Yanathor suddenly gets out of his meditation: «It's done. Let us go and tell the village». Ellebon, who was talking to the birds, delicately turns his head, letting go the izdar who was perching on his hand. Then he follows in Yanathor's footsteps. They leave behind the small blue dome wide open to the sun. Auranaïa, who was studying a little further in the woods, joined them at the edge of the village.
At this hour, the Eolis all are in the fields, and the sunny village seems deserted. How cute is this Eoli village, full of flowers, neat as a lawn, with these naive pumpkin-houses, and other poetically arranged objects!
By mutual tacit agreement it had been convened that Yanathor and his team of giants would come around the village only for important reasons. This was the case. They easily found an Eoline bringing their harvest for the lunch. Her little heart jumps with joy in her little breast as she hears the news. A quarter of an hour later, everyone knows: Aurora is finally unhooked from this entity which tormented her. Now It is time to start the preparations for her reintegration on Aeoliah, according to the instructions of the Cenacle.
While moving away, the Guardians do not even pay attention to a small square where the moss is a little lower than around, the only remaining trace of the pyramid where Nellio lived at a slowed pace for twelve centuries. The warm and joyful life recovered its full rights, while, by its perfumes and its poetry, ending to dissipate any trace of sadness in this place. Very unlikely to meet Nellio in the area! We can even bet that he used his talents of self-suggestion to erase all these nasty memories. No way he will be made again!
They do not wait for the evening to meet. At the end of the midday meal, Yanathor announces his presence, in the woods behind the terrace of the meal: he sings a serene melody of his beautiful and sweet voice, accompanied by a sort of small tempura that we play with eyes shut.
When the whole village yells in chorus «Yanathor! Yanathor!» he agrees to stop and he comes forward pretending to ask «But what? What is happening?»
What a beautiful afternoon starting in such a poetical way! The sky washed by the recent rain radiates its purest, most intense blue, the warm fullness of life. Some small stray cumuluses make cotton balls. The brand new Sun provides a new clarity, the invigorated greenery is still greener, the flowers more numerous, the birds are a little crazy flying everywhere, mad with azure and liberty.
«Ah, Aurora! You want me to talk about Aurora» exclaims Yanathor, who makes the pleasure last longer. Ellebon and Auranaïa arrive leisurely. Finally all three settle sitting in lotus on the moss carpet reserved for them. Nellio is now among the other Eolis, next to Anthelme and Elnadjine.
Yanathor finally speaks. «Well, you are knowing it, now: Aurora does not anymore live with this character who held her in his power. She eventually realized that he was evil. This time her awareness is deep enough, and her mastery of herself strong enough, so that she can totally purge her mind of any trace of influence from this being. In any case she is not likely to return living in his house: there is an obstacle, and a thick one! (Oh, how he talks about the fat Martine! Even if he does not know contempt, Yanathor does not mince his words: he has been in Calcutta, so the big bellies are not in his favours)
«For the other things, the angels of Earth have arranged things nicely, for her. In fact they had planned everything well in advance. Aurora will not have these strange «financial problems» which always complicate everything on Earth. They did their job impeccably. We will be able to do ours without any interference.»
A happy silence first welcomes these revelations. This is a great progress since Yanathor's first appearance: He then made clear that things were not ready. Now everything is won in advance. The return of Aurora is a certainty, a matter of only some years!
Then the exclamations leap, intertwine: «Oh-Yooo Oh! Oh-Yooo Oh! Youpiiii!» Then, they organize themselves into a joyous song of the Eolis, extremely dynamic: everyone dances in farandole, revolving around the three Guardians. The latter smile, happy with the happiness they gave to the Eolis. It was well worth a few months of their life! This is because they all loved her, their Aurora, who was so discreet in the village...
Yanathor resumes, listened at with the greatest attention: «We need to speed up the preparations. From this night with the meditation group, we shall start a new job. It will be much more discreet but very important: it is for Aurora to purify, rebalance her Earth mind, and align with the egregore of Aéoliah. She does not know with her Earth mind, but her soul will guide her, and she will find what she needs. This is why we need to help her, and we shall check for each night exactly what work will be most appropriate. Now one of us three will come for the sessions.
«But there is a second job I have talked about a bit, and that you have to start now. We need a small group, of four or five of you. We are going into the ship.»
...
Aghast, the Eolis.
As flabberghasted as you would be, friends readers, if suddenly some god came to invite you to visit the Olympus.
Ah! This Yanathor has the art of enthralling his listeners.
Like that, he announces that they are to get aboard the ship. No, but it's incredible.
Happily, it is the small one, for camping. Precisely it is arriving, by itself.
The Eolis, in an attentive silence, watch the little thick saucer swing gently over the village, light a bird. Remember, it is the small camping dome, deep blue, flat underneath, dome shaped on top, like a bun, with a hollow in the edge for the door, just as if you had taken a bite.
It has something extraordinary in his appearance. Its colour, so intense, so vibrant, like a blue flame, a will-o'the-wisp. It is matte, translucent, but its surface does not diffuse or reflect the white light of the Sun, as would a frosted glass globe do: it is a form of pure light, radiating from the inside an extremely intense blue, unreal, alive, moving and mysterious, like no other...
It is now right next to the place of the meal.
Yanathor gets up, puts a hand on the rim of the saucer, and the other on his hip, casual. His eyes are laughing. «So, who wants to come?»
The Eolis crowd hesitates, enjoying a delicious stupefaction. Then some get up. Anthelme and a flabby Elnadjine, heart beating wildly but always ready to follow her dear companion wherever he goes, Antonnafachto also always go for the most bizarre experiences, and his companion Miélora, excited and not at all impressed, Liouna and Algénio, plus another couple we do not know yet: Iré-é-elle and Balanio. Still not names of the Earth! In any case Iré-é-elle is well in flesh, very real, as her companion can tell you. Beware of unfortunate puns: She is a master in astral travel and other surprises, and it could well happen funny stuff to you, at night...
«Eight. You will have to learn to count some day, teases Yanathor. Well it will be fine. Ship, go down!» And the marvellous little saucer drops to the level of his knees.
Yanathor pulls the curtain which hides the entrance, revealing an oval of pure blue light. What a fascinating beauty! The dome is opalescent, and the happy sun of Aeoliah plays in, as in a stained glass window.
«Come on, let's go», he says, with his incredibly dynamic tranquillity. He climbs nimbly, stooping because the door is low like the one of a tent. With his hands he invites the Eolis who fly and cross the threshold, hesitating. Ellebon and Auranaïa come in last, wave goodbye before pulling the curtain.
For the Eolis remaining in the place, amazement is at its height. It happened so quickly that despite their legendary sense of smart replies, they all stayed mute. The small camping vessel sways gently for four or five minutes, then rises and disappears to the north over the forest.
When finally the village recovers its minds, there is nothing more to see, no more Yanathor or others. Only remains the buzzing presence of the extraordinary which just unfolded right before their eyes.
But let us see what happened in the little ship.
The three Guardians sit in the centre, between some music instruments. The Eolis settle around, on the soft ground or on the instruments.
Here we must definitively get rid of all the science fiction clichés and stereotypes about cosmic ships, their operation and their appearance. There are only UFOs which are a bit up to this new reality. First of all, once you enter, you have the feeling that it is much bigger than seen from outside. The inside of the tent ship is really like a tent, with three bunks and other things. But instead of being made of canvas, the dome seems to be an opalescent glass of intense blue, illuminated in transparency. We would expect the characters, illuminated by such a light, to also be entirely blue. They are not, and the flesh and clothes appear in their normal colours, but with an intensified and magnified vibration. The floor is also a more matte blue, flat, apart from the hollowed bunk locations. But this matter has very extraordinary properties: it is fuzzy, without a precise surface, like a layer of mist. If you take your hand there, you do not feel any contact, only an elastic resistance, as when you try to bring together magnets of the same pole. If you walk on it, it softly returns your effort, like a tatami. As to the bunks, we are simply weightless, just kept in place. It is soft, of a supreme comfort! No risk of ankylosis, no need to turn from time to time!
There is nothing to steer the ship or to command its functions, no instrument, not the smallest dial, not even a small steering wheel. The ship seems to obey the will of its occupants. There is no engine or auxiliary compartment, and the whole interior space is inhabitable. No air conditioning either: the air seems to emanate from the wall itself, and the breath does not bounce on it! This wall seems solid, and yet the air comes from it. If one bumps into it, he sinks in without damage, as in sand. It does not reflect light as glass would, and would be perfectly invisible without its pure colour of opalescent stained glass.
All this is much for the dumbfounded little Eolis! Antonnafachto wades to the knees, laughing and raising his arms. Liouna took refuge on the tempura, a small wonder entirely carved in delicate leaves of wood, curved to form the box. Definitively not the kind of object we find in science fiction. Certainly it comes from a market in Bombay or Bangalore, where Yanathor probably went incognito.
The three Guardians smile at the ingenuousness of the Eolis. What a charming sight! This disarming naivety is a delicious food for their souls! Auranaïa gently radiates her sublime purple aura. Ellebon is good. Yanathor observes, totally neutral and open.
Suddenly the dome becomes perfectly transparent. (While seen from below it remained blue). The Eolis move to the wall, and contemplate the village and their friends remaining on the ground, in the place of the meal. No sound had reached them since the opening of the door has become solid too. The saucer has not moved yet but they already are elsewhere.
Yanathor: «Cute little Eolis, this ship is not made of ordinary matter at all. It is not formed of atoms, nor even of electromagnetic field or other. It is a special egregore, strong enough to manifest concretely. In such a place, all thoughts and feelings are of crucial importance. Usually, when we transport unrealized beings, we isolate them so that their uncontrolled thoughts do not disturb the ship. But you, you are able to discipline your mind enough not to disturb the maneuver, and even to drive yourself, with some training. We try?
- Yes!
- Yes Yes Yes!
- Good, let's do it gently. Get yourself in meditation. ... Are you? We assure, in case of an error, that everything goes well. We try to go up in about twenty seconds?»
At the end of this time, the ship oscillates slowly, and it agrees to rise little by little. The Eolis are jubilant, proud as a toddler who learns to ride a bike with dad who holds the handlebars. What a joy! What radiation! They are now gliding over the trees, over Adenankar's forest.
Suddenly the machine leans up to the vertical, without any of its occupants being overthrown.
«Antonnafachto!»
The ship regretfully finds back its horizontal attitude.
Outside, the trees are now passing quickly, then lower far below. The elegant silhouette of the pink sandstone peak grows at full speed, becomes massive. The sense of danger... The ship freezes. Yanathor is still watching, smiling.
Liouna: «We are not to stay here. In twenty seconds we start again, and we go to the top of the Dil Dézéïr» Yanathor laughs a little: his students are smart! Again the ship moves and glides uphill.
The peak is formed with large panels of poetically curved rock, of a nice pink. At the very top, there is a small flat, as carved in the rock. Ah it took many socks to arase the hard sandstone over millions of years! Because the mountain peaks are crowded on Aéoliah. The Eolis adore the vast perspectives and light air of the high altitudes. The Dil Dézéïr, very elegant, isolated, shaped as a sugar loaf, attracts them irresistibly, from very far around. As a result, there almost always is somebody at the top, and just below the Eolis miners had dug a small cave serving as a shelter, with always water in a basin and fruit pasta, for those who would be tired with such a climb.
At present, three unknown Eolis, dressed in dark blue, and three Eolines, two in pink and one in golden yellow, are sitting in lotus facing North, like a birds flight. They watch the ship go by with curiosity, but without any astonishment.
«They meditate. Let us not disturb them»
From here the view is breathtaking, towards Irizdar to the north, to the evening mountain to the west, and other distant chains to the south. To the east, the plateau ends with the peak, and beyond it a sinuous valley, then a whole theory of green hills, and then... The infinite immensity of the inner plains of the Seventh Continent, as far as sight can show, fading into the turquoise haze of the distance. An expanse of gigantic forest, in one piece, intensely green, pierced with emerald lakes, damask with different hues. What a powerful feeling of freedom, dizziness of air space and travel is seizing you, facing such a vast panorama!
This region of Aeoliah is very similar to the one on Earth called Amazonia, with also permanently flooded places, and other curious things like rivers which course changes direction with the rhythm of the rains. This green paradise, as the Eolis call it, is densely inhabited, and we shall perhaps visit it in another story.
«Yanathor, how high can we climb?
- As high as you want.
Higher, higher» they jubilate like children.
In their enthusiasm, the Eolis propel the small ship into the stratosphere, much higher than the geese. Suddenly the mountains are nothing more than molehills, and the huge, colourful carpet of the mysterious Aeolian Amazon spreads its moiré as far as the eye can see, and some places are so full of flowers that the forest is pink, blue, golden... More to the north, extends a vast sandy region, yellow or light green, which is drier. In this ancient alluvial plain raised by a recent tectonic movement, the water infiltrates and reappears only at the bottom of the valleys, which meanders and ramifications draw a complex network, contrasted in dark green. Despite a great abundance of alluvial sand in the vast interior plains of the Aeolian continents, there seldom are dunes, the wind being generally too weak, and the humidity almost always sufficient for the grasses to fix the sand.
The ship rises again, and there are renewed exclamations in front of so much magnificence. Suddenly to the west the sea appears. They now are at the orbital altitude, and in the black velvet sky, all specled with stars, with the golden haze of the ring, shines an immense insolent Sun! The well-curved horizon is an extremely moving blue edging, breathtakingly nice! How beautiful is their planet! As every time they look at her, they have tears of gratitude... But to see a much larger part of it makes their feeling much stronger!
...
Seen from here, the vast mountainous complex which follows the continent border to the west is nothing more than an immense carpet with undulating and intertwined designs, networks of colours, white nets, strewn with the smooth spots of the numerous lakes. A volcanic plume is spreading to the northeast. Towards the East, the Aeolian Amazon's perspective stops under an immense canopy of white clouds: the unique weather front of Aéoliah, an immense arc connecting the two poles, which rotates indefinitely around the planet. It does so about once a month, dictating the rhythm of the rains. It just passed over the village, and it is now crossing the immense plain, from west to east, not without strolling and playing in multiple cloud banks which curiously follow the colours of the ground.
«Space! Just says Yanathor.
- It's beautiful», replies Liouna simply, much more moved than she dares to say.
They all are amazed with this fantastic show.
Suddenly the ship seems to rock and swing.
«We regain control now», says Yanathor. You are a bit tired, but it is good for a start. The most difficult is to work well in a group, but for this you are gifted.
- What happens if the drivers are not in Harmony?
- The ship becomes ungovernable. It could even be very dangerous, it could not keep its shape for example, and it would let the air escape. It is very important at first to have a good group egregore. Now we are going back down».
New surprise! Space suddenly disappears, without any transition, instantly giving way to the known landscape of the great valley between the village and Irizdar, with its huge yellow sandstone cliff and its waterfall which resolves into rain without reaching the ground.
«But at which incredible speed...
- Which speed? Yanathor asks. There is no speed. The interior of the ship was in relation to a point of space in orbit. We changed this relationship, and put it above this river. There was no intermediate route. So no speed. Do not try yet, it is more delicate.
- It is like in the astral, says Anthelme.
- Exactly. These are the same phenomena, but the egregore of the ship is so powerful that it carries the matter of your bodies with it. Remember the fundamental unity of all manifestation: this physical universe, in spite of its density and persistence, is also a creation of the Spirit, just like all the fleeting and malleable worlds of the astral or of dreams. It obeys the same basic laws; just that it is much less malleable for our personal thought and desire. Only great beings would have the strength to modify it, but they do so only in exceptional circumstances. This vessel is a kind of amplifier of the will, which allows us to move out of the laws of ordinary matter.
- Of what is it made of? Algenio asks.
-Of nothing. It is an egregore. It can act on matter, for example to push it back if we approach it (He taps the wall with his finger, and we hear nothing but the small shock on the flesh) or to produce, if we looks at it, the light waves corresponding with the images we want to show: the one of the ship, seen from outside, or scenes from different places, seen from within. We can perfectly imitate ordinary materials, like wood or tinted glass. We preferred to do it of pure colour. We can even make it totally invisible, without any difficulty, since in any case it is not here».
The Eolis look at Yanathor, somewhat incredulous. He smiles. He will say no more today.
The ship descends slowly, towards the river. Suddenly the sound of the swift water reaches them, exactly as if the wall had suddenly ceased to exist, with the bird songs around, and even the fresh breeze which is always blowing here. Supreme delight of Liberty! The vessel sits thirty centimetres above a small rocky sill above the surface near the shore.
They are at the heart of a fantastic landscape, a wild beauty, an inexpressible power. Most Eolis never descended into this deep valley, only flying above it on their way to Irizdar.
To the North, the formidable yellow sandstone cliff overlooks them, illuminated with the sun. The plume of the waterfall sparkles. Seen from here, it is even taller, still above a series of intensely green buttresses, which it dominates with its compact mass. In places emerge collapsed blocks larger than one hundred meters.
To the South, the foothills of the plateau, drowned with green shade, climb the sky with successive projections strewn with brown rocky banks. In the dark, deep and mysterious ravines, torrents are foaming.
To the west, mauve by the distance, the massif of the Evening mountain overlooks the valley. In the East, the latter disappears behind an elbow.
The bottom of the valley is relatively flat. The river which runs there is quite large, foaming on the thresholds of brown rock, tirelessly carrying sandbanks that aquatic vegetation constantly tries to conquer.
This whole region vibrates with a grandiose beauty which embraces the hearts. The Eolis have small sobs of admiration. What happiness! The intensity and freshness of their feelings never become dull, and it always renews itself! Every wonder, every joy surprises them as for the first time!
Here, as elsewhere, the bottom of the valley is covered with trees; but they have no flowers as on the plateau or in the plain. They cover undergrowth of shrubs and violet vines, impenetrable and mysterious. In places this forest sinks its roots into the river, casting over the water majestic arches of dark depths, filled with vines with mesmerizing flowers. Elsewhere, it lowers gradually, leaving in the dead arms a meadow of sand grasses, rushes, phragmits and water lilies.
Strange birds live here, usually large, resembling ducks, avocets, cranes. They go off along the dead arms, sometimes in so compact troops that we would be unable to walk between them. They feed on the seeds of aquatic plants, or certain mosses and herbs. In the forest resound joyful or strange cries, interspersed with silences where only the rushing stream of the river is heard, at the passage on the thresholds. Flocks of birds sometimes fly off massively, without apparent cause, in the mighty roar of thousands of wings.
In the water live aquatic beings unknown on Earth, anemones, molluscs, and of course fishes of all sizes and colours.
In this kind of place with powerful magnetism, the Eolis rarely go there, or not at all. It is the domain of sovereign Nature, of the spirits of the places, of animals. For whatever reason, they would not construct anything permanent there. Of course the Cosmic Guardians respect these provisions.
Everyone came out of the little ship, the Eolis resting on the long rock, Yanathor and his friends wading happily with water up to the calves. They remove their tunics...
Nothing like a river bath to commune with this fantastic nature! And here they are diving and snorting, throwing shining sheaves. Yanathor swims vividly under the fast flow to the depths, while Ellebon and Auranaia, into the water to the chest, attract the fishes and speak to them. In no time, several hundred are turning around them, and the water is bubbling with their happy presence. Some jump two meters high, and manage to fall back on the two laughing friends!
Yanathor emerges from the flow, on the other side, with joyous gestures, among the reeds. He climbs on a lying trunk and caresses beautiful pink birds nesting there. They respond with screams, curiously sharp for their size, which make the Eolis laugh.
The latter, still very intimidated by their great companions, somewhat hesitate before joining them. They slip into the shallow water, between the rock and the shore, so as not to be bothered by the waves or the strong current. Here the water is warmer, perfectly transparent against a background of yellow sand, strewn with blue dots: small molluscs, more adorable rose worms, and even purplish or green anemones. The latter feed by capturing suspended algae, and they are strong enough to catch the hand of an eoli. This is anyway thee new game of Anthelm and Antonnafachto. These little flower animals are so exciting!
Yanathor reappears on this side, breathes, shakes himself, then sits on the rock.
«It is beautiful here, little Eolis. You never come there? How well we feel!»
As usual, Elnadjine floats on her huge mass of hair lighter than her skin. Iré-é-elle and Balanio run after each other laughing in the grasses, then stumble on the nest of a kind of crane. Amazed to find such big eggs, they look at the big cranes above them and congratulate them. The noble birds lower their heads crowned with a golden egret. They giggle and let themselves caress their egret...
Algenio is intrigued. «Yanathor? Sometimes going through here, we see red things, or with other colours, on the edge of the river, or on the islands: what is it?
- Well, I do not know. In any case it is not us, we came only recently, and our ship is blue. Perhaps inhabitants of some neighbouring planet who visit this amazing place, like us.
- I do not think so. In addition the spirits of the place do not want to tell us anything. They are laughing, that's all. If they had been hikers, they would not miss protesting and prank them, you know how they are, especially the great spirits of the river.
- Ah, yet the spirits of the rivers are rather permissive, it is well known. In any case, it is nothing but good, anyway, since this was never reported to us. This is the first time we personally work on Aéoliah. Think, we do not come here often, everything is always good with! The water was delicious.»
Yes, friend readers, it is like this: the Eolis do not know everything happening on their own planet. They live there, but in no way are they installed as conquerors eager to bend the whole nature to their laws. In addition to the mysterious visions reported by Anthelme, we sometimes hear in this valley strange and very beautiful notes of music, of which nobody seems to know the origin. This place would make a fantastic hydroelectric site, it contains iron, copper and even some uranium. But nobody will ever touch it. At most, the Eolis content themselves to take tiny quantities of coloured minerals for their paintings or for some jewels. And finding one of their mines is probably the most difficult thing about Aeoliah.
After a silence; Yanathor continues:
«Do you ever receive extra Aeolians in your village?
- No, never in the villages, but sometimes, in Irizdar...
- You know that the golden portal in Irizdar is big enough for humans to comfortably enter in.
- In any case in Irizdar they all say that it is Eolis who dug it, and the same for the gallery of the organ. And that one, no human can pass.
- What can i say, Eolis friends. If it is a secret, then I do not know, ha ha ha!»
Yanathor turns himself, climbs the rock, stretches, contemplates the formidable mountains above. His gaze stops on the waterfall which does not fall anywhere. The Eolis then realize that his blue skin is totally dry! It shivers, the muscles roll and live under, attentive to the slightest movements, the breath raises it regularly, it emanates an intense vibration of vitality, power, freedom, warmth, sweetness. But it is totally dry and clean, despite the recent bath.
Is the body of the Cosmic Guardians a real body of flesh, material, or a projection of the spirit, like their ship? Or some intermediate state?
It is Anthelme who asks such questions, but he is far from the only one. Surely the body of the Guardians is not ordinary flesh, it has so many extraordinary properties. It must be immortal, and probably also invulnerable. But if there is no flesh, then... why do they eat? They do it even in the absence of the Eolis, as those who went to their camp saw. Why, if this body is also a pure creation of the mind, why does Yanathor has... a belly button? Do not laugh, friend readers, these are questions that have a metaphysical scope.
Without anyone having agreed, they all converge on their clothes, towards the ship.
A small detail may have intrigued some readers: the total absence of pebbles and even gravel in the river. These are rarely encountered on Aeoliah, even on the beaches. While on Earth they are everywhere, except in the vast plains as in the Amazon or China. This is because the Aeolian rivers are appreciably constant, or in any case not experiencing floods, and especially not the gigantic immemorial floods which, on Earth, shaped many of our flat bottomed valleys. So, most of the time the Aeolian rivers just content themselves carrying sand or silt, and they take a long time to dig a valley. Hence, the number of lakes, waterfalls, that the rapid tectonic movements permanently dug or elevate, too fast for the rivers to find a balance. All the better: Poetry wins!
The return to the village is triumphal: the Eolis come out of the ship, flying, because it remains a few meters in the air. Then... it disappears on the spot, with the three guards still inside!
«Oyooooh! Oyoooh! Where did you go?
- In space! It was great!
- In space! They went in space!
- Yeah! We saw the ring and the stars! In broad daylight!
- And how beautiful it was!
- With the eyes, not in astral!
- After we went to the big river, in the valley! Balanio and I caressed the cranes that make eggs so big that we can not even lift them!
- Yes yes, the Guardians they bathed too, like us, but in the big river, in full flow!
- Not a problem for them, even with the current and the waves.
- I put my hand in an anemone!
- He put the bildolio too, funny Nafachto!»
Laughter and exclamations punctuate this story, deliciously messy, but so poetic. Ah these Eolis... !
Soon they are dispersed again in the fields and the workshops, happy of this marvellous visit. But they don't do a story of it, and they do not forget to activate! They are amazed, enthralled, but not the least excited. And it is with special love that this afternoon are cared the nice pomminis, mulched and weeded the mangiammes, sorted the cotton balls. It is almost too early that the Sun comes to caress the rumps of the Evening Mountain, and in the tranquil lukewarmness of the finishing day, the Eolis meet together again in the place of the meals, between the crickets and the poetic eyerlis .
Just this evening is extended a little later: we comment in detail on the events of the day and the strange revelations of Yanathor on cosmic ships, between a few sweet songs and violins.
Small groups by small groups, soon the village is almost entirely initiated to the joys of space, and rather several times that one.
Once Anthelme asks to visit a black hole.
«Oh! Do you really want to see that?
- Yes. We can?
- If you want, but we shall fly. You know: it is not a place where flowers grow.»
Immediately the three Guardians concentrate. The forest and ovoid rocks of the edges of the plateau suddenly disappear for deep darkness. The time for their eyes to get used to it, and they see: in the dark interstellar space, only the stars shine. There are all around, above, before, behind, and even, strange and confusing sensation, «under» the ship... Where are they? No sun or planet in sight. The void. The total darkness of the Cosmos. No known constellation. Totally isolated in an unexplored vastness, with for only company the distant and cold glow of the stars.
«Where is it, the black hole?
- There in front: We are approaching.»
The time to spot «in front» (nothing moves outside) and they see a star shining, bluish, sparkling like an electric arc.
As they approach, a fascinating spectacle is revealed. The flicker is surrounded by a glowing disc, like the ring of a planet, but it quivers, oscillates with unpredictable blows, accompanied by violet phosphorescences. It rotates faster and faster as it gets closer to the centre, more and more brilliant, red and then white. But the flicker itself comes from still closer to the centre. From this point of light, two pulsating violet rays, perfectly rectilinear, radiate on each side, forming an angle of about sixty degrees with the disc, and get lost in the infinity. Yanathor comments: «We chose this one because it is nesting in a region especially rich in gas and in interstellar dust, which it absorbs, not without heating them beyond the possible. This is what makes this whirlwind, the black hole itself is not yet visible from here.»
Already, while this vision still occupies only a small corner of the sky in front of them, comes from it, through the walls of their ship, a heavy vibration, harsh, hoarse, which swells as their approach, accompanied by a dull crackling: the gravitational waves emitted by the monster, perfectly audible when they have enough energy to shake the air of their ship.
This time our friends discover a place where the current laws of the universe have no longer valid, a kind of end of the world, door of hell, incandescent abyss, intense vibration of disaster, violent and unstoppable like lightning, black and acrid like the ravages of fire...
As they approach the monstrous whirlpool, the transparency of the ship decreases. Fortunately, because they are now approaching a furnace, a hurricane dazzling with protons and electrons, throwing flames and glowing squalls around them. Never had any material ship would survive that!
The centre of the disk is spinning at a vertiginous speed, and the din is still growing. This cosmic cyclone from time to time exacerbates itself, throws volutes and splinters around it, and then reforms under the infernal, inexorable attraction of the dead star.
From the central fire emerges what seems at first a dark sphere, half hidden by the disk. The latter is oddly folded in this place as if the sphere had dragged it into a tilt. But the Eolis are not yet at the end of their surprises. They have to wait until they are close enough to understand what's going on ...
(Author's note: The following black hole description was written in 1989. Yes, the visualization capabilities of the human brain can be as powerful as mega-computers stuffed with relativistic equations! I purposely did not changed it, even if it is not matching exactly the most recent results)
What seems to be a totally black sphere is, as we understood, the horizon of the black hole, but it is not a ball of matter: there space itself is deformed by the power of the frightful gravitational field! Imagine a drawing on an elastic canvas, in which we sink a round object, to make a hole: on the edge of the hole the drawing is deformed, stretched, like a landscape through one of these old windows with bubbles inside the glass. An optical effect, quite banal in appearance, but prodigious by its catastrophic origin.
The central darkness does not seem to be a solid sphere, but an orifice, a hole, all filled with mysterious and frightful darkness, like the mouth of an oven or the entrance to a chasm. And it is indeed an unfathomable chasm, since nothing falling in will never come out again...
Close up, the so called black sphere is like Saturn with its ring. It does not seem quite round anyway, like an egg lying in the plane of the ring. The portion of the ring passing behind is deformed, deflected around the black circle, instead of disappearing behind. As it rotates very quickly, the effect is spectacular, breathtaking.
The disc is not homogeneous, it is covered with smaller eddies, which continually mingle, explode, reform, eject shreds which stretch and gather in a vertiginous round. Some pass by the dark sphere, so close that their path is also distorted by the proximity of the horizon, so fast that we can see only dazzling streaks wriggling wildly before ending with a last thermonuclear flash.
Add a rumbling cataract, maelstrom, a cart of huge rocks rolling down a mountain, punctuated with detonations and terrifying screeches, and here is the confusing and pathetic vision facing the moving little Eolis of Aeoliah.
Oh no, flowers do not grow here! What a colossal and frightful vibration! And again, this is only a small stellar black hole, Yanathor did not show them a quasar... Brr... It is true that the quasar of Aeoliah is extinct: not that it disappeared, but it is now so huge that it swallows whole stars without leaving anything escaping. Disturbing matter, which laws are so different from those of life...
Anthelme suddenly realizes that the horizon, the gaping mouth of darkness, now hides half of the sky: they are almost at the point of no return.
«But ... Yanathor ...
- Do not worry. We are not in this place. We are only seeing it.»
As they cross the horizon, a strange calm succeeds this upheaval. The ring is now behind, as if seen through a round window. In front and all around, it is total darkness. Instinctively the Eolis look towards the center. But they do not see anything. No light will ever come from there. But, more on the left, what is it? A ring of light, similar to the one they have just crossed, but strangely distorted, inverted: it seems to expand, to accelerate from the inside immobile to the swirling outside, throwing tentacles towards them. As they advance, another smaller ring also appears, closer to the center, even more deformed, then a third, reduced to a vague twinkling glow.
«What you see here is only a relativistic optical illusion. They are reflections of the outer ring, inverted in time, twisted around the center by the rotation which even drags space. The true centre, you will never see it, even from our ship: What is there can not be translated into sensations understandable by you. Now it is better not to linger too long in this corpse of a star: the vibrations are not very good there.»
As always with the dazzling vivacity of the Guardians, they are instantly back in the hot sun and the delicious greenery of the plateau, on Aéoliah. Down below, as big as pinheads, the Eolis and the Eolines are busy in the gardens or on the village places. Eternal vision of sweet happiness, which quickly dissipates the dizziness of the previous moments.
Still, Algenio is surprised to hear that the ship has entered a black hole, a place from which normally no material object can escape. A little later, on another trip, he asks Yanathor:
«How can one be in a place with the ship without experiencing anything of that happens there?
- We are not there, in this place. For example, we have never been «in» the black hole. Simply the wall of the ship have restored light waves and images exactly as if we were in this place.
- It is materially impossible!
- For the mind it is very easy. As the ship is made of spirit...
- Where were you, then? From the village we did not see you.
- We were nowhere. The inside of the ship carries with it a small portion of space, completely isolated from the rest of the universe. When we arrive and the door reopens, then the interior space portion is reconnected with the space of the arrival location. But in the meantime we are nowhere, exactly like a number or a dream are nowhere. Thus, there is no privileged place to reconnect in the universe, and we can do it absolutely where we want, at the time we want. Look.» Immediately the ship, which hovered over the village as usual, set off at a good speed towards the Dil Dézéïr.
«Be careful, we are to crash!
- This is what you think, but did your sense of danger warned you?
- No. But...»
The peak of pink sandstone grows, vines flowering at mid slope rush forward... A last vision of bouncing rocks and it is total blackness.
«But what...»
They're back on the other side, in the green shade, with the huge view of the emerald forest to the east.
«wow, we went through it!
- But this is not possible!»
Yanathor and the other Guardians laugh at this naive surprise.
«This is indeed really as in the astral, comments Niouline, who is with this trip. But in addition we take the body and what is around. Figures you, Yanathor, that I expected that, and I was not surprised to cross the mountain!
- Bravo!
- Because I'm used to it, every night I go out in the astral.» She suddenly stops, blushing with modesty, as if she had said too much. Why should this silent Eoline so regularly go in the astral? Another Eoli mystery, no doubt exciting, but Niouline says no more. Even the Guardians will not know. Anyway they do not seek to break through her secret.
Casually, with some flights a week, a good part of the Eolis village, including all those we know, are soon familiar with the handling of the small vessel. Oh of course they are far from being able to drive it alone, and besides this is not the purpose of the Guardians. Driving and using a cosmic ship routinely requires a strong mind, strength, concentration, which the Eolis do not necessarily have. We, Earthlings, would not be able to, with all our thoughts and daydreams that most of us even not control the course!
We must see the Guardians piloting: they sit, motionless, concentrated. Even though Yanathor comments on the Eolis, their common thought has the massive, orderly power of a locomotive rod linkage, and the fluid precision of a sidereal ballet. The goal of the Guardians is not really to teach the Eolis to fly, but to be able to get them into their mother ship and leave them free, without the need to isolate them or to monitor them. It is still a nice gift, isn't it? When the time comes, it will be useful.
We must not think that these dizzying prospects make the Eolis grow a big head. Not at all. When it is time to cavort in space, they play in space, but when it is time to garden, they garden, with as much enthusiasm, to all their content.
This is Algénio, who is coming back from the forest with Nellio. Both are loaded like donkeys, with dead leaves. They are strong, these Eolis. We see two haystacks advancing, laughing, kind of legged mushrooms.
The laughter is Nellio. It had been so long since we did not heard his frank and clear laugh, calm as the morning! What a sweet emotion for Algénio to find his friend back. At the moment he only sees his legs in front of him: the rest is covered with leaves.
It is like a beautiful story interrupted, a little forgotten, a little bit faded, and suddenly it resumes its course, dapper and clear, warm and engaging. And then, these woods are so beautiful! The immense straight boles straight like i letters, climbing far above them, towards the foliage of a tender and sensual green, from which generous bunches of fragrant flowers descend. In this green cathedral resonates the choir of the birds, tender singers of life and Poetry! The dead leaves, on Aeoliah, do not become yellow: they get of a past green. They fall in small amounts, but continuously, because the trees all are perennial. The moss covers them quickly, so the undergrowth is always a clean and fresh moss turf, and it is not uncommon to find carpets of fragrant petals, which fall gently like a rain from the high foliage.
No worries, no fear of tomorrow, for the Eolis: every second, resounds somewhere the fall of a ripe fruit, enough for ten meals. They could even eat the mycelia which runs under the dead leaves.
The path followed by our two friends winds between undergrowth plants. They carry their leaves in large baskets made of a few sprigs of a very fine wicker, a common grass on Aeoliah. The straps are of a kind of hemp, sewn in band instead of being strung like a rope, then wrapped in the cloth of the bib. The load is high, to be well distributed on the wearer and not to tire him. A simple, natural and effective technique.
Algenio is happy, happy to be with his friend, happy to smell the perfumes of mushrooms and of humus, happy to vibrate in unison with the companies of birds who sing wildly above them. He also sings, one of those happy and serene songs that the Eolis have been transmitting for three billion years without ever getting bored.
Suddenly Nellio turns toward him, giggling:
«Well, here it grows flowers!
- What what?
- At least here it is poetical, it is not the black hole!
- Ah, you said it. This story of holes in space which eat everything and never give back, this is definitively not in the Universal Laws. If at least they gave back some sort of debris, which would fertilize somewhere. But no, not even that.
- Yes, it must be useful for something. The dying stars give back elements that they made in their bosom and by exploding they fertilize the space with, just like us when we make compost.
- Yes, I know: the nitrogen, the carbon and the oxygen of which all life is made, the aluminium of our bones...» (Yes, friend readers, the bones of Eolis are made of carbon fibers in an alloy of aluminium and silicon, which contributes to the extraordinary lightness of the Eoli body, which does not concede anything to solidity. What marvel the Aeolian life has created!) (Note of the author: this was written in 1989, 20 years before the movie «Avatar»). Algénio continues: «more all the rocks and minerals, gold and all the trace elements without which life could not work... So, after all this work, the stars can leave this thing while dying.
- I thought that after the explosion there was nothing left.
- Indeed some supernovas leave nothing at all. But others make black holes or pulsars.
- Maybe it serves to swallow all the bad vibrations, so that the space is always clean. Did you noticed how good we feel, up there?
- Yes, we feel more aerial, more... How to say? More mauve, more vast.
- Yanathor said that soon we would do meditations in the ship. That would be great!
- Piloting is already a meditation.
- I'm happy: Yesterday I went to the Guardian camp, and Yanathor told me about Aurora. He says that now that she is no longer with the entity, he can tell us what she is doing.»
Aurora! An old reflex stands out for Algenio: do not speak about her to Nellio. But if Yanathor does... For a moment, Algenio makes mental void, releases any attachment or conflict with his thoughts, then visualizes himself free, happy and serene to talk about Aurora. Thus, as Nellio explained to him, he can reconnect his nerve cells to erase the conditioned reflex which has become useless and get rid of it. As for Aurora, we shall see what she is doing in the following chapters, because for us on Earth it is a little more complicated than for the Eolis.
Still singing or talking, they arrive at the arbours, which the leaf bearers bypass by a special way not to continually disturb the biblical tranquillity of this place.
In the place of the meals, they cross their friends, then continue towards the terraces of the village. Finally they empty their load and spread it carefully between cotton plants. For this they have to go under the thick shrubs. it is a game, always funny, because you never know exactly what farce you will find in this dense foliage where we can not see anything. Blof! A huge green caterpillar! Should we take her out? No, she does not want to.
«It will be a joke for the next ones.
- But by the way, Algenio, Who put that caterpillar here, to start with?
- Well, uh... But it is us! OUAH AH AH!
- HO HO HO! This one is good! We got caught in our own joke!
- I assure you, I was no longer thinking at it anymore!»
They fall on their backs, so much it is funny. Still funny, must we clarify, because it is not the first time that it happens to them! But hush hush: do not say anything, here are the next ones coming. Let us go fast, after having put the caterpillar back in place.
After the meal, we find Anthelme and Elnadjine, Nellio, Liouna and Algénio, among all the other older Eolis, of whom they can no longer be differentiated any more. There are Antonnafachto and Miélora, Landernako and Niouline, the painters, Selina and Selinao, Iré-é-elle and Balanio. Iré-é-elle is one of the most beautiful eolines in the village, blonde dressed in pastel blue, both lively and deliciously poetical. She often sings in the evening, her gaze lost in the ultramarine sky where the first stars lit up. The Aeolian night falls gently, while the silence goes up: curiously, tonight, we hear no crickets. Only a distant night-bird throws his poetic lament from time to time.
The evening is the moment when, after a busy day in the concrete plane, a day of Service and friendship, we open to the Infinity of the universe, in calm and peacefulness. The eyes shine with the last light of the dying day, or with the soft light of the light-flowers.
The day before, Nellio did not came to the meal, since he stayed late at the Guardian camp. But thanks to the Eoli phone, everybody knows he had the first news of Aurora. Without saying anything, all the Eolis circle around him. They just have to...
An angelic voice suddenly falls from the ultramarine sky, then another, a bit hissy, and wonderfully moving, accompanied by the singing of the Eoli violins, high pitched like the trills of the happy troglodyte birds.
After a moment of amazement, they see the dark silhouettes of two large silent carriers birds, and four doves who are turning over the place.
«Ozoard! Ozoard! Orzeilla!» They all scream, always so happy to see the extraordinary red minstrel and his white minstrellette.
Moments later, they are installed on the place, they thank the birds, make gestures. Ozoard, his huge violin slung over his shoulder, struggles for a moment to retrieve his hat that one of the geese found at her liking. «Please, give me back my hat!»
The other visitors are not less than Adenankar and Milareva, and a couple of Eolis of the mountain, a beautiful blonde with huge hair, whom they have already seen in such parties.
It will be hot! We make room for newcomers, we bring other light flowers and musical instruments. Friends scattered in the village arrive.
«Ozoard! Ozoard! Where were you?
- Ah my friends! If you knew! We are coming back from at least the fifteenth continent!» (Going to the thirteenth continent is a common Eoli expression, which means to go really very far, since there are only twelve continents on Aeoliah) Orzeilla distributes kisses on the nose; quickly a queue of amateurs is formed.
«Berzellio help me take out this blue flower, for them we need roses or oranges ones»
When everyone sits, Adenankar speaks, the gentle Milareva tenderly leaning against him, looking up at the sky.
«Ah my friends, this moment we were all waiting for has finally arrived! Nellio has news from his companion! He will finally tell us what he heard from the Guardians, and that he yet not dared to say even to his friends!
- Well it's weird.
- Well, we expected it. Tell us the beautiful, Nellio!
- Of course it is better, anyway. She is no longer in the house of the entity. Imagine that the entity... You will not believe me: he changed of... of companion.»
Pof! They did not expect such a thing, the Eolis. An incredulous silence welcomes this incredible statement.
«I should not have said this. Well, it is true that there are planets where they are several companions and companions. Their psyche and their souls are made for this, and for them it is another Harmony. But the Earthlings are like us: normally a couple, once formed, stays together for their whole life long. If they are separated, they do not die like us, but then they have very unpleasant feelings.
«And then the entity changed his companion as we change socks. He is really in the non-love, the poor. It is a disease some Earthlings have: they do not know how to love, so they are never happy with their mate, and they change all the time. His new sock, no, sorry his new companion also has a funny disease: her belly is bounced as if she had swallowed a whole pommeomelonne. And the worse is that it is really because she is eating too much!»
No laughter happens, for, as you know now, the Eolis never make fun of persons, and it is with pity and silence that most of them welcome these strangeness.
«Nellio! The beautiful! The beautiful!
- Yes, the beautiful. Aurora is alone now. She does not know it, but her soul knows it, she is preparing for her service to humanity. She is getting rid of the influence of the entity, she could almost come back now, if it was not the Service. When she comes back, she will still be Aurora, but she will be different. Her light will have a great strength.
«At this moment Yanathor, Ellebon and Auranaïa are preparing the precise plan for her reintegration. They will install direct connections between the consciousness of Aurora and the collective consciousness, the Logos of the Earth. For her it will be a wonderful discovery to meet us, to find an unimaginably beautiful world. In fact, the hope of such a world of Happiness and Harmony sleeps in the secret of the heart of every Earthling. By Aurora this marvellous discovery will be transmitted to the collective consciousness of Humanity, and it will thus be felt as a call, as a wonderful news, by all the Earthlings who will be receptive enough. This will contribute to the awakening of humanity, which has no time to lose now: for them it is the spiritual awakening, or nothing. So it was well worth it, that Aurora and the Guardians spend a few years!
- Oh yes! What a wonderful idea!
- What a beautiful plan!
- What a moving devotion!
- For Aurora! Hurray! Hurray!
- For the Guardians! Hurray! Hurray!»
Ozoard's violin, Orzeilla's harp, Alambo's and Antonnafachto's tam-tams, Artapon's drum set off to a happy and lively rhythm, without waiting for the end of the cheers, which continue in a farandole. At night, for lack of light, the farandoles are danced while carrying flower lights shells, forming a small luminous train which wriggles and sways happily!
The party tonight is starting well. Remember that the Eolis do not have the same living rhythm than us: they do not need to sleep all night, while on Earth, to often go to bed late is a vice which quickly becomes dangerous.
Tonight Nellio leads the farandole, he who was not seen at any party for twelve centuries. What spirit he is having now! Unbelievable! An outburst of energy for so long contained. He sings, very well indeed, a joyous song which had rocked his childhood, so far, before the tragedy.
The Eolis dance with Nellio, Milarêva, then Orzeilla, which makes Nellio the beautiful surprise of a song composed especially for him!
That evening, the last hints of sadness for Nellio and for the village have come to an end. Nellio has an important role to play in accomplishing what is going on with Aurora. He has acquired a joyful, calm and unshakable determination for this purpose. The Eolis, dozing at the quieter hours of the night, are not yet suspecting what a colossal force of healing is gathering...
Scenario, graphics, sounds, colours, realization: Richard Trigaux.
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