coffee break.


They talked about different matters and they always
found something interesting to talk about. John would
often ask Joan what she thought about a subject of
actuality. There seems that there never was idle talk
between them but healthy interesting exchanges that
transformed Joan's half an hour coffee break into a
short period of intense intellectual pleasure for both
of them. It had been going on for six months. Every week
John would meet her at the library. He had taken the
habit to go twice a week, every Monday and Wednesday.


One day, John came back from the library and as he got
home, he saw a car occupying his allotted parking place.
There was someone in the car and John had the intuition
that this person was waiting for him. It could become
unpleasant, for John had many enemies.
First, I should block that car, he thought, and he
stopped his car right behind the stranger vehicle. The
man came out at once and walked quickly toward John's
car. John unlatched his door in case he would need to
propel it in the face of the potential foe. He released
his safety belt and grabbed his special umbrella made
out of armored plastic plates strong enough to deviate a
bullet and with a stainless steel tip that could be used
as a bayonet. John was an old man but in a short burst
of energy he could still put down an enemy whatever his
size.


30




The man stopped at a safe distance from John's door and
took from an inside pocket, slowly and using only two
fingers, his CIA badge which he showed to John.


"What are the name and the phone number of your
immediate superior officer?" John asked in a clipped
voice.


The stranger gave him the information and John picked up
his cellular and called the CIA headquarters. At all
time he kept his eyes riveted on the stranger. The CIA
officer who answered his call didn't seem surprised and
told him that they had sent one of their agents to meet
with him. John thanked him and closed the connection.
Then he went out of the car and shook hands with the
man.


"Now, what can I do for you?" said John smiling. "For a
while I was worried expecting the worst."


The man had been worrying too and his relief was
evidenced by the disappearance of two tiny wrinkles
between his eyes and a slight lowering of his shoulders.
John read much more about the stranger in one or two
seconds of acute observation of his body language and
came to the conclusion that he was facing an honest man.


"Your help is needed at once," the stranger said, "it is
a matter of life and death for millions of American
people. I was ordered to take you right away to the CIA
headquarter."


John couldn't agree less with that turn of event; he had
done more than his share for his country. In fact, his
life had been a long courtship with death and soon now
they would embrace; he didn't have long to live and he
knew it.


I deserved my retirement, he thought, and there is that
dear Joan for whom I feel unexpectedly strong emotions.
I am in love with her. It took me seventy-eight years to
find the right woman and now I may very well loose what
is left of my life if I take that mission.


He did not like it, and beside he was too old now. Also,
if he finally came back from there, God only knows when,
Joan might not be working at the library anymore.


31




"Let me explain Mr. Foster,” said the CIA agent, “we
know you are retired but there is nobody else that can
talk the language and walk there without attracting
suspicion and accomplish this mission successfully. We
found out that a terrorist cell operating at the
frontier of Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently
acquired two nuclear bombs... five megatons nuclear
suitcase bombs.


The terrorists contacted Iranian officials; they want to
sell their bombs. We tapped their conversation. We found
out that an Iranian envoy is being sent to meet with
them in three days. He will be carrying a suitcase with
twenty million dollars in it. We have plans to kidnap
the envoy and replace him by one of our men. You would
be that man and take the envoy's identity. You speak the
language, you have been in mission there quite a few
times, you would know what to do or say, they will not
suspect you.


If you accept that mission, you will try to get inside
the terrorist hideout and make sure the bombs are there.
Once you are sure, you would send a signal to your team
by pressing on an implant that would be inserted under
your armpit. As soon as the signal is received, your
team will burst in to help you get the bombs and
eliminate those fanatics.
There should be no mercy; we heard them talk in length
about using those bombs to destroy some of our cities.
They were jubilating. “With Allah's help” they said, “we
will kill millions of Americans...”
We have a jet waiting for you and we have already
selected a group of our best men to assist you in this
mission."


John had never before refused what he considered his
moral obligations and he was too old to change, he
didn't like it but he did not hesitate.


“All right,” John said, “let’s go.”


The mission was top secret and John could not call Joan
to tell her that he was leaving for Pakistan.


32




“Anything else than the truth is not possible with Joan”
John thought, “and then what can I say?”


John decided not to call her.


John and the CIA agent left for the CIA headquarter.
Three hours later, they were there; they showed their
identity cards to the guard, went inside and walked
directly to a conference room.


Five men were sitting at the long table; amongst them,
George W Wood, the president of the United States.


John knew him very well having been at a time his
personal bodyguard. He had saved his life once in Texas…


“Hi John, old friend.” said the president. “I am sorry
to have called you from your retirement but I had to,
there is too much at stake, millions of lives, our
country partially destroyed, our economy gone…I had to
call for your help.”


“I understand Mr. President, I will do my best.”


John was briefed on the mission then taken to a medical
room for the implant. The surgery didn't last long; they
cut the skin, inserted the signal device and sew him up.


Then the CIA agent took him to a military jet at the
Jacksonville International airport. He went to his seat
and sat with much relief. It had been a long and tiring
day. He had that surgery, and the small implant fixed
inside the skin of his armpit was hurting a little bit.


He could sleep much of the trip but he doubted it. He
was afraid that something would go wrong, he had the
intuition that this mission would not be an easy one.
John went into meditation, he had a lot to think about
for he might just be about to loose his life.
How many terrorists will I have to kill? He asked
himself.
John thought about his life. He had participated in the
Vietnam War and the Panama's attack. He had done secret
missions in the Middle East a number of times. He had
killed for his country and felt very bad each time for
he had great respect for life.


33




I have fought for freedom in my country and in other
parts of the world, I have killed people and they were
not all bad people but people that were doing their duty
for their own country. Some of them were parents and
their death must have devastated their family.
John felt remorse for the suffering of those innocent
children that had lost their fathers in his hands and he
didn't like that mission one it.


Maybe I will be captured and tortured... I have less
resistance to pain, as I am growing older--But I have a
duty, there is no way out and I will just do my best to
prevent the use of those bombs. If I fail, I will go to
heaven, maybe...if there is one. But come to think of
it, what will I do there? I am not very good at praying,
I am a man of action and I like to do things or watch
sports at TV.


What John really liked was to go in the forest and walk
a trail in the wilderness. He would sit by a stream and
listen to the murmur of the wind through the foliage,
the laughing and gurgling of the stream on its way to
nowhere, the creaking of the trees rubbing each other
Companionably; the chirping and twittering of the birds.
He would watch the squirrels running after each other or
hiding nuts in places they will surely forget.


John liked to day dream that he could fly through the
trees, fast, and drive out some of the wild life that he
had not seen in a long time; bears, wolves, otters,
deers, maybe even a mountain lion or a wolverine and
share their thoughts, participate to their hunt.


But this side of John was well hidden; he wouldn't let
anyone know that he was secretly a daydreamer.


My greatest joy is to meet with Joan and feel the
turbulence of my emotions. Will we be together in heaven
one day? And if there is heaven, will it be a place of
devotion? A beautiful and fleecy whiteness where I will
adore and congratulate God? But after a few hours of
devotion and adoration and praising, what will I do? Is
it such a blessing then to have an afterlife? Would it
not become unbearable after a while? Perhaps God will


34




give me a feeling of great happiness, an everlasting
happy feeling, but then I will still know that
this happiness is artificial, that I became a useless
just-feel-happy adoring machine.


Moreover, if I am not the same man after my death, if I
have been changed into a happy adoration machine then I
have truly died. It will not be me as I am now with my
memories of good times and hardships, I will be another
creature. No, and come to think of it, God doesn't need
any worship. To think that He does is belittling the
Almighty. So either we die and we are done with and good
riddance r we are sent to another world as we are,
unchanged, with our memories, our built-over-the-years
qualities and abilities to meet with new challenges. If
the latter is true, will I be able to take Joan along
with me? Is there an anteroom in the afterlife in which
we can wait for the loved one to depart from the world
of the livings and join the dead?
God, please, I don't want to be changed into a
worshipping entity! I prefer everything to end at my
death! But in such case tell me, why am I risking the
rest of my life and the possibility of unendurable
Torture, if I am caught alive? Is it to help my country?
To prevent millions of people to die just a bit sooner
than they would anyway? What am I doing, going into this
mission? Have I turned nuts? Maybe Alzheimer has paid me
a visit, coming unexpectedly and without an invitation.


No, John, stop that, you know why you are doing it, you
have a reason to do it, a very important reason. If you
don't do it and millions of people dies and millions
more people suffer from the loss of their family
members; you will feel dirty inside for backing up on
what you consider a moral duty. You will feel shameful
and will lose your pride. That's important enough...
that's the only thing that really counts... my sense of
honor, my decency, my self-esteem. I like to
think that I am a man; a real one, a hero. It might be
immature and useless to think that way, possibly, but I
would not be happy without the conviction that I am a
great guy and I will not fail my country people.


John's meditation induced sleepiness and he was now
sleeping very deeply.


He was in a cloudy place; there were rows of people,
millions of rows, billions of people, all looking


35




towards a great light. There was Joan a few rows away,
he wanted to join her but he could not move. John looked
further to her right and there she was, his mother, a
little further still was his brother, he had protected
him and loved him so much until death took him away.


He tried to call them but again, could not utter a
sound. He could not talk to anyone of them.


A hooded tall being was coming towards him now and it
looked like Death. The hooded man stopped in front of a
very ugly man. John recognized him; that was Yasser
Arafat; not a doubt about it.


But what is he doing here in heaven? After all everybody
knows that he was the leader of a gang of self-bombers
and innocents' slayers.


Arafat saw the hooded being coming and tried to squeeze
into his chair and turn invisible. The hooded being
stopped in front of Arafat and gave him a tremendous
slap in the face.


“What are you doing here, you miserable vermin?” said
Death. “You are a slippery one aren't you? That must
have been another mistake. Ever since God gave that
Saint Joseph the job at the admission office, we have
had those mistakes. You vermin go to hell!”


Arafat disappeared in smoke but just before he was
turned into smoke, John saw the terror in his eyes. The
hooded being resumed his walk between the rows and soon
was out of sight.


Suddenly there was a booming voice.


"You don't adore me well enough; I will throw you to
hell!" said God.


John knew that he was the one being addressed by the
almighty and he was scared even stiffer and more
toothless than he had already been these last few years.


"Please Sir God, I call to your pity," said John.
"Please forgive me Sir; please don't throw me to hell; I
will adore you better, I promise."


36




Suddenly he woke up, transpiring.


My goodness, John thought, that could not be, it is just
a dream. God in his infinite wisdom surely has a better
plan for my afterlife, if I deserve one, that is to say.
Otherwise why would He give me an afterlife at all?
Maybe I should tell God what I would like as an
afterlife.


“What I would really like as an afterlife dear God, is
to travel from world to world and discover the secrets
of creation. To visit the galaxy and stop from time to
time on one of the inhabited worlds and share the
thoughts and emotions of the sentient beings there; and
maybe help some of them in achieving their goals.


I would like to embark on a million years trip with my
dear friends, with Joan, with my brother, my mother and
father, my uncles.
I would like to be able to communicate with them at all
time, to love them, have fun with them, and make
physical love to Joan...
Hey that would be heaven for me, to fly with them at
incomprehensible speed. Wow! Now, if you listen to my
thoughts dear God; that is what I want. I will do
everything to deserve it.”


The jet landed. John was taken to the American Consulate
and immediately brought to the colonel in charge of the
secret service operations. There were three men with
him.


"Hi John,” said the colonel, “let me introduce you to
your team. Tom, Walt and Martin will be your colleagues
for that mission."


The men were very friendly, respectful.


"It is a pity that we had to call you for that mission,
John." said Tom. "We have been informed of your
courageous navy career. We learned all we could about
you and here you are, the hero of a dozen missions. You
look in great shape, I am sure you will be very helpful
but it is a sad thing that we are forced to ask a 78
years old man to risk his life again."


37




"It is all right," said John, "I thought a lot about it
during the flight. I came to the conclusion that my life
had been an unfair deal and this as far back as the
first time my mom told me that I was going to die, that
everybody die, sooner or later, that we are born to die.
I believe I was two years old at that time. I got at
that moment my very first nervous breakdown...Could you
imagine that? Two years old and already a broken man..."


John kept a serious face. Everyone was looking at him,
wondering if he had just lost it. Then looking at their
long faces, John smiled and all of them started to
laugh. Tom hugged him, and everyone clapped
hands with him.


It was clear that they were worrying about the coming
events and that small joke convinced everyone that John
was the right man to have with them. That man is a cool
one, they thought.


"Ok, "said the colonel, "let's go on with the briefing.
The Iranian envoy arrived today at the Iranian embassy
with a suitcase chained to his wrist. It must contain
the money for the transaction. We have relaying teams
watching the embassy and the terrorist hideout 24 hrs a
day. We tapped their communications and we found out
that the envoy is going to meet with the terrorists
tomorrow morning. We have two unidentified cars to chase
after the envoy's car and proceed with the interception.
We will wait until it gets in the poor sector of the
city. Then one of the cars will pass the Iranian's one
and stop in front of it. You will be in the second car
and will block its rear. You will kill the bodyguards
and kidnap the envoy and questioned him. Then you kill
him too. We will scramble all the communications in
that sector and nobody will be able to report what is
happening or call for help.


John, you will take his place. We have prepared a
special suitcase for you. It will contain the money but
will also contain a gas capsule with a mechanism to
release a very powerful odor when you activate your
implant signal.


We have done much research in the development of
odoriferous gas as armament. This gas was recently
developed. The odor is extremely offensive, unbearable.


38




The first second, they will be under shock, they will
think that somebody had just been very impolite; then
they will try to move away from the odor, they will
vomit, you will take advantage of the confusion to kill
them. At the same moment your team will burst in to help
you. You will not smell anything; you will all be given
the antidote.


So, the first thing you do is to make sure that the
bombs are there, then you activate your implant, you
kill them and fetch the bombs. Is that simple enough?”


“A piece of cake!” answered John ironically.


“Now get to bed all of you, try to sleep a few hrs, the
kidnapping should take place tomorrow morning at 9:00
AM."


Too simple, John thought, as he was shown to his
bedroom. It won't work...


John woke up at 6:00 AM, did 45 minutes of work out,
took a shower and went downstairs to meet with his
colleagues at the cafeteria.


They talked a little, made some jokes to relieve the
tension, checked their armament and went to the car.


At 9:00 AM, they were parked on the street watching the
Iranian embassy. The envoy's car came out and moved
towards the old city. They followed until it moved into
the poor sector. Tom called the driver of the second car
and gave him the signal to move ahead and released its
load of nails. They did it and all the tires of the
Iranian envoy's car went flat.


They must have realized what was happening for they
pressed ahead but the way was blocked. They hit the car
blocking their way but with the flat tires their car
didn't have enough traction to push its way through.
Walt had moved his car right behind the Iranian envoys
car and trapped it in between.


Tom opened the door and ran to the front of the envoy's
car and inserted an odoriferous gas capsule in the grid.
In 2 seconds, the Iranians opened the door and surged
out with submachine guns firing.


39




John shot and kill one of them, three more went under
the bullets of Tom and Walt. John ran to the envoy who
had just come out of the car and knocked him down with a
punch at the solar plexus and a quick short swing to his
neck with the side of his hand. Tom picked the envoy's
body and swung it on his shoulders then ran to the
American car and dropped it inside.


The envoy was injected with truth serum and woke up with
a little capsule of ammonia opened under his nose. John
questioned him. He told them that he was going to meet
with one of the terrorist at a gas station a few miles
away. Once there, he would identify himself and give his
password. The terrorist would then return to his car and
the Iranians would follow the terrorist to his hideout
where they would exchange the money for the bombs.


So far so good, thought John, at least we kidnapped the
envoy without any casualty and I don't even feel tired.
In fact, I feel just great, full of energy. I will
probably be tired once it is all over but not
before. This new gas armament is really cool.


Tom was sitting beside the envoy; he grabbed his head
and broke his neck. He had his orders; no witness must
be left alive. They drove to the gas station in the
unidentifiable American car. The tires had been
unaffected by the nails since they had been previously
filled with latex.


Once they got to the gas station, John went out and
walked like an old and feeble man. He had a long beard
stuck real well with crazy glue. For the next day or
two, the skin would come apart before somebody could
pull it out. I looked venerable, he thought, a holy man,
a holy Muslim.


A man walked to him and said: "Allah be with you, are
you the Iranian envoy?"


"Allah be with you too. Hell to America." said John for
that was the password.


"Where is the money?" said the terrorist.


"In the car and well protected by my three guards. The
suitcase is linked to a belt loaded with explosive and


40




any attempt to get the money will result in its
destruction."


"I was ordered to take you and the money to our temple.
You will come with me and your guards will wait here for
your return. Once we get to my headquarters, we will
count the money and if it is all there, I will take you
back here with the bombs."


"There will be no such nonsense," said John, "We were
ordered to follow you to your place in our car and once
there we are to exchange the money for the bombs. My
guards will protect me at all time. Our heads will fall
if we disobey."


The terrorist was hesitant, John looked at him in the
eyes but he averted John's gaze. He smelled unclean and
bad waves were coming
out of him.


This man is rotten to the bones, thought John; he would
kill his own mother without hesitation if it brought him
good money.


"Since that seems to be Allah's wish, follow me then."
said the terrorist.


They followed him for 10 minutes and entered into the
northern part of the poor sector. A dangerous place to
take a walk, thought John, you would be knifed in the
back for a pair of shoes here.


Finally they stopped in front of small temple. John went
out of the car and waited.


"Take the money with you and follow me inside." Said the
terrorist. "Your guards will stay in the car."


John went back to his car and shook hand with his
companions.


"Good luck my friends." Said John.


They wished him the best and Tom clapped him on the
shoulder.


41




"It is an honor for me to share that mission with you
John." Said Tom. "I did not tell you yet but you saved
my father's life; Bob Hardings, you remember? I am his
son. He told me you are his hero, the bravest man he
ever met in his life and the most dangerous fighter in
close combat."


God that was a long time ago, John thought, during the
Vietnam War. Our platoon had been ambushed and Bob and I
were the only survivors.


Bob had been shot in the leg and John had stopped the
bleeding and carried him on his back until they reached
the pick up location, miles away. John had used his
special gift, that feeling of imminent danger to move
around the enemies and following his intuition they had
finally made it.


"Thank you Tom for your kind words." said John. "I
remember your father and I liked him like a brother. I
heard that he passed away. Please accept my condolences.
I will not fail you here."


John took the suitcase and chained it to his wrist. He
put on a thick belt, loaded with plastic explosive and
went out of the car. He followed the terrorist inside
the temple.


Putting on that belt, John thought, is like giving away
the few good years left to me. If we can't get away with
the bombs, I will have to detonate it and there is
enough explosive to destroy the whole building along
with the nuclear bombs. My chances to get away with
my life and the nukes are not very good. Farewell Joan,
I wish we had met a few years earlier.


Three guards were waiting inside and they were pointing
their AK 47 at his chest.


"I will disarm you," said the terrorist, "and then you
will follow me in the office."


"There will be no such thing," said John, "if your men
shoot me, I have enough explosive in my belt to destroy
the building. I will not surrender my arms. My suitcase
is chained to my wrist and connected to my belt. Any


42




attempt to take it from me will result in your immediate
death. My men are waiting outside; they have by now
brought the car right against the temple. The car is
also loaded with explosive."


"What, what..."said the terrorist, "it was understood
and agreed that you will come disarmed..."


"You thought," said John, "that we would be stupid
enough to come here with twenty million dollars, without
any guarantee that you have the bombs or that we will
have a fair deal? Allah informed our holy leader that
you intended to take the money and kill his envoy. In
his great wisdom, he sent me, a dying man, and I assure
you that I will not hesitate to detonate my belt if I
think that there is foul play here."


"Also," said John, "One of my man is a nuclear engineer.
He must come with me to check if the bombs are in good
order. Once you have shown me the bombs, I will give you
my suitcase; you will count the money while we check the
bombs. Then, we will get back to the car with the
bombs."


John turned around and made a hand sign to Tom to come
with him. When he turned back he saw that the terrorist
was giving instructions to one of the guards who left at
once for the office. The terrorist looked at him
angrily.


"Follow Me.", he said.


They went to the office. There were many men inside.
John counted them; there were the three guards still
pointing their submachine gun, covering Tom and himself,
the terrorist and two leaders. There were two big
suitcases on a long desk.


These must be the nukes, thought John.


"These are the bombs," said one of them, "now hand me
your suitcase and make sure to disconnect it from your
belt."


The man that spoke was surely the leader, John told
himself, he is used to give orders.


43




The leader looked down at John with the composure of a
man of great dignity.


Another one of those damned holy man, thought John,
ready to kill millions of people and his own mother and
sisters if need be. Well, I am going to kill that one
first... As soon as I disconnect the belt, they will
start shooting. They want the money and keep the bombs.
I read it in their faces. They never had any intention
to surrender the bombs.


John activated the gas capsule in the bottom compartment
of his suitcase. The leader looked at him with a very
offended expression; he had never been farted on that
bad. Every man backed up, it was the right time.
Everyone except Tom and John were under shock of the
unbearable odor. John pulled his gun, shot the leader in
the heart and threw himself under the desk. He rolled
over and shot another man in the legs. The man fell and
John shot him in the head. Two more men fell on the
floor under Tom's bullets and he was rolling himself
under the desk shooting the last two guards in the legs.
They both rolled away from the desk and shot the falling
guards in the head.


That man is fast, thought John, and quick minded too, I
never had a chance to warn him of my intentions, what a
partner!


They were all dead; Tom grabbed the two very heavy bombs
and lifted them from the desk.


Tom is incredibly strong, thought John as he picked his
own suitcase and one of the AK47.


There is no point in leaving twenty million dollars to
those fanatics, he thought.


They came out of the temple and ran towards the car.
There was a crowd of people outside, encircling it; some
of them were armed. John put his suitcase on the ground
and started to shoot in the crowd, he killed some of the
armed men first. The crowd parted and Tom ran
to the car, the door opened, he threw the bombs in and
turned to grab John's suitcase as John was rushing in.


44




John fell; he had been hit and had lost consciousness.
Tom could not rescue him, they had received orders, the
bombs were too important. He had already taken the money
suitcase from John's hand, he closed the door and the
car left at full speed.


John woke up in a cell. The bullet had only grazed his
head leaving a sizable lump. He was aching and terribly
hungry and thirsty. He had been kicked everywhere by the
angry crowd.


So, I am still alive, thought John, but they took my
clothes, my shoes, everything except my underwear. I am
chained too; by one ankle...God my ribs hurt, some of
them must be fractured. They kicked me, bruised me good.
I suppose they thought I deserved all of it; I must have
killed twenty-five of them today. They will probably
have their fun with me. Torture followed by execution!
That's what is awaiting me. I must be strong, there is a
way of ignoring pain, I was better at it when I was
younger, now it just doesn't seem to work so well
anymore.


Anyhow, I can't do anything about it, fretting and
despairing will not improve my situation so I will
forget about my misery and dream about a comfortable
shelter in the forest, just beside a gurgling creek.
Joan is with me, we are roasting two hares over a
campfire and we have plenty of water to drink--.


John woke up from his dream at the sound of a key
turning in the lock, the door opened and two men walked
in. One of them carried a plate of stew and a bottle of
water. They looked at him.


"You were unconscious for days now," said the oldest of
the guard, "we had to force you to drink some water, we
did not want to loose you before we could rightfully
execute you. But before that, we need you to answer a
few questions. If you answer truthfully, we will give
you the food and the water. First, who are you? Second,
why did you shoot our people at the temple?"


"My name is John Foster. I am a retired US navy officer.
I came here to take two nuclear bombs from a terrorist
cell before they were delivered to an Iranian envoy.


45




Those bombs would have been used to kill millions of
innocent people. Please contact our consulate; they
will surely confirm my story. "


"We won't do that for now," said the guard, "we will
keep you here for a while. You may be useful. We can
possibly trade you for some of our imprisoned brothers
or get a sizable ransom from your government. The
Iranians would also pay a good price to get their
hands on you."


They gave him the food and left. John spent endless
hours in that cell. It smelled bad; he could relieve
himself by sitting or standing over a hole in the floor.
There was a narrow bed with one sheet, no window.


A man was coming twice a day with a food plate and
stayed until he finished the food, going back with the
empty plate. It was always the same man. John still had
his implant and from time to time, he would press
on it to send a signal. Just in case, he thought.


One day John asked the guard if he was a member of a
terrorist cell.
"I am a member of an Afghan tribe that had fled
Kandahar." He answered.
"What is your name?" asked John.
"Khamir."
"Do you stay in that building all day long, Khamir?"
"Yes"
"What do you do of your time?"
"Nothing."
"Are you alone all day long?"
"Yes."
"Would you like to play card with me? We can bet. I will
pay you later on all the money you will win. That is if
I can."


"I should not talk with an infidel and it would be
sinful to play with an American."


"But, I speak your language, I know the Koran, I am a
just a feeble old man dying in that cell."


46




A few days later, Khamir came in the cell with an old
pack of cards. They played card everyday afterward and
started to talk at length.


John told Khamir that not only had he read the Koran
book, he had memorized it. He had also read the
Christian Bible.
"You know Khamir," said John, "I am not much of a
believer in people that call themselves prophet and
start their own religion. I believe in God and in the
existence of guarding angels, spirits that sometimes
watch over us and even help us.


Over the past millenniums, there have been a few
exceptional men who built around themselves an army of
followers after they declared to have been in contact
with God. Amongst the followers were some people who
could write about what their leader said or did. Their
books were kept for a long time and rewritten by others.
For centuries now, these books, the Bible and the Koran,
were extensively used to convert people and influence
them. Do you know who wrote the Koran?"
"No."
"Let me tell you what I know about it." Said John, set
upon turning the guard into a potential ally. "The Koran
is a book composed of writings about the revelations
made to Muhammad by Allah. Muhammad lived in the seven
century. One day he told his friends that he had spent
some time in the desert and he had receive revelations
from Allah. He told them that he had been chosen by God
to be his prophet.


Well some people didn't like it and they threw him out
of Mecca. He left in an exile called the Hegira to
Medina where he established his own religion. That was
in the year 622 C.E. Later on, eight years later
apparently, he led an army to conquer Mecca in the name
of Islam. His army won the battle and that set the stage
for a unification of the Arab world.


But he died 2 years later. Somebody wrote a booklet of
those revelations. The book was called the Koran and it
required from the ones-who-submit (the Muslim) to
believe that there was only one God and Muhammad was his
prophet. It also required from the Muslims to make five
prayers a day and to give alms to the house of worship
called a Mosque. They should also give to the poor, make


47




fast during daylight hours for the whole month of
Ramadan and make one lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca. Soon
after Muhammad's death, a major disagreement amongst his
followers split them in two groups, the Shiite and the
Sunni.


I don't know who wrote the Koran and I don't know who
wrote the Bible. The two religions are similar except
that for the Christians Jesus is one with God and at the
same time the Son of God. According to the bible, he was
born from a virgin woman called Mary. Who knows if Mary
was a virgin, women don't talk to people about what they
are doing behind close doors. Beside, I am quite sure
that she did not say she was a virgin since it was
commendable for a wife to make love with her husband. It
would have ridiculed and belittle Joseph. It is probable
that the writer decided to embellish the story somewhat
and added that on his own. But again I might be wrong
and the whole story might be true. Anyhow, it is not
important. For God could have implanted a part of
himself in that baby any time he wished and Mary
wouldn't be less holy had she made Joseph happy.


Unknown people have written parts of the Bible and other
religious books, as the pages became unreadable.


Religious books are excellent tools used by preachers to
pass on their messages but some of the writings are
questionable. For example, I found some contradictions
when I read the bible. In one place it is said that God
is infinitely forgiving and would not carry grudges; He
would forgive one's sins if one ask Him before one’s
death happen. But if you are unlucky and die too
quickly, then the Almighty will burn you in hellish fire
for a long time, more than a few hours of unimaginable
torture, in fact for many days and more, for years,
centuries, even much more than centuries, forever. Yes
forever!


So if you are Hitler or Bin Laden or anyone of the
maddest and most sadistic leaders in the history of
mankind you can still go to heaven if you ask God to
forgive you before you die. That doesn't sound right to
me.


You may be a good person, generous and humble and have a


48




moment of weakness and commit one of the capital sins.
For example, you make love to another person than your
spouse and then get kicked by a car without having time
to ask to be forgiven. Well though luck, you are going
to Hell man, oh yes, it is written, there is no way out,
you will be tortured forever in Hell.


That sounds foolish but it is exactly what preachers
have been telling people for centuries.


Now, Muslim preachers are telling their followers that
if they kill a lot of infidels, Americans and Jews and
whoever else are at the wrong place at the wrong time,
doing it in a suicide bombing, you are going straight to
Heaven. Does that sound right?"


"I don't know; I will have to think it over." said
Khamir.


"The problem," said John, "is that many followers don't
question the preachers. This is the truth they say. It
is written they say. And a lot of people believe
anything that is written.
After all, some will think, the preachers have
consecrated their life to the word of God. They are holy
men! It is a known fact. Everybody respect them.
Well, let me tell you Khamir that many preachers will
not go straight to heaven. Some will possibly go to that
hellish place they are scaring us about if there is such
a place. But I don't believe it, for I don't believe in
God's wrath over sins. For undeserving people, there
is most probably no punishment except that when they
die, there is no afterlife, good riddance, that's all.


So when a preacher says with a strong affirmative voice
that Jesus said this or Muhammad said that and it is
written, just remember that the guy is using the book's
writings to carry his message and influence his
listeners. If his message is a message of love,
tolerance and compassion, then it is for the best and we
should not worry about the source of the message. But if
the message is questionable, then it should be
rejected."


"I often wondered how come Muhammad let the filthy Jews
won the wars against our brothers." said Khamir. "Might
it be that he wasn't God's prophet?"


49




"We will never know who really were: Abraham, Jesus,
and Muhammad and those that came even before them,
Confucius and Buddha." said John. "Those exceptional men
may have been guarding angels; Guardians that gave us
some help in our evolution.


Who knows! God might have guided them or put a tiny
spark of his godly being in them. But it is comforting
to think that there is a chance the Almighty is watching
us and wish us to evolve to a higher level. It is
comforting to think that he is choosing some people to
help and guide us. That may be so and perhaps the
Almighty is doing the same for the multitude of sentient
species living on billions of inhabited worlds in this
infinite universe.


The Jews are no more filthy or evil than your Arab
brothers and we are all brothers on Earth, we breathe
the same air and drink the same water and we all have
dreams and emotions."


"That's not what is being taught to us at the Mosques."
said Khamir. "Do you think we shouldn't go at the
Mosque?"


"I believe,” said John, “that some people need a place
where they can assemble once a week and show themselves
to their neighbors dressed in their best clothing. They
can say hello to each other and speak a few kind words,
congratulate each other for their most recent
achievements. This way they feel that they belong to a
community in which the members share mutual beliefs and
goals.


To pray God, to sing together and to listen to the deep
thoughts of one of the members of the community, one of
the sons of that community, who has now become the
preacher, is most comforting to those people.


This is why churches and Mosques have been built and
preachers have been preaching. This once a week communal
meeting at the church is a good way for some people to
overcome their loneliness.
And when there are marriages or when the community
looses one of its members, they all go to churches and
give or receive kind words. Religions and churches are


50




wonderful; it is a great comfort to believe that when we
are going to church on Sundays, we are
preparing for ourselves a nice place in heaven and our
life is worth something. Most people believe that by
going to church, they are doing their best for the
evolution of mankind.


The day people stop going to churches will be a very sad
day for many of them. Religion is important and very
useful as long as it is not used to control other people
and achieve personal power."


"If I understood correctly the whole of your message,"
said Khamir, "I come to the conclusion that you don't
believe in religion but you think it has a beneficial
influence on mankind. I believe in Allah and would like
to go to heaven and I need to follow the writings of a
true religion. Would you to tell me then which religion
you find the most credible."


"I like the two religions, Christianity and Islam, but
there is another one, a much older one called Hinduism.
That religion was born here in Pakistan, which was part
of India at that time, for it dates back to prehistory.
It has no binding rules; a Hindu can believe in one
or more Gods or none at all. The core of their beliefs
is about reincarnation and Karma. The writings say that
all living things, people, plants and animals live in a
continuous cycle that goes on forever. The next life you
get is determined by your merits in the preceding one. I
heard about some people who remembered their previous
life and a survey tends to confirm that belief. I came
to believe in the presence on Earth of reincarnated
people. But only a few since our present time billions
of people could not have all had previous lives, there
were not enough people before.


I pondered about it and came to think that most people's
souls dissipate into nothingness soon after being
released from the body. Only a few souls have enough
compassion power and knowledge or maturity to stay whole
and resist the forces of chaos. To survive death, one
must reach a high level of personal achievement."


Khamir and John had many such discussions over the
following days.


51




"Tell me," said Khamir, "what should one do to reach a
high level of personal achievement."


"We start our life on the first level." said John. "We
have basic needs, instincts. We try to survive, get
water and food and clothing for us and for our family.
Then we want security and we try to make sure
that we will have food tomorrow and the following days
and years. That is the first level.


Once that is taken care of, we try to get other people
respect and admiration. We want to show everyone and
ourselves that we are more intelligent or resourceful
than most and we work hard to develop our abilities and
make a personal success in a suitable career. That is
the second level.
But that is not quite enough yet to survive death. After
we have got people's respect and admiration, we try to
get their friendship and love and we realize that it is
difficult to get it once we have proven our superiority.
So, we try to become the best possible persons for our
own personal satisfaction, hoping that friendship and
love will follow. We learn as much as we can because it
is pleasant to know things. We work out because we feel
good when we are in great shape. We become interested in
people and listen to them because that is the most
interesting thing on Earth. Yes, other people! We help
others because we feel good inside when we do it.


We try to be humble because we realize that for whatever
we do or have done, we are not important, we will be
forgotten quickly after we are gone; beside, being
important becomes a real burden. We get pleasure in
small things like having a pleasant chat with another
person or daydreaming for an hour in a beautiful and
quiet place. That is third level.


If we die after we have reached that third level, we may
be awarded a different kind of afterlife than a
reincarnation on Earth or a quick soul evaporation; a
more exciting afterlife."


"Your words carry a great wisdom, John." said Khamir. "I
never thought about these things. I am told what to do
and I do it for I want to go to heaven. I do my best to


52




follow the right path. I never questioned my leader's
words before."


Khamir left that day with much to think about.
Afterwards, his behavior changed, he wanted to reach the
third level and go to heaven or at least get an
afterlife. He started to ask a lot of questions and
slowly began to look at John as a father.


Soon after, he was telling John of his every day's
events. More weeks went on and John was making sure to
be on the loosing side in their daily cards' games. He
now owed Khamir the equivalent of thousands of American
dollars and reaffirmed regularly his intentions of
paying him later on, when he will get free.


John was day dreaming one morning when he heard
gunshots. Somebody was running to his cell door. A key
turned in the lock, the door opened and there he was,
Tom, with a set of keys in one hand and a gun in the
other. He unlocked and took off the chain from John's
ankle and helped him up.


"Take that gun dear friend and follow me," said Tom, "it
is great to see you alive."


“Oh my dear Tom, I am so glad that you came back for me,
thank you Tom.”


They ran a long corridor and found three doors at the
end. Tom opened the one in front and went out. John was
just about to follow him when one of the side doors
opened; he quickly stepped sideways and pivoting, faced
a guard who was already leveling his gun on him. John
shot him and froze. For at the very instant he was
shooting the guard, the back door had opened and a gun
had been pressed on his back. He turned slowly around,
raising his hands; it was Khamir...


"You will have to knock me down, so that nobody will
think I let you escape." said Khamir. "Farewell John."


"God bless you Khamir, good luck to you too."


John hugged him then hit him hard between the eyes. He
would have black eyes for a few days but no broken nose.
He would not loose one tooth or suffer a bone fracture.


53




John followed Tom outside up to a waiting car, and they
rushed away.


John sat comfortably on the cushioned seat; it had been
a long time with nothing else than a rough mattress on a
cement floor and a square wooden chair.


“Tell me Tom,” said John, “How in heaven did you find
me?”


“We thought you were kept prisoner somewhere around here
since the terrorists never showed your body. We had a
few agents trying to find you over the last few months.
Then, last week, we caught a phone call conversation
between the terrorist cell leader and the Iranian
embassy. The terrorist asked for a ransom of $1 million
to deliver you alive in their hands. When I found out
about it, I asked the CIA headquarters to send me here.
I came back yesterday and caught your signal as I was
driving in this area yesterday afternoon. The signal was
very weak; the battery must have weakened up over the
months for I doubt that the signal could be caught
further than a few hundred feet.”


“This is just too much of a coincidence,” said John
thoughtfully,” I sent the signal twice a day to spare
the battery, one time in the morning and one time in the
afternoon. This is only 2 seconds in a whole day, and
you were there just at the right time, passing in front
of that house, within a hundred feet of it and just
before they were about to hand me over to the Iranians…”


“I was lucky, isn’t it?” answered Tom joyfully.


“I am not so sure about the luck of it.” commented John.
“It looks more to me that this chain of events was
somehow willed by God or some kind of guardian angels.”


“These are odd thoughts coming from one of our most
notorious country hit man.” replied Tom seriously. “But
I too, often wondered about some unbelievable
coincidences in the past.”


“I come to think that my life, the short span of life
that is left to me, might still serve a greater purpose
and I wonder in which way I might still be useful. I


54




don’t have much left Tom; I was diagnosed with a brain
tumor six months ago. The doctor told me it was
impossible to remove it.”


“I am sorry to hear that John,” said Tom, “how much time
do you still have?”


“One year more or less.” replied John. “There is a woman
with whom I wish to spend much of that time but I don’t
know if I should. She seems to like me a lot and I am in
love with her but…”


They landed at Miami International Airport the day
after. John thanked Tom, hugged him and they shook hands
warmly.


"So, my dear Tom, you came back for me," said John with
much emotion. "You saved me. I wish you the very best in
your life and if you come to Naples, I have a room for
you. I will be your friend forever."


"I will call you, John."


Tom left with water in his eyes. He had lost his father
but he had paid his debt.


The day after his return, John went to the library but
was told that Joan was away for one week. So he went to
visit Naples downtown, the Fifth Avenue south, and stop
by an art gallery called La Belle Image. They had an
exceptional selection of interesting artworks, high
quality paintings. Many of these had been executed with
impulsive pallet strokes leaving a rich looking and very
thick texture. The colors were soothing and they
depicted scenes of another world.


John walked inside and started to look at the paintings.
An elderly man came to him and addressed him in a thick
French accent. John told him he had been in Paris quite
a few times.


"Paris is a beautiful City," said the French salesman,
"the only problem is that there are too many French
people living there."


John found that very funny and kind of liked the
salesman.


55




"In Fact," the salesman said, "I grew up in France but I
am Italian, my name is Robert Pisano, please to meet
with you."


John and Robert shook hands warmly and started to chat
and joke about France and the French people. John was
having a good time. He asked Robert about the
paintings illustrating scenes from another world.


"The artist is in the back painting right now." said
Robert. "He also wrote a book, here it is, “Ghama-2, An
Afterlife Story” and its sequel “Land Of Magic”. The
scenes are from this world; the artist, my boss in fact
said he is seeing them in his dreams."


John looked at the book, opened it, read the first
chapter and got caught.


"I will buy the book for now." John said.


After paying for it, he went in the back to meet with
the author and saw a man completely absorbed in the
making of a painting. The artist seemed to be in a
trance and ignored or didn't notice John's presence. He
was doing the sky, sliding colors over colors from left
to right, adjusting the texture left by the passage of
the knife to enhance the beauty of the already rich
looking sky. The moment came when the artist was
satisfied and he turned around to face John.


"I apply the paint in very thick texture at the bottom
where the subject in my painting is closer but the sky,
except at the top, must be absent of any texture if I
want to achieve the illusion of great distance." He
said.


He didn't say hello, he just spoke to me as if we were
old friends, John thought, as if we had been talking for
hours and this subject just happened in the
conversation.


It was now evident to John that I knew of his presence
in my back. I had volunteered an information when none
were asked and this indicated to him that I wanted to
convey my appreciation for the man I had guess he was.
He felt that in one fraction of a second, as our eyes


56




met, he had been evaluated and approved as a person; for
he was sure that I would have just said hello with a
salesman's smile otherwise.


John liked quick thinking but even more he liked to be
approved by a quick thinker. There is nothing wrong in
being a slow wit, John thought, after all it is not
one's fault, but I prefer the company of the others.


"I just bought your book after reading the first chapter
and now that I have met with you, I know that I will
enjoy the rest as well." said John.


"That book was written for you," I said, "you are one of
the chosen and I am very glad that you bought it. Your
next move will be to buy one of the paintings."


"I am not in the market of buying art but I will be back
I guess." replied John.


He left me to my work after shaking hands and went back
home. Once there, John took a shower, prepared himself a
drink, two ounces of London Dry Gin in a full glass of
lime soda and plenty of ice cubes, and sat down in his
most comfortable chair. He had a sip and started the
reading of it. He read it for two hours and stopped for
there was much to think about and his eyes were getting
dry. Beside, he liked it that way, taking his time to
digest a few chapters before resuming the reading.


John felt tired, closed his eyes, fell asleep, and got
caught in a very strange dream. He was seeing scenes of
that world, Ghama-2, and some beings were talking to
him.


"You have been chosen, your descendants need you, your
race needs you..."


John woke up remembering the dream. He then went to the
kitchen to make some coffee and to warm up a frozen
dinner. The lunch was eaten quickly for John was now
completely caught by the story. He drank the last of his
coffee and went back to the kitchen to pour some more of
the delicious coffee in his cup then went back to his
sofa and resumed his reading.


57




On and off, reading then sleeping and dreaming, he went
trough the books. Two days later he had read it all, the
two books one after the other and was left shaken by it.
He had not slept a full night just quick naps to restore
his vision and his energy and understood now that this
was much more than simple fiction, these books had
really been written for him and some few other chosen.
John knew that the dreams were no dreams, he had been in
contact with spirits, they had talked to him, convinced
him that they wanted him to be part of an incredible
odyssey, an afterlife odyssey…


He decided then to go back to the art gallery to meet
with the book's author.


I was very pleased to meet with John for the second
time.


"So you are back." I said. "The story is fiction but who
knows, sometimes between fiction and reality lies a very
thin line and it could be crossed over… I hoped you will
buy one of the paintings depicting life on Ghama-2. If
you do so, you will be awarded a second life at the end
of the present one. There are a few strange facts,
unexplainable..."


“I know,” said John, “that you are trying to convince me
that there is more to the story than fiction. You are
careful as you do it, you don’t want to reach a point
where I might start thinking of you as either a lunatic
or a con man.”


“I assure you John that I am neither one nor the other.”
I replied sincerely.


“I believe you Richard for not only did I read your
books but I, also, have been in contact with the
Guardians.”


“Wow! I thought I was the only one with whom they could
communicate.” I said.


“You were the first one but not the only one anymore.”
replied John. “You see, the Guardians have scanned your
body and found that your blood had an unusually high
level of iron and your cells had a very high level of


58




magnetism. They can now induce biological changes in the
people they wish to communicate with.”


“The Guardians told you all of that?” I said with
surprise. ”You must have had long conversations with
them.”


I was a tad jealous as I realized that John had surely
gone much deeper than me with the Guardians.


“I wanted to learn as much as I could from them.” said
John. “You see I am a cautious man and I didn’t know
what could be their ulterior motive. They want me to
lead the human expedition on Ghama-2. They said that I
have the necessary military skill, combat experience,
and psychology and they discovered that I possess a
sixth sense that warns me of danger. Apparently they can
rebuild us as we are now with our inherent abilities and
add a few improvements of their own.”


“What kind of improvements?” I asked.


“They just said that we will be more functional and less
vulnerable; otherwise we will keep our personality but
we will be young men again.” replied John.


“That will be great to be young again, isn’t it John?”


“Fantastic!” He replied.


“But now that they can communicate with anyone they wish
to, they can just go back to Ghama-2 and talk to the
people there, get an expedition force from locals… they
don’t need us anymore.” I said worriedly.


“I ask them about that.” replied John. “They said they
thought about our belief in God and angels and came to
the conclusion that these entities exist; they believe
that they might have been led themselves by superior
beings to you and me. So they think we are important for
the success of such mission. They will only contact some
of the people who have read your books; they will try to
influence the ones with the greatest potential in going
further and acquire one of your paintings. They said
that if those angels exist, they should be the ones to
influence the right people to come to your gallery. The
Guardians will help a little bit in providing dreams to


59




those who have already been influence by the angels to
buy your books.”


“This way,” I said, “everyone of the potential
candidates will still have freedom of will and only
those who listen to their intuitions and are ready to
spend an important sum of money in acquiring one of my
paintings will be awarded an afterlife on Ghama-2. That
is very close to my plan, the one I proposed to the
Guardians.”


“I know that you are doing well and you don’t need the
money Richard but it would be easy for most people in
attributing a financial motive to your plan. The people
that will go further will be the luckiest ones or the
most intuitive.”


“Talking about luck,” I replied, “I intend to mail my
books to a few of the most resourceful and luckiest
people on Earth. These people would otherwise never hear
about Ghama-2.”


“Who do you have in mind?” asked John.


“I don’t know why exactly but a few names came to my
mind: Bill Rates, Donald Rumps, Nicole Teaseman, Queen
Elisabeth the Fifth, Krishna the former middle weight
champion, George W. Woods, our president.”


“I know George very well since I have once been his
bodyguard.” said John. “I saved his life once and I am
just back from Pakistan where I was sent to fetch 2
nuclear bombs, suitcase size. If he doesn’t come to your
auction, keep one of your paintings for him. He would be
a great man for this odyssey.”


We talked a long time about it....


60




Chapter Three - Joan the librarian


John was with the beautiful Joan at the coffee shop. He
looked at her suddenly realizing that he had been lost
for a while.


"You were caught in some kind of meditation," said Joan.
"I didn't want to interrupt."


"Sorry Joan, as I grow older, I sometimes loose the
thread of time, I get lost in my thoughts. Last week I
bought a book, a most extraordinary book that is. I want
to talk it over with you. If what I learned in that book
is true, our very life may be transformed."


"We are quite old already," said Joan. "It is difficult
to believe that after all we experienced, our very life
would be transformed by the reading of a book. It is not
that I doubt you, John, on the contrary, for you are
exciting my curiosity."


Joan was very happy; John always had something new to
talk about. She had been worried and afraid that
something had happen to him. She remembered the first
time they had met, their first coffee break together,
her feelings afterwards, and her intuition that she had
finally, at the age of 68, met the man of her dream.


At the beginning, Joan was hoping he would invite her
for dinner and she would have a chance to know him
better. But he never did and Joan wondered why. Was he
married? She thought, he had a ring but no, he told her
that he was a widow and was living alone. She never
asked him why he would not try to go further with her.


They were not old physically. Both of them were in fact
in great shape for their age; in better shape than a lot
of youngsters but she felt that it was not proper for
her to press him or to ask him why he would not invite
her to dinner.


Joan had lost her husband 10 years before and had never
met a man since for whom she would give away her
freedom. She was working as a host and a guide at the
library four days a week, 10 to 6 and used much of her
spare time in reading.


61




Joan was a very unusual woman. She was living alone on
Mainsail Drive in Naples, Florida. She lived in a first
floor condo erected 25 feet from the shore of an
alligator and crocodile infested lake. She loved her
lake; a few hundred dwellings on one side and nothing on
the other side apart from the mangroves and the areas of
long grass, saw grass, where the birds walk in search of
small fishes and insects right beside the sleeping
alligators and crocodiles.


She would usually start her days with 10 minutes
exercise followed by 15 minutes jogging on her balcony
and then she would jump in her canoe and paddle along
the far shore. She would even venture into the long
grass areas knowing that at any time one of the
big crocodiles could attack her for invading its
territory and that would be the end. She was exhilarated
by the presence of danger; she thought that her life
would loose much of its interest if it would not be
something that she might loose at any time. She likes
paddling her canoe close to the long grass, making as
little noise as possible but the birds usually flew away
croaking a warning to the crocodiles. Some would slip
soundlessly into deeper water but others would awake at
the last moment and jump in the water in a tremendous
splash. Sometimes they would emerge close to the canoe
and look angrily at her. She would then look calmly at
them and keep moving with the paddle in between her
canoe and the closest one, showing no fear. She thought
that if a predator can feel the fear emanating from a
person, it would consider it as a prey or as a weak
animal invading its territory and would attack it.


So far, her theory had proven true and after 2 years of
her daily routine, they would probably go on tolerating
her presence. After her 2 hrs of early exercises and a
refreshing cold shower she felt fresh, full of energy
for the day, and proud to look like a young woman at 68.
Joan took great care of being dressed perfectly at all
times. She would not dress expensively but she did it
with taste. She would go shopping once a week to buy
inexpensive little things here and there and later on
combine the blouses, the pants, the skirts and other
decorative accessories with taste and creativity. She
looks like a lady, always impeccable and still
remarkably beautiful for her age.


62




John looked at Joan with a new intensity
"Joan, I know you wondered why I never invited you for
dinner or made any effort to transform our friendship
into something much closer. It is not that I was not
interested, on the contrary, I will tell you why now."
John took her hand, look at her and said: "Joan, I love
you since the very first time I met you. That first
time, I felt your emotional response; I knew it was the
same for you. We had just been struck.


We had met our perfect match. I thought with much
sadness that it was unfortunately too late for us; I
love you and I know that you love me too..."


"Oh John I love you too, why do you say it is too late?”


"I thought it was too late but now, after reading that
book…I believe we may have a chance. I believe there is
a destiny but we can modify it by our very actions. We
were destined to meet each other but too late to enjoy
it. I don't have very long to live. I got a brain
tumor, I am dying."


"Oh no," said Joan stricken.


"Please Joan, don't be so sad, something great happened
last week and I believe that we have a chance to live a
long life together but on another a world; a most
fascinating gigantic world; a world where all the plants
were genetically enhanced a very long time ago. All the
trees are bearing nourishing fruits; a world without
viruses, bacteria, and insects; a world without sickness
but on which you may be killed for there are predators
there, and other sentient species, some of them very
dangerous."


"John, you are really stirring my curiosity, I can't
wait to hear more about it but not here, what you are
telling me is too important to do it here in a coffee
parlor. Would you come to my place, let's say 8:00 PM
tonight? I live close to Marco Island, it's the first
time I invite a man there but we have much to talk
about. I will cook a plate of vegetables, zucchini,
tomatoes, and onions with a good thickness of cheese
over it. I have a few bottles of Pinot noir and I
will have a home made dessert..."


63




"That's wonderful, it will be great, give me your
address and I will be there."


Joan gave him the address, hugged him and kissed him on
the cheek. He held her tight for a moment, told her how
happy he was to have an evening with her and let her go.


She left for the library with moist eyes. She was
troubled, filled with emotions.
John paid the addition and left the restaurant to return
to his condo. Once he got there, he decided to walk in
the park and think the matters over.


The guardians John thought are a very old specie.


He remembered clearly his contact with them. It was
dream like but so real that he didn't have a doubt about
the reality of this contact. They spoke to him and he
learned that they were there before the previous
universe collapsed. They had protected themselves into a
sphere of warp time energy; they were inside that bubble
at the time the universe collapsed into the ultimate
black hole. Then, there was a terrific explosion, and
all the matter that had been swallowed came back out as
hot gas.
The gas molecules started to attract each other and form
particles, which started to coalesce into bigger masses.
As the masses increased in size, the forces of
attraction between the particles increased. There came a
point when nuclear reaction started and the masses
transformed themselves into suns. Matter was ejected
through terrific explosions and became planets.
The guardians saw the planets being formed, they saw
life coming out on them and they observed the evolution
of that life into plants, mammals and ultimately
sentient species.
The guardians are traveling across the universe; they
visit the galaxies and when they discover worlds
inhabited by sentient species, they stop for a while to
observe their doings. They very seldom interfere. They
share the thoughts and emotions of individuals of a
specie and after a while they resume their infinite
voyage. They can travel into the past and come back at
their actual time but they can't go into the future.
These guardians are neither evil nor kind, as we would
think in respect to ourselves.


64




They travel and guard the universe against the influence
of the demons that also survived the last big bang and
help vicious species to dominate, enslave and destroy
other sentient beings. One billion years ago, the Jinx
eliminated all sentient life in our galaxy and then
destroyed themselves with internal wars. Only a few
survived on the planet Ghama-2 but they degenerated and
lost all their knowledge and technology.
An advance civilization, Les Semeurs had already left
that world before these terrible times leaving their
cities protected by bubbles of space-time energy that
would remain active for billions of years. They also
left a mechanism to prevent any ship to fly over the
planet.


Any spaceship flying inside the atmosphere would crash
on the surface. All but one of the cities left by Les
Semeurs had stood well protected inside their bubbles
over the billion of years since they left. That city was
accessible. The space-time bubble of energy protecting
it somehow became inactive.


The first specie to find it and access the knowledge
spools left into their libraries would become as
powerful as "Les Semeurs "once were. They would become
super-beings.
Two hundred years from now, an American spaceship will
land on this planet. In fact, they will be crashed on it
by the automatic mechanism. The spaceship will be lost.
There will be no possible ways to communicate with Earth
but there will be survivors. A low technology
civilization will flourish over a few centuries and the
humans will start doing trade with some of the friendly
species living on that huge world.
500 years after the crash, the guardians passed by that
world and observed it. They saw the lost city and they
wanted to help the humans to discover it and become the
next great race. For that to happen, humans needed help.
The guardians traveled in the past and followed the
humans backward and came to earth. There was much
interference; a high level of radiation prevented
telepathic contact. So they came further back, before
the nuclear bombs started to explode everywhere. They
came to our time and finally made contact with an
individual whose cells magnetic energy was unusually
high which facilitated telepathic communication… They
contacted that human, the artist and author, in his


65




dreams and showed him scenes of Ghama-2. They induced
him to start painting those scenes and write a book on
that world and illustrate it with paintings depicting
those scenes.


They want to take back with them some Earth people. The
chosen ones must be men of action, with unusual
qualities or powers. They must also be people who can
accept the unbelievable; trusting their intuition and
instinct. They must have unusual mind power and
compassion. They should be able to modify their destiny
by direct action and that first action would be to buy
one of the paintings depicting life there.


Joan left the library at six and went home. She likes
the work at the library, meeting with people. Many of
them become close friends, even confidants. Back home,
she sometimes watches television but she is too active
to sit for hours in front of the TV. She likes to read
and she is always trying to find something to do. She
would prefer a more adventurous life.


Joan Brunet grew up in Germantown, Maryland. A village
located twenty-five miles from Washington, DC. Maryland
is certainly one of the most beautiful states in
America; with hills everywhere; lakes, and the seacoast
near by. She loved it there. When she finished her high
school, she looked for the best university at the lowest
cost. She discovered McGill University. That University
was as good if not even better than Harvard or
Georgetown at one fifth of the cost. It was located in
Montreal, province of Quebec, Canada.


Joan went to Montreal and fell in love with the city
and its people. There was always so much to do over
there, so many activities, and its downtown streets were
always crowded with people.
French people just can't stay in their home or their
backyards; they walk outside, in front of their houses
and talk with the neighbors.
In Montreal's old port, the streets are paved; there are
hundreds of shops of all kind. Some of the streets are
closed at weekends to allow the artists, the musicians,
the acrobats or the comedians to give their shows in
their allotted portions of the streets and collect some
money from the passerby's.


66




Joan lived in Montreal the best years of her life. She
graduated from McGill with a bachelor degree in
Biochemistry and was immediately hired by an important
pharmaceutical manufacturer where she worked for twenty
years.
In her early forties, Joan decided that it was about
time to get married and have some children.
She met David Mathers and thought he was husband
material. She married him one year later. David was good
company at that time, he was athletic, handsome, very
intelligent and the only child of a millionaire
businessman.


Joan's parents were most favorable to the wedding. They
had been after her for years trying to get her married
before it would be too late to have children. She was
not in love but she thought that love would develop with
time. She became pregnant almost immediately after the
wedding and gave birth to adorable Nancy. One year
later, Joan gave birth to Garry. With two young children
and a husband making good money, she decided to quit her
job, abandon her career, and consecrate her life into
raising these children the best possible way.


Twenty years went by like a flash. David became very
involved in his father newspaper business making
acquisitions and working 16 hrs a day. David's father
retired from the business and moved to Florida
to play golf and enjoy living. A heart attack took him
away one year later. David was very affected by his
father's death; he became a different man and started to
drink heavily. He was not at home very often, and most
of the time he was nervous and hot tempered. When
the business flopped, he was a broken man. He got
employment here and there, loosing his jobs one after
the other. Finally, like his father, a heart attack took
him from his misery.
Joan's relationship with David had been a sad one. Love
never bloomed up with time as she had hoped for. There
had been no romanticism, the great love she was aching
for, the sharing, never happened.
But now there was this man, John Foster, he was the one
she had been waiting for. With him she would not loose
her freedom, but live wonderful moments. She wanted to
care for him, to cherish him until the end.


67




Chapter Four - The Seduction


John arrived in time at her condo. When the bell rang,
it was exactly 8.00 PM. That was part of his military
training, always be there on time. For business
appointment he would arrive twenty minutes in advance
with a book in his hands. He would sit comfortably and
read his book until it was time for the meeting. For
an invitation at someone's home, he would never ring the
bell before time. It was not proper, he thought, it
would possibly force a person to receive him before
being ready or before the house had been tidied
up.


Joan opened the door smiling and said "John, I somehow
knew that you would be here at 8:00 sharp. I don't know
many things about you yet but I can guess some of your
character's traits."
"I have no doubt about you ability to read people," said
John.
"Would you like a drink before the meal?" asked Joan.
"A dry martini or a cold beer.” replied John. “What will
you have yourself?"
"A dry martini is a good idea, I will have one too. Have
a look around while I prepare the drinks or just sit
down; I will be back in a moment."


Joan went to prepare the drinks while he walked around
the living room, looking over every thing. There was a
rust sofa and two easy chairs, a sculpted green and
black granite table, a beige marble tiled floor. The
walls were the color of the floor but a shade paler.
There was a large size original oil painting over the
sofa, showing three women sitting in a field with two
houses and a church in the background. The style was
creative and the colors were soothing.


There were shelves loaded with books, an old TV set, and
a stereo.


Comfortable ambiance, John thought.


A picture of Joan's family caught his attention. There
was Joan with her husband and her two children at the
age of ten and twelve years old.


68




Her husband was handsome, John thought, solidly built;
he had the look of a businessman. A good man he seemed
to be, but not striking; probably not an exceptional
person. The girl seemed to have a tempestuous
personality and the boy looked easygoing, very calm.
The children have something of their mother, courage,
and self-confidence…
John never had children; he took a closer look at the
picture. They are real good-looking, he thought, I would
like them. Will I ever meet them?


John knew he did not have long to live now, he had the
intuition and so far his intuitions had never failed
him. He went to look at the books disposed elegantly on
the shelves. A moment later, Joan came back with the
drinks. He took his glass.


"Joan, lets make a toss to our future,” John said, “I
have reasons to believe that great adventures are
awaiting us."
"To our future..."


Joan sat in one of the easy chairs and John on the sofa.


"Joan, let us come back to that book Ghama-2," said
John. "The author is a local artist who owns an art
gallery on Fifth Avenue South where the book is already
in display. He illustrated the book with some of his own
paintings depicting life on that world.


Friday night is the official launching of the book at
the gallery, there will be a cocktail with hors
d'oeuvres, a pianist will be performing and they will
proceed to auction the paintings illustrating
scenes on Ghama-2.
I am highly interested in buying one of those paintings.
I know that it may sound foolish but I believe the
artist's claims that the owners of those paintings will
be transported to that world at the moment of their
death. They will wake up in the body of a young
adult. A body compatible with their aura and the way I
understand this is that this new body will perform as
good as the best you ever got with your present one and
that would include the special powers or abilities that
you have developed here on Earth. We will remember
our past life and will be able to use our experience to
help some of our descendants, already living there, to


69




find a very old city built by a civilization that left
the world a billion years ago.


I want to be one of the chosen and I want you to come
with me. We will contact our descendants already living
there and recruit a small army of volunteers to help us
in our efforts to find the lost city and get inside.
When I read the book, I fell asleep after a few chapters
and I dreamed. My dreams were very strange; they were
not dreams really, I was in contact with the guardians.
They said that the first species to enter the lost city
would become a race of super-beings. There are some
mechanisms that could enhance the brainpowers many
thousand times. The enhanced people will be able to
manipulate the matter of their own bodies and the
surrounding matter. They will be able to transform
themselves at will, to fly, to travel from world to
world at the speed of thought. They will become the
masters of the galaxy.


Some of the species on that world have found out about
the city and are trying to locate it. If one of the evil
species find it first, they will enslave all other
sentient species and kill them at will. It seems
important to the guardians to prevent that. This is why
they traveled backward to find our descendants' home
world and search for someone with whom they could
communicate. They contacted the artist and helped him to
write the book and make the paintings picturing life on
Ghama-2.


They showed me the world, the areas where the humans
live and some other species live. They showed me the
lost city too and it is a marvel. They can't transport
us in its vicinity; something prevents them to use their
powers on that world. There are a few places where
they can create a new body for us. Some of those are at
the proximity of a human settlement. We will be awoken
in one of these places.


They will snatch our souls at the moment of our death
and carry them back there and transfer it into a new
body. The guardians can manipulate matter and transform
it. They can transform mud into a human body. They told
me they are not godly beings and they are amazed at our
concept of God. They can do wonders those guardians but
they can't interfere more than that.


70




The chosen will wake up in groups of seven, in the
vicinity of one of the human cities. With our knowledge
and experience we can help our descendants whom lost all
their knowledge during the hardship of the hundred years
following the spaceship crash.
Since they will pick our souls as they travel back to
the future, there could be years between our deaths, it
doesn't matter; we will all wake up at the same time, at
the present time of the guardians, which is seven
hundred years from now. I told them that I want you, my
dear Joan, in my team. I also want my friend Tom who
recently saved me from a jail in Pakistan.


You can share the ownership of your painting with your
son and daughter, as I will do with Tom. Their souls
will also be picked up and they will wake up with us and
be part of our team. I expressed my wish that the artist
also joined with us. He will be the sixth member.
The last member will be a priest.


The Guardians said that they are fascinated by our
concept of religion and they believe that it may be a
very important success factor to have a priest with us.
They found one with exceptional powers and contacted him
and he will be at the auction.


Once we wake up on that world we will be on our own. The
Guardians will not be able to contact us anymore or to
interfere. We will have to protect ourselves at all
time, against predators and Aliens and even again some
of our descendants.


Joan, I would like you to come with me tomorrow to meet
with the artist. We will talk about it; and Friday night
my dear Joan, we will make a great step towards our
future life together; we will go to the auction and buy
one of the paintings."


There was a long period of silence following the entire
story. Joan was assimilating all the implications.


"John, that story is just incredible. I am demolished
inside at the thought of that brain tumor that is about
to take you away now that we have found each other.
Tonight, you will sleep with me. We will enjoy our
companionship and won't get separated from now on. And
you know what? I believe your wonderful story. I am


71




elated at the thought of the coming events. What a
wonderful opportunity. You are sure it is not a dream?"


"No, Joan, it isn't, it is real. We now have a chance to
live a life of adventures together."


"Incredible when you think about it, those guardians
might even be watching us right now. They are probably
listening to our conversation and sharing our very
thoughts."


"Joan, it is true... When you come to think of it, many
religions mention the presence of guarding angels that
could share our thoughts and sometimes help us..."


"So these angels are in fact a species of invisible
beings able to travel across time and space and doted
with powers to accomplish what we consider miracles...."


"Yes," said John, "and think about Les Semeurs who
contrary to the Guardians, were material beings. They
achieved, through their evolution and sciences, mental
powers similar to the guardians. Incredible, isn't it?


They roamed the galaxy for millions of years and
disappeared one billion years ago. They left some
principle, powers, mechanisms that are still functioning
today... so powerful mechanisms that they prevent the
guardians to interfere on their world one billion years
after they left it. Mechanisms so powerful that they
can still prevent spaceships to fly over the world one
billion years after they left...


That lost city contains all of their accumulated
knowledge. They left ways of accessing it. They were
hoping that one day it would help another race to evolve
to its maximum potential. It would allow its finders to
become one of the most powerful species in the universe,
a race of supermen and quasi immortals."


"And those aliens," said Joan, "hostile and lethal to
all other sentient beings must be prevented to get
there. We have to find a way to be the first and close
the city to the undesirable. What a fascinating
dream, can you imagine us flying together in the shapes
of eagles under strange skies or swimming in the shape
of sharks in the oceans of far away worlds?"


72




"Yes," said John, "it is a marvelous dream but we will
have to prepare ourselves for that trip. It will be the
most important mission ever, throughout all mankind
history."


"What do you have in mind, John?"


"I think we should call Tom and your children and ask
them to come over here and talk it over before we wake
up there. I intend to invite the last two members too,
the artist and the priest. We should spend some time
together, the whole group. We should get to know
each other; learn the inherent abilities of each one.


We should train to fight as a group against predators,
enemies, and monsters that may outnumber us. We must
develop trust and friendship. I am an expert in war, in
combat. I intend to train you all or should I say, show
you how to train yourself. I would like to teach
you some tricks in Karate and Judo.


Everyone should start practicing with swords; knives
throwing, close combat fighting, with knives or open
hand. We should practice with bows and be able to hit a
moving target.


I asked the guardians about armament and they said that
the mechanisms left by Les Semeurs prevent the use of
technological arms. Nothing superior to archery can be
used there. So I asked them to give us each a sword, a
knife, a bow and arrows, good clothes, good booths and
some hiking equipment.


They said they would do that. At least, we will be able
to defend ourselves against aliens or predators even
against our fellow descendants if need be. That priest
shall be trained too; I will try to convince him.
Everyone must become an asset. Some of us must learn
everything they can about computer programming. I
believe that once we get inside that city, there will be
technological wonders, equipment, and computers.


They must have left devices they considered easy to
access but they were so far ahead in their evolution
that we should learn as much as we can if we want to
have a chance to use those devices. "


73




"You are right," said Joan. "Are you hungry? It is all
ready."


"Oh yes I am hungry; I should have not gone so deeply
into the subject tying to cover it all in one shot, I
get very excited talking about this mission."


"I understand how you feel about it, I am in a turmoil
inside myself. You made me fall in love with you coming
to the library and give me company in my coffee breaks.
Then you disappear for three months and when you come
back, you tell me that you are in love with me and you
never invited me to dinner because you are dying.


Then you tell me, no problem dear, we have a second life
waiting for us and we will remember all about this one.
And now we are already making plans as if we are just
about to die... Tell me; how is it that this artist and
you were the ones contacted? It is not that I doubt you;
but do you have an explanation?"


"I talked about it with the artist. He told me that
twenty years ago, he opened a biotherapy clinic in
Montreal. He had a bachelor degree in chemistry and had
always tried to keep himself up to date by reading
monthly-published books like “Sciences et Vie” a French
scientific magazine.


He read about the use of pulsating magnetic fields to
cure a great number of diseases; even cancer. He opened
the clinic with a doctor and put some publicity in the
newspapers. The clinic filled up very quickly. Desperate
people who had tried all other medicine came and got
cured or got a vastly improved condition. It was an
explosive success, hundreds of people were coming every
day to his clinic and eighty per cent of them improved
their conditions over a period of six to eight weeks
with three treatments per week.


The patient was lying inside a big cylinder; the walls
of the cylinder were filled with copper wires. There was
a generator sending pulses of electricity and the
pulsating magnetic field was generated. It was strong
enough to affect all the cells of the body. He said he
was using an intensity of forty gauss and a frequency of


74




thirty hertz for degenerative sicknesses and a lower
frequency for the acute inflammatory conditions.


One day, the doctor did not come but representatives of
the college of physicians came with the police and
seized all the equipment and he found himself with a
lawsuit for illegal medicine.


He had to close the clinic permanently but he kept one
of the machines and kept giving himself treatments every
week for the last twenty years. He said that he couldn't
keep credit cards on himself; they got demagnetized too
quickly. He thinks that all the cells of his body have
increased their electrical charges over the years. His
blood test shows an exceptional iron content and he
believes that he might be one of very few people on
earth with such a magnetic condition. That has possibly
helped the telepathic communication with the Guardians.


Last year, I broke my right leg. It was such a bad bone
fracture that they had to insert a metal pin to join the
bone and they gave me a small magnetic pulsating field
generator to be attached at all time to my leg until
full bone regeneration. Well I felt such improvement in
my every day energy level that I bought it and kept
using it.


That would be it. This is why we were both contacted in
our dreamy state when it is easier for the Guardians to
contact us. So, both the artist and I have a very high
level of iron in our blood and a very high magnetic
charge in all our cells."


"Incredible," said Joan. "I did not know about that
therapy, the pharmaceutical industries must have
prevented that technology to spread. It would have
reduced their sales dramatically. And the
physicians must have felt threatened too; less sick
people, less money for them..."


They went to the kitchen and Joan opened the oven to
pull out a big pan of baked zucchini, onions, tomatoes
covered with a thick layer of melted cheddar cheese. It
smelled delicious. There was a stick of bread fresh of
the day, French bread, and a few bottles of wine.


75




John helped her carry the plates to the dinning table.
He opened a bottle of wine and filled up the cups. Joan
came to him and kissed him on the mouth, warmly,
tenderly and the kiss became more passionate. They
hugged each other and John could not hide the effect she
had on him.


He felt shy about it, a little ashamed of not having
been able to control it. He tried to part from Joan hug
but she kept her embrace and said:
"after eating, we will go to my bedroom, keep some of
your energy for that moment dear."


He kissed her again and said "don't worry my sexy
seducer, I am not dead yet."


They chat a little, laugh at nothing and enjoyed their
meal. They would break pieces of the French bread and
dip it in the warm vegetable juice and eat the chunk of
zucchini making sure they have in the same spoon some of
the onions and tomatoes, pulling the cheese with it. It
was the combination of the various tastes that was
making it a delight.


They ate a lot but didn't feel filled. They swallowed
gulps of the delicious wine between each bite and when
they finished Joan said: "I have in the refrigerator one
of the best dessert you can find in Naples. It is called
baba-o-rum. It is like a small cake loaded with rum and
covered with whipped cream and real maple sugar lumps. A
delight, but you know what, I can see that you are
showing your manhood dearest, it must have been a long
time...come with me, I will take care of it and we will
have our dessert later on.”


She came up to him, he stood up with no shyness this
time, they hugged and kissed and they walked to the
bedroom. They undressed and she turned on the music.
John sat on the bed and she came to him aware of her
nudity and its effect on him.


She was just as beautiful with her small and firm
breast, her flat and firm belly and her beautiful legs
as any young woman. Her age only showed up from the neck
up and that did not look too bad either. John started to
caress her slowly, extending the length of his fingers,
adding something to them that could go deeper, his aura.


76




He massaged her delicately but his fingers were reaching
inside. He willed the transfer of comfort from his
fingers. Joan felt comfort and delicious pleasure
everywhere he massaged her. He started to stimulate her
in two or three sensitive points at the same time.


She tried to pull him to her but he resisted a little
longer until he could feel that she was just about to
have her orgasm and then he went inside and started to
make love to her. Slowly, concentrating in sending her
pleasure waves and trying to control his own very
intense pleasure. He didn't want to come too quickly so
he would stop sometimes and kiss her and think tender
thoughts trying to forget his sexual needs.


But now it was really too intense and he went on faster
but not too fast, enjoying as much as he could before he
abandoned himself to the most intense pleasure and
finally let go into a wonderful apotheoses. She felt him
coming and her own pleasure intensified, she let go too
and felt the most intense orgasm she ever had in her
life.


"John, I never felt so much pleasure. You are a
wonderful lover. From now on I keep you here. We will
make love every day. Sometimes when we will be sitting
together, I will caress you and excite you to the point
where your manhood will almost explode out.
And then I will take you to bed. What do you think? Is
it a good idea? Will you stay with me from now on?"


"Yes Joan, we don't have much time left to ourselves. I
will stay with you. What about that dessert, I feel
ravenous. Making love do that to me. It is not that I
have been making love often. In fact since my wife died
three years ago, I never had a mistress. At my age we
don't have much sexual needs and to make love to a
person just for the fun of it without a real emotional
bounding did not appeal to me. When I was a young man
though, I wanted to take to bed any beautiful woman I
could lay my hands on. At that time, I was not
concerned about emotional or even intellectual
affinity."


"Did you love your wife? How long were you married?"
"I married her eighteen years ago. I was sixty years
old, retired and lonely and I needed company. I did not


77




want to finish my life alone. She was a good person,
fifty-five years old, cultured and beautiful.


We traveled a lot together. We would go to the beach
sometimes. She was catholic, very religious and was
devoting herself to many charitable causes, working
without salary. She was a very kind and honest person. I
respected her for her qualities and felt great
tenderness and friendship for her. I loved her
as much as you can love another human being whom you
respect and approve every which way.


We went on with our life together; we companionably
participated to many events and felt the comfort of each
other's presence. When she died, I felt despair. My
loneliness came back with more intensity than ever. It
was not the passionate love described in books. Maybe
we were too old for that. That was before I met with you
and realized that age has nothing to do with love
intensity. I loved my wife but did not feel what I feel
for you. You are the person I hoped to meet one day and
I intend to love you, to protect you and cherish you for
the rest of my life. "


Joan felt his sincerity and promised herself to give him
her own protection and unconditional affection for as
long as she lives.


"Shall we go for the dessert?" Asked Joan.


They enjoyed the baba-o-rums and were now drinking their
second cup of coffee.


"I am going to call my children," said Joan, "and ask
them to come over and spend some time with us. They are
living in Montreal, sharing my house. Garry has the
basement for himself. He likes to invite friends over. I
have never seen a guy with so many friends.
They talk and talk and listen to rap and other modern
music, drinking beer and this so late at night that
Nancy will often find a whole lot of them in the
morning.


They are lying around, sleeping on the sofas or on
cushions placed on the floor. Garry usually sleeps all


78




his mornings. He is presently studying to become a
waiter in a fine restaurant. He wants to work on
a cruise ship with two of his friends for two years,
make some good money and then invest it all with them to
open their own restaurant together. His courses start in
the middle of the afternoon and ends at eight p.m. Nancy
is studying at Concordia University in Medicine.
She has a boyfriend but there is nothing serious between
them. He sleeps there too. He owns a small grocery and
supplies the food. Garry gets along well with him.


They have their spring break coming in one week and to
my knowledge they have not plan anything yet. It is now


10:00 P.M.; they are probably there right now. "
Joan picked up her cellular from the kitchen counter and
went to the living room where she sat comfortably on her
favorite sofa, the one that had enough space for two.


She is obviously very excited at what she is going to
tell her daughter, John thought, I might as well bring
her a glass of wine. It will be a clear message that I
want her to take her time and enjoy it fully.


John brought her a glass of wine and sat on the sofa
right beside her, bringing his head to the proximity of
the cellular so that he could hear the conversation.


"Hello Nancy," said Joan." How are you doing?"


"Very good mother and you?"


"Very good too; I have a boyfriend...He is with me right
now."


"What?” cried Nancy, “Oh my God, are you telling me that
you are in love mom?"


"Yes my darling, I am in love, romantically in love,
just like in a fairy tale and with a very special man."


"Wow, cool, I was so sad that you had to live such a
lonely life in Florida. It is such a dead place there.
How does he look like?"


"You know," said Joan, "that I could not stand the cold
anymore and I felt that I was loosing too many days of


79




whatever is left in my life. A day inside because of the
rain or the cold is such a waste. Here it is sunny
almost all the time. I like canoeing on my lake and I
like the work at the library.


I thought a lot about it last year before taking the
decision to move to Florida. You had both reach the age
when you want to live in your own apartment but you had
no money so I left you the house. I miss you though; I
miss you a lot. But to come back to my new boyfriend, he
looks great. He is seventy-eight..."


"Seventy-eight, my God! You look like a woman in her
fifties; why did you choose such an old f...man?"


"Well, I understand what you might be thinking, but that
man is in better shape than most youngsters.” “Where did
you meet him?” asked Nancy.


“He started to come to the library and each time he came
we talked together. After a few days, he was timing his
visits so that we could be together at my coffee brakes.
This has been going on for a few months and then he
didn’t come for three months and I was wondering what
had happened to him. I was very worried and heart broken
for I had already fallen in love with him. But He is
back now from Pakistan where he had been sent on a
mission by the CIA. He is a true hero, a retired secret
agent and maybe more… he didn’t tell me everything yet.


Last week John went to downtown Naples to an art gallery
where he met with the artist whom had painted scenes of
another world. There were books for sale, one was titled
“Ghama-2, An Afterlife story” and the other book was its
sequel, “Land of Magic”. The artist told John that he
had written those books to recruit a number of chosen
for the greatest odyssey of all time. John bought the
books and as he read them, he fell asleep a number of
times and each time he was contacted by the Guardians
who explained to him that if he wished to, he could be
one of the people to whom they will give an afterlife
on Ghama-2. He could be one of the heroes of that coming
odyssey.


John wants me to go with him there and I am just about
to embark into the greatest of adventures. We are chosen
for a mission on another world, can you believe it? And


80




we would like you and Garry to come over next week. It
is very important. John thinks that he only has a short
time left. He is dying of a brain tumor... Would you
come with Garry on next direct flight to Miami? You can
use my credit card to buy the tickets.”


“Mom, have you lost your mind? That story is just
unbelievable; this guy must have done something to
you…there got to be some money scam somewhere; do you
have to buy something to be one of the chosen?”


“Yes, dearest, I have to buy a painting depicting a
scene of Ghama-2. There will be an auction next week…”


“I knew it!” exploded Nancy.” These two guys, John and
the artist are going to get away with everything you
have in your bank account. How could you have not seen
the machination, that’s a scam, can’t you see it mom?”


“Nancy darling, don’t worry, I have not lost my mind;
sometimes the most unbelievable is true. I won’t spend
any money before you meet with John and the artist. But
I need the two of you to come over to Naples right
away.”


“All right mom, we will go.”


“We will be waiting for you at the airport. It is only
an hour and a half from Naples if we take the 75, which
is called here the alligator alley."


"Mother," said Nancy worriedly." Are you sick? What you
say doesn't make sense. Maybe you should call a doctor,
it sounds like you have lost it."


"Don't worry my little sweetheart, I am sane but I need
you here. Please!"


"OK, we will go, I will call you tomorrow to let you
know when we will get to Miami."


"Bye Nancy, I love you."


"Bye mother, I love you too."


"She was worried," said Joan. "I am sure they will come
as soon as they can."


81




"I understand her," answered John. "That story is so
unbelievable; she may even be thinking that you are the
one with a brain tumor which is affecting your sanity.
Are you tired? Would you like to go to bed? It is 10:30
PM…"


"Oh no, I would never be able to sleep, I am too excited
about everything."


"Then," said John. "Give me your favorite brush; you
will sit on a cushion, on the floor here between my legs
and I will give you a head massage. It will relax both
of us and we will be able to sleep. Otherwise we will be
in bad shape tomorrow and we have plenty of things to
do. I would like to do some canoeing with you, very
early, when the fog is rising from the lake. I intend to
wake you up at 6:00AM. I will prepare the breakfast and
then we will do some work-up, the canoeing, and after a
shower, we go downtown to meet with the artist at the
opening of his store."


“A head massage John, I never got that from another man
before. It will be welcome, I need to be pampered a
little, and there is still a little girl in me.”


“Yes, I saw the little girl in you and loved her.” said
John just before kissing her on the mouth.


John started to brush her hair with the movements of a
hairdresser doing a hair cut. Then he brushed them
slower for a long time and finally started to scratch
her head with his nails delicately extending his aura
into he skin cells and sending waves of comfort and
tenderness. He touched her head with his own and went on
with the scratching while he was mixing his aura with
hers, sending powerful waves of love and tenderness.
Finally, he put himself in a half-asleep state and sent
his sleepy waves into her aura.


Joan felt such comfort that she fell asleep. John took
her in his arms, lifting her effortlessly and carried
her to her bed. He pulled the sheets to her chin, took
off his clothes and lied down beside her, over the
sheets, bare. He then increased his metabolism as he had
often practiced in Yoga so that he would feel
comfortable without anything covering his body and was
out himself in no time.


82




Next morning they had a short breakfast of toasted
tomato sandwiches with lettuce and pumpernickel bread. A
cup of strong coffee, and they were on the balcony doing
elongation and exercises. They went for the canoe ride.
The air was fresh and cold, there was a dense fog and
all the alligators and crocodiles were there on the
lake.


"They love the fog," said Joan. "If a big one comes for
us, we will have to race away and after a while it will
stop its chase."


Wonderful, thought John, what a way to start a day.


“I am not worried about it,” said John, “I brought my
long knife and if we can’t escape, the saurian will have
the last surprise of its long life.”


They came back an hour and a half later, had their
showers and drove downtown. They met with me at 10:00
AM.


83




Chapter Five - The auction


"Hi Richard," said John. "I would like you to meet Joan
Davies. She will come to the auction tomorrow night and
buy one of your paintings."
"Hi Joan, I am so pleased to meet with you. You look
great, maybe I misunderstood but I thought John told me
you were sixty-eight years old, you don’t look older
than 55 at the most."


"Well, now you know. I usually don't tell my age. Thanks
for the compliment. So... you are the one, the first
human being ever contacted by the guardians. It is an
honor to meet with you."


"No personal merits there, it just happened that I have
an unusual iron level in my blood and a high electrical
charge on my cells and that was the key that made it
possible for the guardians to establish contact with me.
My only merit is that I did not reject them too
violently when I felt their presence in my mind.


I tried to convince myself that it was just a dream but
after a while I welcomed them and asked them who they
were and what they wanted. I could have kept my mind
close or turned hysterical but I don't get scared easily
by the unknown."
"I believe," said Joan, "that there are many others with
whom they could have established contact. I am sure that
they selected you for a reason and now that I see you, I
perceive that you are a man with exceptional qualities.
But I also feel that you are fighting a sickness. Are we
going to loose you too?"


"Well, I will try to finish the third book of the saga
but yes I am fighting a stomach sickness and I am
loosing the fight. My stomach is covered with nodules. I
may last another year at the most."


"Let's talk of our immediate future," said John. "I had
a long contact with the guardians two nights ago. They
showed me the approximate location of the lost city.
They told me that they intend to transport on Ghama-2
three groups of people. Each group will comprise seven
members who will awaken together. Each group will be
transported to a different location but in the vicinity
of one of the human's settlements.


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I asked them if I could choose the members of my group
and they agreed. I choose Joan with whom I am deeply in
love. I also took the decision to add to my team Tom who
recently saved my life in Pakistan. There will be Joan's
children Nancy and Garry and the Guardians chose a
priest; father O'Leary as the sixth member of my
group. They said there is something about him that
puzzles them, we will meet with him at the auction, I am
quite curious about him. That makes six and I would very
much like to have you with us as our seventh and last
member."


"That's great, I accept with pleasure. My wife left me a
few years ago to live closer to my daughter. I call her
sometimes to chat about everything. I tried to talk to
her about Ghama-2 but she didn’t want to ear about it;
she said she has no interest for adventure and beside
she doesn't believe the story. I don't have any friend,
I am alone except for my daughter and I want to go, I
will not miss my chance for an adventurous afterlife."
"Great," said John. "Let us meet, the whole group at
Joan's condo next Wednesday. We will make plans to fully
prepare ourselves for the mission. Let's say 10:00 AM.
Will you be there?"
"Count on me, I will be there." I said enthusiastically.


“I wish to take my time here John,” said Joan, “I have a
genuine interest for art and to look at each of the
paintings will be a great pleasure for me.”


“Sure let’s do it sweetheart.” replied John.


Half an hour later, Joan tried to buy the books to no
avail. She got them free. They left me to my duties and
went on for a walk on the beach. They went down the
Fifth Avenue south, which is downtown Naples, then
turned left on Third Street up to Broad Avenue and then
right to the beach and to the main tourist attraction,
the pier.


Palm trees and ferns on one side border Naples beach.
The multi-million dollars houses are almost
unnoticeable. There are no boats, just one of the most
beautiful beach there is. There is the pier, very long
and wide, with fishermen here and there and the pelicans


85




swimming lazily underneath, waiting to steal the
fishermen's catches or for the thrown back fishes.
The sea covers a desert of fine sand; there are no
urchins or anything to cut into your feet. You can walk
deep into it and swim safely late mornings and early
afternoons but one should keep away from it at evenings
and early mornings for the sharks are more aggressive at
those times and may be just waiting for you.


John and Joan removed their shoes and walked on the wet
sand, they went on the pier to watch the children
catching fish and their joyful interactions with their
happy parents. The fathers would show them how to put on
bait or how to take the hooks from the fish mouths. Most
of the time, the children would throw their catch back
to the sea or to the pelicans swimming by the pier.


John bought two sandwiches and sodas and they sat
comfortably under the shade. After a while, they went
back to the condo.


That night they went for dinner at the Ritz-Carlton on
Vanderbilt Beach at Pelican Bay. There were musicians
and a dancing floor. They ordered a bottle of red wine
and an entrée of mussels marinated in white wine and
garlic. Then they had a three-pound steamed lobster
served on white rice.


"Let's dance," said Joan. "It has been a long time since
I did it and it may be our last chance at it."


They danced for one hour and hug each other dearly
during the slow dances, and then they came back to the
table, ordered coffee and a chocolate dessert called
“Profiteroles au chocolat”. Four balls of ice cream
covered by chocolate and served on a mint chocolate
sauce with a garniture of raspberries and blackberries.
It was divine.


They came back home at midnight. Joan got another of
these exquisite head massages; they made love and slept
contentedly.


It was Friday night, the auction night and a large room
had been rented at the Marriott hotel on Marco Island


86




for this occasion. I had mailed hundreds of invitations
to my clients and to a number of well-chosen potential
candidates for the mission. Some of them were
celebrities and I had invited them in the hope of
getting some very lucky members for that expedition to
Ghama-2.


The auction had been schedules for 8:00PM and I was a
bit anxious to see if many would show up. In my artist
career I had many shows and some of them had been real
success and others real flop. I had come to believe that
people are not willing to do much on nights following
superior solar activity. All over the planet, people
seemed to be in the same mood, probably due to an
increased bombardment of neutrinos.


But now, it was 7:00Pm and with still one hour to go
before the auction the room was almost filled with all
kind of people.


I had my name clipped to my coat and was welcoming
everyone that came in. Robert Pisano, my sales associate
was there too to help and I had hired for the occasion a
“maitre-de-ceremonie”, supplied by the hotel.


Joan and John walked in and I immediately went to them
to shake hands.


“I am so pleased to see the two of you.” I said, as I
shook hand with the beautiful Joan. I could not repress
my feeling for her. It was love at first sight. She
looked at me right in the eyes and I knew that she had
just found out my intense feeling for her. I left her
hand regretfully but quickly enough to hide what had
just happened to John.


“It’s a pleasure to see you John.” I said hoping that he
hadn’t noticed anything but that extraordinary man had
not miss anything.


“It is a pleasure for me too,” said John, “I hope there
won’t be any problem between us.”


“I know what you mean and I will always respect you
John.” I replied. “I will be your ally and your friend.”


87




He knew that I was sincere and a man of honor, it was
easy for him to read me.


“It seems to me that your auction will be a great
success.” said Joan warmly, changing the subject
adroitly.


Oh boy, that woman is real bright and just wonderful, I
thought, My God would I love to kiss her. Now come
Richard, you better control your thoughts and emotions,
you don’t want to lose John’s friendship, don’t you?
Stupid!


“It looks like that,” I replied, “we have some real
celebrities here and a very interesting man, one that
outshine anyone here. I can almost see an aureole over
his head, a real saint I tell you.”


“That is probably Father O’Leary,” said John, “the
Guardians have found him and told me they wanted him to
be part of our expedition.”


“I didn’t send him any invitation.” I said. “How in
Heaven did he find out about the auction?”


“The Guardians have communicated with him while he was
asleep,” said John, “they told him about the auction and
the need for a preacher in this expedition.”


“Well, let me introduce you to the reverend father,” I
said as I led them to the father who was looking at the
paintings displayed at the end of the room.


“Father O’Leary,” I said as we came beside him, “let me
introduce you to two persons I consider very important
for the coming odyssey. John Foster and Joan Brunet.”


“Hello John, Joan, it is a pleasure to meet you. Richard
told me about Ghama-2, the importance of this mission
for mankind and his joy of having recruited the two of
you. Richard told me that you are a retired secret agent
John, a warfare and combat expert and yet, I see in you
a compassionate, respectful and highly cultured man. No
surprise that the Guardians have contacted you. And you
my child, Joan, you are an interesting person. I believe
I met you before; you were different at that time. There


88




are some souvenirs that I have difficulties to recall,
souvenirs it seemed to me, from past lives. I read about
many religions, some of which like Hinduism talk about
reincarnations. I am not sure about it but it is
possible. God might decide to bring some of us back in
this world if it suits his grand plan. Anyhow, I
understand why Richard is so proud of having you here
tonight.”


“Richard seemed to forget that we still have to buy one
of his paintings to become part of the expedition.” said
Joan. “And with all the people here tonight, I am not
sure I have enough money to win a bid on any of the
paintings.”


“That’s true, even for me.” said John. “The Guardians
believe that a superior entity has led them here and
they will not interfere to make us win a bid. They
believe that the ones who will acquire the paintings are
probably the ones that entity, God perhaps, wants for
the expedition.”


“Oh boy, I didn’t think about that.” I said. I kept one
painting for the President of the United States and I
mailed one to my daughter. It never came to my mind that
I might lose the two of you for that expedition.”


“Let’s not forget that if it is God wish to have the
four of us there, we will end up with one of the
paintings.” said the reverend father. “Miracles happen
sometimes.”


The catholic priest was an imposing man, 6'3", and 245
lbs of heavy muscles. He looked more like a retired
football player than a man who had consecrated his life
to the word of God. He had a deep and soft voice, very
kind eyes and it seems that everything he said had
more than one meaning.


What an interesting man, thought Joan, I would talk with
him for hours on end and would never be less than
totally fascinated.


The father questioned us about Ghama-2 and our
conversations with the Guardians. John told him about
his conversations with these immaterial beings that
called themselves the Guardians and the abandoned city


89




they had showed him. He told the reverend about the
aliens, the predators and the demons that will be
awaiting us, that will try to kill us as we move towards
the city.


"So," said Father O'Leary. "It will be a dangerous
mission and our chances to get to the city and even get
inside are slim at best. I have been in Somalia for the
last three years preaching the word of God to terrorists
and killers and against all odds I am still alive and
here tonight. There is no point to worry about the
difficulties of that mission; we will do our best.
I never talked myself with the guardians, but I felt
compelled to come here last week and buy the book. God
has strange ways to influence things to go one way or
the other without taking away from us our ultimate
freedom. These guardians might not be aware of it but
they may very well be acting under the influence of God.


They suspect its presence and are hoping that He will be
the one that will ultimately choose the members for that
mission. I would have loved to communicate with the
guardians. They probably know the answers to so many
questions. I felt almost dragged here a few weeks ago
when I bought the book. I pondered about it and prayed
and felt that the story was true. I had the intuition
that God wanted me to participate to that great
mission."


"If we all get one of the paintings, we will meet there
on Ghama-2," said John. "You will be part of my
group Father O’Leary. Seven of us will wake up there, at
the same location and at the same time even though there
might be years in between our last moments on Earth. The
guardians told me it is the first time they came in
contact with a specie like mankind with the concept of
God and religions. It might have been quite a shock to
them.”


“Yes, “I added,” they are fascinated by the concept,
they don't know for sure of God's existence and they
never felt his presence but they were puzzled at the
complexity of the universe and were really hit by our
concept. Now, they think that the universe might have
been designed, created by an entity that was there, that
has always been there, always working on the making of
it, redesigning it like a tapestry.”


90




“The guardians existed before the last big bang,” said
John, “they have been there for so long they don't
remember their beginning. They believe they are
immortals but they are not sure. Maybe the demons could
destroy one of them but they are in great number, living
together, each one adding his own powers to the
multitude. So far, they were able to resist the assault
of the demons and even counteract their influence here
and there during their travel across the infinite
universe.


They said there is on Ghama-2 a principle or a power
stronger than them all of them together. It is
protecting the planet against visitors and prevents
anything to fly from one point to another at a speed
greater than 100 miles per hour. Moreover, that
principle prevents them to play a more active roll in
helping the humans. It will let them transport a few
humans on the surface but they feel that they are
forbidden to do anything more. They are very puzzled by
that. They think that if there is a Godly being in the
universe, a Presence that created it, there is a chance
that He or part of He is right there on Ghama-2. "


"Fascinating," said Father O'Leary. "I am very happy to
meet three of the people with whom I will share the
coming odyssey."


The auction is starting; there are about one hundred
persons in the gallery and only a dozen paintings
showing scenes of Ghama-2 are available.


“I will start the auction now,” Said the auctioneer,
“and as we told you in our invitations, there are some
rules. The last bidder for each of the paintings will
have to come to this desk and proceed in front of me to
a bank wire transfer to the artist bank account. Once
the transfer is done, you will imprint your thumb in the
back of the painting and sign your name beside it. Once
this procedure is done we will move on to auction the
next painting.”


"Joan," said John, "you might not have to disburse a
large sum of money if you bid on the least interesting
piece and I believe they will keep the most beautiful
for the end. Let's play safe. If you agree, Reverend


91




Father, we will not bid against Joan on the first piece.
She will be able to get it at a lower price. Then it
will be your turn and I will not bid against you. "
"My dear John, I have already chosen my painting," said
Father O'Leary. "I want that piece over there.
It has a religious meaning. You can see a cross, an urn
half filled with red wine and over it the white circle
represents the body of Christ. The poppies' field in the
background is symbolic and represents the gathering that
came out from the seeds of the preachers' words. I
really want that one. "


"So be it," said John. "We will not bid against you on
this one."
The first piece auctioned represented a couple of humans
clothed like the ancient Romans traveling in a boat
through an old city. Looking at it, we could have
thought it was Venice but the landscape was different.
The young man was carrying a sword on his back and his
lady had a long knife at her belt. The colors were
beautiful and I had done it with heavy pallet knife
strokes. Many people were trying to buy it and so
did Joan following John's advice. The bidding price went
on from $1,000.00 and now reached $100,000.00. John
looked worriedly at Joan but she went on bidding;
$200,000.00; $300,000.00. Three hundred and
fifty thousand once, twice, awarded to Joan Brunet for
$350,000.00.
"My God," said John as Joan came back from the
auctioneer desk, "I didn't know you had that kind of
money."


"I just spent most of the money I had accumulated over
the years and I had promised Nancy not to spend any
money before she arrives here and meet you and Richard.
But the money would have been useless since I am
covering my expenses with what I get from the library. I
didn't really need it except as a security. I would have
left it to Nancy and Garry but the painting I just
bought is for them too. It will belong to all three of
us.”


“Did you notice the two guys who were bidding against
you Joan? They don’t look like the kind of guys the
Guardians would have chosen as potential candidates. I
sensed evil waves coming from them.”


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“I am surprised, I said, “that they bided so high; they
don't look like the kind of people that would let their
money go easily. I don't see how they could possibly
help our descendants in that mission."
"I noticed them too," said Jan, "they are rotten sun of
a ditch, excuse my language reverend father but I
believe that's the only place they would shine."


I could tell that Joan had some character and didn’t
like to have been forced to buy the painting at such a
high price by these two scumbags. I decided that I would
reimburse her after the auction.


The next painting to be auctioned was showing three
ladies in an alien garden looking at the ocean. It was a
night scene very appealing to a sailor like John. Many
people wanted it including the two snobbish scumbags.


Again the bids went on and on. John was trying to buy
that one and was getting more and more annoyed as the
biding went on and on. Finally he got the last bid at
$600,000.00. He had just spent about all he had in bank.
"I thought for a while that I wouldn't get one tonight."
said John, taking a deep breath and releasing it loud
enough for Joan to hear it.


The third one was the religious theme. Joan, John and I
were feeling sorry for the Abbott for we knew that he
would not be able to buy one of the paintings at the
price they were going already. But surprisingly, the
father looked confident, he was even smiling.


The auctioneer started the bids at $10,000.00 and nobody
made a bid for it. I gave the auctioneer a sign to go
down. I somehow knew that Father O'Leary should have
that one but didn't have the money for it.
"Who is going to offer $8,000.00 for that fine
painting?” said the auctioneer. "Nobody? Let's say
$5,000.00.”


Father O'Leary raised his hand.


"Five thousand once, twice, awarded to you Reverend
Father for only $5,000.00, congratulations."


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At that moment, the two snobbish men raised their hands
and one cried “$20,000.00, I will pay $20,000.00 for
it.” The other one shouted “$50,000.00” and suddenly
everyone were raising their hands.
Everybody now stood up shouting that the auctioneer had
gone too fast, complaining that they didn't have time to
raise their hands. Some were offering large sum of money
to the father for his painting but he refused with a
sympathetic smile. The reverend father proceeded to his
wire transfer and came back to sit beside me.


"Come now ladies and gentlemen," said the auctioneer,
"it is too late for this one, let's proceed with the
next one."
"But I could not raise my hands," cried the snobbish
man, "I tried but they wouldn't move."
"We still have a few more paintings so you will have
your chance." said the auctioneer.


John, Joan and I were looking at the priest; we knew
that we had just witnessed something extraordinary. The
priest had his eyes closed now and was seemingly
praying, thanking God probably for his help.
"That is all I had, "whispered Father O'Leary to Joan,
"I guess I will be joining you on Ghama-2."
“That’s a miracle!” I said under deep emotions.
“Something is going on here; I am starting to feel like
we are pieces of a much larger game.”


The auction went on. The auctioneer was now offering a
scene of horse-riders on a wet beach galloping under a
stormy sky. A beautiful woman got the last bid for one
million two hundred thousand dollars.


"I recognize her," said Joan, "she is a cinema star and
I believe her name is Nicole Teaseman, a famous actor."


“I mailed her the books with an invitation,” I replied,
“but I wasn’t thinking she would be coming. I guess the
guys of the second or third group will be very happy to
share the adventure with her.”


“For a man who is dying of a stomach cancer,” said Joan
looking at me straight in the eyes, “you seemed to have
kept all of your manhood.”


94




“I have to admit that I fantasized often about her but
that was before I met you.” I replied unable to hide the
attraction I had for Joan.


Joan didn’t comment and I appreciated it for there was
no point in telling me that she was already in love with
John, a wonderful man who outshines me by a parsec.


The next painting was showing two women on a castle
balcony staring at the mysterious sea of Ghama-2. It was
a night scene and we could see on the left another
castle sitting on a hill with the USA flag.


A tall man who seemed very sure of himself bought that
painting. He looked like a king and was smiling
contentedly.


"That one is the king of the casinos, "said Joan, "he is
Donald Rump a very rich man.”


“My goodness, the luckiest people of the world have not
failed to come.” I said. “I invited him as well as Bill
Rates and Nicole Teaseman and they all came. These
people must have an excellent gut feeling for rare
opportunities; they are now getting a rich afterlife
after having got all the richness they could on earth.”


The next painting represented a princess sitting under a
tent on the beach. She was looking at the sea.


The two snobbish men and many of the other people in the
gallery tried to buy it but again, the bidding went very
high and finally a well-known lady got it.


"That lady," said John "is none other than Elisabeth the
Fifth, Queen of the United Islands."
She was sitting only one row behind us and she was
radiant. We had turned on our seats to look at her and
she apparently knew who we were for she winked at Joan.


"I guess I will meet with you one day." She said with a
royal smile.


One of the lucky buyers was also easy to recognize. It
was Krishna, former undefeated welter weight boxing
champion of the world, undefeated and five times


95




champion of Ultimate Fighting, undefeated karate
champion of the world and he was walking with the
agility and controlled power of a panther as he came
back from the auctioneer desk with his painting in his
hands.


I looked at John’s face and I saw real admiration in the
way he was looking at the ultimate fighter.


“I watched all his fights.” said John. This man will be
an incredible asset for his group on Ghama-2.”


“I know John,” I replied, “I watched them too and this
is why I mailed him an invitation along with the books.”


Then there was a landscape executed in a novel way.


These access key paintings should not fall into bad
hands, I thought, too many strangers have bought one
already, and these two evil men should not get one. I
will tell the auctioneer that I am keeping the rest of
the paintings except for that last one. I will sell the
others later on to decent and worthy people.


I went to the auctioneer and told him that except for
that landscape, I wanted to keep the rest of the
paintings.


"The next one will be the last one," said the
auctioneer. "The artist just decided to keep the
others."


Many of the people present showed their disapprobation.
Some had come from far away to buy one of the paintings.
The most indignant were the two snobbish evil men. It
looked like they wanted to buy one at all cost now and
apparently regretted not to have gone further in their
bids.


“These two men are getting desperate.” said John. “You
took the right decision, in cutting short the auction.”


“Yes I was getting afraid that some of the people buying
those paintings were not the ones that should represent
mankind on Ghama-2 and I would be surprised if these
evil men get the last one.” I said.


96




“Why is that Richard?” asked the lovely Joan.


“If you look in the back dearest,” I replied, “there is
a man who has remained silent all through the auction.
This is Bill Rates, the billionaire, the genius and I
believe he will take the last painting.”


"Attention, Ladies and Gentlemen," said the auctioneer,
"we have that one left but it is the most beautiful and
the biggest in size. Let us start the auction at $1
million."
The two snobbish men looked at each other and suddenly
one said to the other, "Let's buy it together."
The other nasty looking fellow agreed and raised his
hand.
John looked at the quiet man that had not yet
participated to the auction, Bill Rates. He had seen
that man before at TV and He didn’t look special in any
way except that the young man had built an empire in the
computer software. He was considered one of the richest
men in the world.


The bids went on and on and had now reached the
incredible sum of $40 million dollars and that last bid
belong to one of the two evil men. Bill Rates raised his
hand and said, "$100 Millions!"
Everyone became silent; nobody was able to bid more than
that.
"One hundred millions once, twice, awarded!" said very
quickly the auctioneer.
All the buyers congratulated each other under the
jealous gaze of the less fortunate ones. The two
snobbish men left empty handed. They were furious and
worried. They seemed to fear incoming punishment for
their failure to buy one of the paintings.


"You talk to me about them Richard and then the
Guardians told me that they do exist and there are some
of them on Earth and I now believe that these two men
were sent by Demons." said John. "They would have been
traitors to our race. I have the intuition of great
dangers awaiting us. We may have to fight against more
dangerous opponents than the alien species and the
predators roaming the world of Ghama-2."


"But we may have just experienced a miracle," said Joan.
"Not one painting went for less than $350,000.00 with


97




the exception of the one our reverend father bought for
$5,000.00. Incredible isn't it? Everyone looked to be in
a trance, unable to move...Maybe our Father O'Leary is a
kind of magician or else.... He may have been
helped and if it is so, we might be helped in turn so I
am not worried about this mission; we will not fail."


John asked every one of the lucky buyers if they would
come to a very special meeting the following Wednesday
at 10:00 AM at Joan's condo. Everyone was willing to
come and John told them to be ready for a trip that
might last 2 weeks, possibly more. He would not say
any more on it.


"It is a surprise," John said smiling. "But it is very
important."


John had contacted a man just before the auction, a man
whose life he had saved while he was working for the
CIA. He had jumped on the gunman shielding his protégée
with his own body, risking his life to protect George W.
Wood, the governor. That man was now president of the
USA. John had told him the story, he had told him all
about the auction and Ghama-2 and George had believed
him and invited all the chosen, the lucky buyers of the
access-key paintings to Camp David for extensive
training.


The next few days, John and Joan went canoeing and
fishing in the backwaters, between the ten thousand
islands just south of Marco Island. They set down a
cooler in the center of the canoe and John fixed a tiny
motor to the square back of the 18 feet canoe. They sat
down and John turned the motor on; twenty minutes later
as they got far enough between the islands, he shut it
down. They picked their oars and paddled noiselessly
until they found a good spot. John anchored the canoe,
and they secured the oars on its side to give themselves
maximum maneuvering space. They had bought live baits,
small fish and large shrimps.


Joan liked to use the fish bait. She was casting it,
making it bounce on the water towards the mangroves then
reeling it back to the canoe. John just hooked on a
shrimp making sure he was not piercing its heart and
threw his line a few feet from the canoe. In two hours,
she caught a three-pound Bass, two Red Snappers, one


98




pound each and a five pounds mullet. She caught some
catfishes, which she threw back in the water.


"They are good to eat but a little too slimy for my
taste." She said.


John used the shrimps and caught a few snooks and many
catfishes. He kept the biggest snook and returned his
other catches to their element. Small snooks have too
many bones and not enough meat but the snook is
considered the best catch in Florida. A big manatee
surfaced close to the canoe and looked kindly at them.
"It must be weighting many hundred pounds." Said John
very interested.
They stop fishing to observe it. It came very close to
the canoe and Joan patted its head. After a while it
left.
They filleted the fish right there and threw the remains
in the water; they wrapped the meat in plastic and
placed it in the cooler covering it with ice. A few
hours had passed already and they had enough fish so
they returned to the condo to prepare their feast. Fried
fish, French-fries and two bottles of excellent white
wine.


Joan's children arrived at Miami International airport
Sunday late morning. Joan hugged them and kissed them on
the cheeks.
"I am so pleased to see you," said Joan. "Let me
introduce you to the man that has brightened my last few
days."
Nancy and Garry shook hands with John and were surprised
by his iron grip. John did not squeeze their hands very
hard, just firmly. That was enough though for anyone to
understand that he was still a man of exceptional
strength and fitness.
They took Alligator Alley to cross Florida and stop at
midway for a snack. They stopped again about fifteen
miles from Naples to have a look at the biggest
alligators you could find in Florida. Hundreds of them
were lying side by side on the bank of a narrow arm of
unmoving water.


"How they can find enough to eat for all of them is
beyond me." said John.


99




"Can you imagine driving on that road before they fixed
fences on both sides?" said Joan. "People must have been
blocked sometimes and probably reached Naples with a few
teeth marks on the bumpers."


That night, they had Szechwan food; spicy orange beef,
spicy shrimps vegetable, white rice, won ton soup and
egg rolls. Joan had warmed up some sake and they had a
good time. John told them the whole story about Ghama-2,
the book, and his contacts with the guardians,
the incoming mission and his intention to have them join
his team.
Joan showed them her new painting. Our painting she
said, since I spent almost all the money I had kept for
your inheritance.
Nancy and Garry believed John. They felt his sincerity
and even though the story was preposterous, they had the
intuition that it was true; all of it...
They were in awe, excited but certainly not ready to
leave their life the day after to go there.


"It's great," said Nancy, "that we don't have to die all
at the same time. I don't think I would abandon my life
here before I even have a chance to do some of the
things I had plan for my future. But now we have it all,
our life on earth and then an afterlife on Ghama-2.
That's cool."


"It's cool,” said John, “but there are some important
changes coming to your life. I hope you will accept what
you will be proposed next week..." And John wouldn't
tell what. Nancy and Garry were very interested to know
everything about John and they questioned him for hours
on end. He had to tell them about his past missions, his
experience, his philosophy and what he thought was the
purpose of life.....


to read the rest of that fascinating story please buy my book it is a story that will touch you, one that you
will remember the rest of your life. It is written in a light humorous way but it touches matters that are
important to all of us.  Richard Riverin
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