My mind was spinning.
"I want you to let go of your mind with all its concerns, and let me take over the operation of your astral body for the next few minutes." Lea was saying. "Can you trust me, Jon?"
Looking into those all knowing eyes, my mental turmoil was gradually replaced by desire until every fiber of my being reached out to this girl who called herself Lea.
Nodding my head, I said, "I trust you, Lea."
Suddenly I was as clear-as honest, as open, as undefended-as she was. There were no barriers between us. We merged, and though her lips did not move, I heard her voice.
"We are one, Jon. Let go, and let's grow!"
Next thing I knew, I was looking up into her face as she swung the glass-like cover from above me.
Sliding to my feet, I felt the exquisite touch of Lea's hands for the first time as they slid ecstatically down my sides and around my back. I took her quickly into my arms and our lips met as I said her name.
A pleasant weightiness filled my groin, and I flushed with a new realization. I was naked!
Lea's amused laughter echoed amid the conflict between my body and my mind: How could I quickly cover my "bare essentials?" Why should I? And why had I not been concerned with my nakedness before?
"You're in a physical body again, Jon," Lea responded to my unspoken thoughts. "Only in a physical body can one be embarrassed by nakedness. Here, maybe this will make you feel better," with which she handed me one of their universal tunics and a pair of short stocking-like boots.
Hastily donning these, I talked about the room's contents in an effort to divert my all-too-easy-to-read mind away from what it wanted to think, toward what it should be thinking!
The sense of effortless freedom I had experienced with my astral body was gone now that it was surrounded by this dense physical body. It was, however, a gem of health and energy, with magnificent strength and coordination.
The tunic fitted perfectly and moved with my body like a second skin.
Though it had been colorless before I put it on, it now radiated a basic blue-gray tone with iridescent rays of orange, pink, and a little bit of blue, yellow, and green here and there.
Lea addressed my amazement explaining that their universal garment was, in fact, quite colorless until it entered someone's life field. This, she added, was the electrical pattern unique to each individual which emanates from the physical body he is inhabiting at the time. The tunic acts like a million tiny lenses reflecting and magnifying the colors of that personality's life field or aura.
She went on to explain that there are ten basic predominant colors reflected by the tunics, and that these colors correspond with the person's level of awareness at the time.
The basic grayness reflected by my tunic indicated the beginning level of Macro awareness.
Before I could ask any of the hundred questions that whirled through my mind, she told me that C.I. would answer any and all of my questions and that we'd best get going, since my time was limited.
C.I. occupied the top six floors of this huge building. We entered what appeared to be a shaft of light about four feet in diameter, which Lea called a void. A slight jump took us from the first to the twelfth floor almost instantly. I could see, though, that it would take me a while to adapt to this unusual means of transport.
C.I. contained a thousand soundproof rooms ten feet square, each of which was equipped for what appeared to be a full wall video tape presentation on any subject one cared to ask about.
We sat in large comfortable chairs that automatically adjusted themselves to our bodies.
Lea touched a small white circle on the arm of her chair, and a pleasant female voice said, "Central Information. May I help you?"
"What are the dimensions of the Delta 927 Lake?" Lea inquired.
A large map of the lake appeared on the wall and we were told that the lake of Delta 927 was approximately eight kilometers long, five kilometers wide, and had an average depth of ten meters.
Lea, sensing my mental calculations, asked for equivalents in miles and yards. Gaining this, she said, "I must leave you now."
"Leave?" I asked, and came to my feet, totally unable to believe what I had heard.
"Yes, Jon. I have to go now," she replied calmly.
I was beside her in an instant.
"I'll go with you."
"No, that's not possible, Jon. It's extremely important that you stay right here with C.I. and learn as much as you can, as fast as you can. C.I. can help you do that much better than I."
"When will you be back, then?" I asked.
"I won't be back, Jon."
"What do you mean? You can't just get up and go when we've only just met. I'll come with you," I insisted.
"As much as I'd like that, it's neither practical nor possible," was her reply.
"I don't understand, Lea. Why can't I go with you?"
"It's critically important that you stay here and grow as fast as you can. My presence would be a distraction, and we can't afford that risk.
"Let me try to explain, Jon, but I must be very brief and you must wait for further details until our next meeting, should there be one."
"What do you mean, 'should there be one'?" I interrupted.
"Please, Jon, trust me. Believe me when I say that we must use our time as best we can. I want to stay with you as much as you want me to stay, but that's not at all practical.
"I don't know whether I will see you again, or, if so, when. We will attempt another time translation, but we don't know whether it will succeed or not. So you can see that there is no way for me to tell you whether or not we will meet here again.
"This I do know, that the more time you spend talking with me, the less time you will have with C.I., and the less chance we will have of completing another successful time translation," Lea explained hurriedly.
"How can you be so calm about it?" I said. "How can you just say goodbye and walk away knowing we may never meet again?"
"We are together always, Jon. I am never far from you. Your dreams of me are real-a valid reality-not just fantasy or wish fulfillment. Believe me, Jon, I am always with you. True, I miss your touch, your voice, the joys shared on a physical level, but they will be there, if not in this lifetime, in another," she added. "What is, is perfect for its time and place. Accept that joyously, Jon, and enjoy growing your way toward what you desire."
"But I don't," I began.
She put her finger to her lips to quiet me.
"When you fall asleep here, your other body, back in 1976, will awaken, hopefully remembering everything you've experienced here in 2150 and believing in its reality-its validity."
"But Lea-"
"Please, Jon. Just ask C.I. We must make every minute count if we're to have even a chance of seeing one another again in this 'time'," she said quickly.
Then, gently touching my face, she hesitated for a moment, as her incredible eyes poured forth into mine love, joy, pain, tragedy, acceptance, and peace.
"'Bye for now," she said warmly, almost to herself, and left me alone with C.I.
Forcing myself to trust, believe, and act on what she had said, I began asking questions, but each question seemed to lead to another. I became fascinated with this magnificent learning technique.
To be able to both see and hear the answers to my inquiries was a tremendous advantage I. compared it to my usual 1976 research procedures. I remembered the long waits in the library for materials from the stacks, the frustration at being told that pertinent volumes were already checked out by someone else or were never available in the first place. And there were the seemingly endless hours of reading through tomes of academically contrived chaff sifting out the wheat to be found floating there on seas of pedantic verbosity.