Miss Eileen

Miss Ella

Miss Roxanna

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Table Of Contents
Book 1	Book 2	Book 3	Book 4	Book 5
#SciFi #ScienceFiction #Futuristic #SpeculativeFiction #MindBending #Interdimensional #Otherworldly #PortalFiction #CosmicEncounter #ParallelRealities#GirlPower #YoungHeroes #UnexpectedHeroes #Teamwork #BraveGirls #EldritchHorror #UnknownEntity #BeyondTheVeil #DimensionalRift #AlienMystery#SciFiAdventure #RealityWarp #ExtraDimensional #StrangePhenomena #SupernaturalSciFi

Jenna

"What the hell is this?" Ella asks, looking around trying to figure out where she is.

"I don't know. We're in spirit mode. I have a bad feeling about this." Helana says.

"Ok. Let me work on this. We're under a bridge somewhere. It's cold. Let me go over here where I can see. I see a street light and some cars driving by. How did we get here, Helana. Where are our sisters? This feels like night school but its different."

"I'm afraid something bad has happened. This isn't normal. We're not asleep, but we're out of body." Helana says.

"Really? Oh shit! Are we dead?" Ella asks.

"No. I don't think so, but for some reason our bodies are unconscious, not asleep, but like in a coma or something." Helana says.

Ella looks at Helana like she's seen a ghost. "Oh my god! We could be dying then. Is this one of those near death experiences. Aren't we supposed to see Jesus and our dead relatives? What the hell are we doing under a bridge. We're stuck here. I tried to climb out but something is blocking me. I can't leave this place."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Helana asks.

"We went to school, went home, went to a dinner meeting with the Commander, and then went home." Ella says. "What do you remember?"

"Same here. That's all I remember. So we weren't hit by a car or something. Maybe we were poisoned?" Helana says.

"See if you can get out of here." Ella says. "If we're dying I don't want to be stuck here under a bridge for a million years."

"I'm trying, but like you said, when I try to crawl up something is blocking me. Lets look around. I think we're on a mission. Someone or something has put us here for a reason. That's the only thing I can think of." Helana says.

"Great!" Ella says. "We're dying and some ass hole wants us to do some work. This sucks." Ella says.

"Over here!" Helana says. "Someone is coming. Someone is here."

"Ok. I'm coming. Oh shit! Do you feel that?" Ella says.

"Yes. Pain!" Helana says, doubling over, unable to stand. "Shit, Anxiety. Panic, my heart is about to jump out of my chest. Everything hurts, even my bones hurt. It's horrible. I'm freezing and sweating at the same time." Helana says. "There she is. Some girl. We must be empathically picking up what she's is feeling."

"Oh God! I know her. That's Jenna. Jenna of Jenna and Janice, those goth girls that you scared away. They haven't been in school this year. I thought they must have graduated or something." Ella says.

"What's she doing? She's got like a glob of black goo in a spoon." Helana asks.

"Don't you remember this from health class. That's heroin. Looks like black tar heroin. And that's a LOT and she's doing it all. Oh My God. That's a lethal dose. She's trying to kill herself!" Ella says.

"I've tried to contact the sisters, but it isn't working. We're blocked there too. What are we supposed to do, just lay here and watch her die. What kind of idiot sent us here? If she dies are we dead too?" Helana asks.

"She's having trouble finding a vein. She must have been doing this stuff for awhile. Oh, there she goes. She pushed in the whole syringe full." Ella says.

"Ohhhhh! The pain is going away. She's found a place of bliss, like floating in liquid love. Her anxiety and panic has gone away too. It must be the effect of the drug. I see why she likes it. This is dangerous. I like it too." Helana says.

"Stop that! Look. She's still breathing, but it's getting slower and slower. When I find out who sent us here I'm going to hit them right in the face? Are we being punished? I can't just stand here and watch her die and not do anything about it." Ella says.

"What are you bitches doing here?" Ella and Helana turn around to see Jenna standing behind them. "Are you the Angels of death here to carry my pitiful spirit to hell?"

"Jenna! What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to die?" Ella asks.

"Look at that piece of shit laying there." Jenna says. "Look at the sores all over my face, on my arms, up and down my legs. That comes from the meth. Look at the track marks on my arms and legs. Look at the big bloody abscess on the back of my hand, and the scars from the old ones."

"Would you want to live in that fucked up body? My guts are rotten from PID so I was going to die anyway. I've lost everything, and now I've lost my life. Not that you bitches care. Nobody fucking cares. I had to fuck 3 guys to get that last ball. I'm ready to go to hell, it's got to be better than this place."

"Oh my God, Jenna. I'm so sorry." Ella says with tears in her eyes. "I didn't know, I don't know anything about all this shit. I don't even know why we're here. Maybe you won't die. Maybe your tolerance is too high to die. When we all wake up I'll find you, and help you. I know we didn't like each other in middle school, but that can change. Please do everything you can to stay alive. It doesn't have to end like this."

"Ha! So now you're crying for me. Too late for all that shit now. I can usually only score a half gram. I just did three and a half grams. There's no coming back from that. Follow me to hell. We can be friends there. Fucking stupid bitch. Are you just here to begin the torment? Are we here under this bridge forever, like our own private little hell?"

"Someone's coming." Helana says. "A guy and a girl."

"It's Janice. It's your sister Janice." Ella says.

"She's not my sister. Not any more. That bitch can die too." Jenna says.

"Janice has a syringe. Is she going to kill herself too?" Helana asks.

"She's got a vial. That isn't heroin. I think that's Narcan." Ella says.

"No fucking way! She's going to hit me up with narcan?! What a bitch. If I wake up I'm going to kill that bitch." Jenna says.

"She's putting in vial after vial and that guy is pushing on her chest. I think they might save her." Helana says.

Listeria

Ella opens her eyes. The room is full, her whole family is there. Helana is in a bed next to her.

"Where the fuck am I? What happened?" Ella asks.

Alisha Patel answers. "You're in the hospital Honey. The doctors said it was listeria. It came on so fast. It must have been in the restaurant food. You were so sick the next morning and we took you to the hospital, but you both went into a coma. It's been three days. We thought we lost you, both of you. You had to be revived more than once. We've hardly slept, we've been praying in shifts."

"I was revived? I died didn't I? Is that why I feel like I've been beaten up? Helana! Oh my God is Helana OK?" Ella asks.

"She woke up a few hours ago. She's sleeping now." Alisha answers.

"I've been crying solid for 3 days now." Roxana says. "I wouldn't have survived if you guys died. It's almost thanksgiving. I'll be saying prayers of thanksgiving all day long."

"Me too. I cried myself sick. My Dad too. He hasn't slept in days, he was here holding your hands. He's konked out now though." Eileen says. "But I knew you couldn't die. Helana's prophecy said so."

"Nurse. Can I ask a question?" Ella asks.

"Sure sweetie." the nurse says.

"Was there an overdose victim brought in? Her name is Jenna. Is she here?"

"Well, yes. She's here. How did you know that? She was brought in last night." The nurse asks.

"Don't worry about how I know. I need to go see her."

"You should rest. It's too soon to be walking around. Your legs may be too weak to carry you." the nurse says.

"Put me in that wheel chair then and take me to her room. Or I'm going to walk." Ella says.

"We better just do it. When she gets this way there's no saying no. I'll go with her." Alisha says.

Janice

"What happened to you guys? You were so tight at school." Ella asks Janice.

"Why do you want to know? You're not our friend." Janice says.

"No. I wasn't your friend. I really didn't like you guys at all. But that's different now. I saw what happened under the bridge. I want to help. I don't want her to die." Ella says.

"You saw? How?" Janice asks.

"I saw it in a dream. Don't worry about how. Jenna needs help, a lot of help. I want to help." Ella says.

"So you really are a witch?" Janice asks.

"Oh, I'm way more than a witch. So be careful. Can I talk to her?" Ella says.

"No. She's asleep. Talk to me. Why all this concern all the sudden. You don't even know her."

"You probably won't believe this, but I don't care." Ella says. "Back then, in middle school. I should have cared, but instead I hated you. I think I'm being punished for that. I was in a coma for the last three days but I wasn't in my body. When she overdosed I was there. When she was dying I talked to her, and I saw what you did, with the narcan."

"I felt her pain. I saw her anger. I saw her battered body with all the sores and track marks. She was ready to go to hell. I understand why she wanted to die. Then you saved her. I saw that too. I saw what you and that guy did. She said she's going to beat you up for saving her. What the hell happened to her? How did it get so bad?"

Jenna stares at Ella like she doesn't know who she is. Then she says "God must have a strange sense of humor. I prayed for Angels, and I got you. Oh well, I guess I believe you, you couldn't know all this if you weren't there. That guy is my pastor. I'm a Christian now, but Jenna couldn't go there. She says she hates God for giving her a messed up life. She was living with her father. Her mother ran off years ago."

"She's suffered years of abuse since she was little. Her dad passed away from an overdose last year. He had been abusing her for years. She was happy he died, but she was all alone. She found friends in a trap house, where they do drugs day and night."

"She started doing drugs more and more, all of them, cocaine, meth, crack, xanax, percoset, heroin, even fentanyl when she could find it. She became a thief, robbing stores and cars and houses to get money for drugs. She got a food card and sold that for drugs too. She is pretty so she got most of her drugs by spreading her legs for men. She even had sex with women too. Every day she hated herself more and more. After awhile I didn't even know who she was any more. But I know the Jenna I love is still in there somewhere."

"So is the hospital going to help her, get her into rehab or something?" Ella asks.

"No. She has no insurance. They have to stabilize her for3 days since it was a suicide attempt, but then they're going to kick her out. I think they might have to keep her longer because of the PID."

"She's a minor." Alisha says. "They have to do more than that."

"She's older than you think. She didn't do good in school and was held back a few times. She was 16 in middle school. She's 18 now, so they consider her an adult. She's eligible for welfare but welfare doesn't pay for overdoses. So the hospital isn't getting paid unless they can get some grant money."

"Well doesn't welfare pay for rehab?" Alisha asks.

"She's eligible for a 7 day detox. But that's all. Rehab is a thousand dollars a day and they don't pay for that unless the providers psychiatrist believes you are committed to a drug free life. She needs years of therapy before she will be ready for that. So after 7 days in detox they kick her back on the same streets where she got in trouble. Since she's an adult they can't make her stay in detox, so she will probably leave after a day or two anyway."

"What about private pay? What if she's got her own money. Will the rehab take her then?" Ella asks.

"Yeah, if you know someone who's got thirty thousand a month to spend. Rehab can last 6 months." Janice says.

"I've got it. I have a trust fund. I'll pay for it." Ella says.

"Ella. Wait. That's 180,000 dollars for six months. You don't have that much." Alisha says.

"Yes, I do, Mom. And I can get more. I'm not letting her die." Ella says.

Dangerous Game

"I see that you're new at this." Janice says. "Believe me, it isn't as simple as just sending her to rehab. She probably wouldn't stay anyway. And if she knows you have money she'll try to jack you for it to get drugs. If you want to help her you're going to have to take a more realistic approach. I've known addicts who go to rehab over and over again until they finally get clean. And some of them never do."

"You're looking at years of pain and anguish trying to save an addict. Are you really willing to do that? I'm willing. Jenna is the love of my life and I'll do anything for her. But you barely know her. I'm afraid you're just on a guilt trip right now and after a week or so you'll abandon her, just like everyone else."

"So what's realistic?" Ella asks.

"Until she's ready for rehab, and that might not be until she's like 35, we could probably get her to a clinic, like methadone or something like that. That way she's not dope sick all the time. That will help. Methadone only treats the physical dependency though. It doesn't treat the addiction. That will take years of therapy."

"You can help pay for a therapist. She'll need a family doctor too. Welfare will pay for some of that, but not all. You could help with housing so she doesn't have to live in a trap house with a bunch of junkies. You can help with clothes and food. Be advised though, that she'll sell the clothes and food for drugs. You'll have to pretend to not know that."

"Every day of your life trying to help her you're going to be frustrated because the progress is so slow and she keeps relapsing. You'll get calls in the middle of the night to bail her out of jail. No matter what you do she'll say you did it wrong and all her problems are your fault. There will be days you will wish she would just die so it will all be over. Are you ready for that? I don't think you are. You're just a kid. You don't know what you're doing."

"Ella. I know you want to help, but there's nothing you can do here." Alisha says. "It's not up to you to save her, if that's even possible. You'll be throwing away a large part of your life on something that probably isn't going to work anyway. Honey, you need to walk away from this one."

"I know Mom. It probably won't work, and I don't know what I'm doing, but I think that's the point. Why in the middle of a coma am I having a near death experience talking to the ghost of a dying girl, a girl I hated. It's not an accident. I was sent there, not to save her, but to learn. So even if I walk away I'll be sent back, over and over, until I learn whatever it is that I'm supposed to learn."

"It isn't my choice to walk away. Helana was there too, so we both need to learn. I'm doing it. I have to, and so does Helana. I know we can't save her, but we can give her a chance to save herself. I think she will save herself if given a chance. I'm committed. I'll ask Melanie what I need to do. She's the best therapist I know and she has resources that nobody knows about."

"Ok, Ella. I'll help you help her, but be warned." Janice says. "If you abandon her, if you hurt her in any way, I'll find you and I'll mess you up. You better be committed, and stay committed, no matter what. Helana too. You guys better be serious. It has to be secret though. You'll have to work through me. Otherwise she'll be at your house robbing all your shit. This is a dangerous game."

Life Lessons 101

"That's why I want it to be part of the training, so they don't have to spend their whole trust fund on this girl." Melanie says. "This is more than a coincidence. I agree with Ella that some higher power set this up as a lesson, and I think all the girls should participate."

"Higher power?" Commander Beaker says. "I'm not so sure about a higher power. I think this is of their own making, their own guilt karma playing itself out. But it will be a valuable life lesson, something that will enhance their skills as influencer's. If they can begin to understand addiction, they will understand some of the deepest darkest secrets of human consciousness. I'll budget it, but you need to manage it. This is too complicated for the girls to do on their own."

Later when the girls are there "Are you girls on board with this?" Commander Beaker asks the girls. "This is serious business. You're holding someones life in your hands. You can't screw this up. You can't get tired and walk away. Don't start this if you're not committed to finish it."

"We're committed." the girls say in unison.

"Ok. I'll get with Janice and setup a plan. It's important that Janice understands the she is the only one who will know of our involvement. We'll get this done, one way or another." Melanie says.

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 2
French-Polynesia

Christmas Vacation

It's a little after noon on a bright and sunny day in San Diego. A lear jet taxis to a waiting van at the San Diego airport. The girls, Melanie, Mr Danvers and Commander Beaker get in the van and are driven to a nearby hotel where they meet up with the rest of their party.

"Welcome. We have quite a crew here." Commander Beaker says. "Thank you for spending your Christmas vacation with us. We're going on quite a trip these 6 days. Sorry to get you up so early, but we have a lot of traveling to do today."

"We've been receiving reports of strange anomalies in an area of French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. We're going to do a fly over with an AWACS, an airplane bristling with state of the art surveillance equipment. We're also going to do a fly over with our sensitives, to see what you guys can pick up as well. But mostly we're going to engage in some much needed recreation."

"First let me introduce everyone.
Our sensitives are:
John Jacobson, an Electrician from Washington State.
Henry Schmidt, an Engineer from Arizona.
Jennifer Eubanks, an Animal Trainer from Colorado. Jennifer owns and operates a large horse ranch in the mountains of Colorado.
Karen Sutherland, a School Teacher from Ohio.
And Rebekah García, a Nurse from California."

"Our students are:
Ella Patel,
Roxana Park,
Eileen Danvers,
Helana Danvers,
Patricia Rodriguez,
and Margaret Wilson, all from right here in New England."

"Also joining us are:
Paul Rodriguez, an Admiral in the US Navy and the father of Patricia. They will be spending some quality father/daughter time together.
Melanie Crenshaw, a Therapist and guidance counselor to our students.
And Robert Danvers, father to Eileen and Helana Danvers, and mentor and surrogate father to Roxana and Ella as well."

"So how are we getting there?" Robert Danvers asks. "The South Pacific is a long ways away and French Polynesia is in the middle of nowhere."

"Here is our itinerary. it's tentative, depending on what we find there." Commander Beaker explains.

We will spend the afternoon here in San Diego, and of course, see the sights of this great city. Then will leave here around 8PM and get to Fiji at about 6AM their time. It will be Monday there since they are on the other side of the international date line.

On Sunday, our time, we will put on our jump suits and take a helicopter to an aircraft carrier, as Mr Danvers puts it, in the middle of nowhere. We will have an orientation meeting on board the ship. We'll spend the night on the ship."

"Monday is our work day. An E-2D Hawkeye aircraft, the AWACS, will take off from the ship on Tuesday morning to begin reconnaissance. There isn't room for all of us on the AWACS so we will follow in a C-2A cargo airplane which has seats for passengers. Brace yourselves, taking off from an aircraft carrier can be quite a jolt, sort of like a carnival ride."

"Monday night we go back to Fiji. It will be late so we will get some rest and try to recover a little from the jet lag."

"Tuesday we analyze our data and hang out on the beach in Fiji. Tuesday night we take the night flight back to San Diego. We get to San Diego in the morning around 8AM. We will be exhausted so we will spend the day and the night in San Diego, and do some more data analysis. I'm sure the girls will want to do some shopping."

"Wednesday morning we fly back home. You'll be home in time to rest up for New Years Eve celebrations on Thursday."

"Wow! That's a lot of traveling." Robert Danvers says. "But it sounds like fun."

"So what are we looking for? Is this a UFO hunting trip?" John Jacobson asks.

"I don't know what we're looking for, and if I did I wouldn't tell you." Commander Beaker says. "I only know that there is an anomaly out there and they want sensitives to see what they can pick up. It's important that you don't know, so that you don't imagine that you see something that isn't really there."

"I like him." Patricia thinks.

"Which one?" Eileen thinks back.

"The one with the arms." Patricia thinks.

"I like his arms too." Eileen says.

"He's an electrician. He must get a lot of exercise climbing electric poles and stuff." Patricia thinks.

"Shut up! You girls are ridiculous." Ella thinks.

"Be careful girls. We're sensitives you know. We can hear your telepathy." John Jacobson's masculine voice rings in their heads. Rebekah García looks at the girls and smiles.

"Oh Shit! Sorry John. I apologize. My girls are kind of stupid sometimes." Ella thinks. "Girls, put up your filters, and don't talk about stupid stuff."

The Briefing

Ella looks out the window at what appears to be a toy ship, but as they get closer she realizes it's a floating city. "I've been on one of these before." she tells Mr Danvers, shouting over the noise of the helicopter."

After landing on the flight deck the flight crew guides the passengers to a meeting room where they will prepare for todays activities.

"Isn't this a strange place for an aircraft carrier?" Mr Danvers asks Commander Beaker.

"It is, and we have to be careful." Commander Beaker Replies. "There are tensions between the French and the Polynesian Territorial Assembly and New Zealand and none of them would understand why US warships are in the area. So we're staying far from the target area. We will be in the air for more than an hour reaching the target and after a few passes we'll bug out of there before someone gets upset."

Melanie leads the briefing. "We'll be heading out in the morning for this exercise. This evening just relax, get to know each other, meditate, do whatever you need to clear your mind of any preconceived notions about what the exercise is about. Just don't go walking around the ship without an escort. They don't allow that. This is a warship not a cruise ship."

"I've given you each a sketch pad and pencils. When we reach the target area, don't look, don't listen, just feel, and sketch or write down your best description of whatever feelings you receive. Don't talk to each other, not even telepathically. Just let your mind feel without any distractions. The ear protectors should shield most of the noise of the aircraft."

"The food here is usually pretty good. When we are in the mess deck, the cafeteria, don't interact with the sailors. They don't know why we are here, and they have no need to know why we are here. The escorts should prevent the sailors from approaching you, so don't worry. Just ignore them."

The Mission

After breakfast in the Aft Mess the group gets their gear and gets ready to board the aircraft, a C-2A cargo airplane called a Greyhound. It's prepped and ready to go behind the AWACS, which will take off first.

The takeoff is sudden and Roxana freaks out as the plane leaves the flight deck because it seems as if it's going to fall into the water. It doesn't, though, and the flight smooths out as they head for the target area.

After an hour in flight Ella and Helana have fallen asleep. The others are looking out the window at the water. It's been a boring flight with nothing but water and an occasional small island. Melanie alerts the group to prepare as the aircraft begins to slowly circle the target area.

The six students and the six sensitives look only at their sketch pad doing their best to isolate their mind from the noise and activity around them. One by one they begin to write or draw on their pad. Patricia and Rebekah García both begin to sway back and forth as if in a trance. As the airplane completes it's last loop Melanie collects the sketch pads.

A few minutes into the return flight the captain yells "What the hell? Bogey! Port side. 200 yards. What? It's gone! Did anyone else see that?"

"I did, for a second." Rebekah García says ."It was a greenish sphere with what looks like a metallic outer shell."

"That outer shell is her skin. She's alive." Patricia says with a hugh smile. "She's a friend of mine. She just popped into our phase slot to say hello."

"Alive? Phase slot? What are you talking about?" Henry Schmidt asks.

"Be careful what you say." Melanie warns. "Some of this is classified information."

"Yeah, whatever." Patricia says. "I'll explain it all after we land, and I get Melanie's blessing. But now I'm just going to be happy I saw her again."

An hour flight back to the carrier, a terrifying landing on the flight deck, lunch in the Aft Mess, another hour helicopter ride back to Fiji, and the group is on the ground again. Patricia rushes to hug her father who stayed behind on Fiji. Admiral Rodriguez didn't want to cause a distraction by having an extra Admiral on the carrier.

My Fluffy

Military police at the door, Technicians sweeping the room for listening devices. It's all cloak and dagger as the girls enter the hotel conference room. The sensitives are already there, being briefed on their security clearances should any new classified information be revealed in the meeting.

Melanie addresses the group. "I have your reports and your sketches. The AWAC reconnaissance saw nothing but the island that we expected to see. Nothing out of the ordinary. Your sketches show a variety of interesting items. I'll call on you one at a time and you can describe to the group what you felt, what images you saw, and we can discuss it with the group. Margaret, you've been quiet this entire trip, and you sketch was blank. Lets start with you.

"Sorry" Margaret says. "I'm feeling kind of useless right now. I did sense some things, and saw some images, but I think it's indirect. I think I'm picking up on what my girls are seeing, since I've been telepathically linked to them since we blended or spirits. I'm sorry, I don't really think I saw anything."

"Don't be sorry." Melanie says. "We need a control, a reference point to validate our findings, and the fact that you saw nothing is just as important as if you did see something. It says that we were not using our imagination to just make stuff up. How about you, Henry? What did you pick up?"

"I didn't see anything." Henry Schmidt says. "But I got a smell, sort of like when electronic components get too hot and explode. There was also a deep sense of shock, anxiety, a deep sadness, and a profound sense of urgency to start damage control. Something must have blown up."

"Jennifer, you're next. What did you see." Melanie asks.

"Not much." Jennifer Eubanks says. "I saw an island with a big lagoon in the middle. But that's probably because I'm familiar with the area, and it's what I expected to see. I'm a history buff, so I already know what happened here years ago before I was born."

"I'll go next." John Jacobson says. "I saw something quite remarkable, several images superimposed on each other. One was just the uninhabited island with the lagoon in the middle, but then there was another image with buildings, large buildings that look like industrial type buildings all over the island, and aircraft, or maybe space craft, traveling two and fro between the buildings. Patricia, you're smiling, I think you know what I saw. Could you explain? Please?"

"If I may, I'll explain." Patricia says.

"Go ahead, Patricia." Melanie says.

"Ok. You may not believe this but I was here when I was about 8 years old. The buildings are as you described, industrial manufacturing facilities, but most of them are birthing chambers. The UFO you saw, I named her Fluffy, she was born here. I played with her when she was just a puppy, about the size of a large beach ball. When they are little they are covered with white fur, like a baby seal, but it all falls off when they get older. My home for many years was Fluffy's mother. The UFO that I lived in, that I grew up in, became pregnant and came here to birth her child. Fluffy is all grown up now and doing work transporting materials from one place to another. She was on her way to Mount Adams when she flew by our plane to say hello."

"So you're an ET?" Rebekah García asks. "Where are you from? What species are you?"

Patricia laughs. "I'm from Washington DC, and I'm just as human as you are. But I was taken from my mothers womb before I was born and grew up on a UFO, along with a bunch of other kids. We were genetically modified, what you call a hybrid. The modifications also made me an albino, which was unintentional. So they considered me defective and were going to terminate me. My dad, the Admiral, saved me though, sort of like a reverse abduction. So I am here now working with Ella and her crew. We are sisters now."

"What do you mean by 'terminate'?" Karen Sutherland wants to know.

"The fuck-head ET's were going to kill her." Ella says.

"Lets keep it civil. Watch your language, please. The ET's moral code is a bit different than ours, so let's not judge them." Commander Beaker says.

"Their moral code is stupid, and it's wrong. So they are fuck-heads." Roxana says.

"Ok. We understand your position on the matter. Lets move on." Melanie says. "Karen, what did you pick up?"

"It's confusing. There was a bright flash of light, and then a ribbon of light going off into space, with explosions along the way. I also felt the fear, the sadness, and the sense of urgency that Henry felt." Karen Sutherland says. "I'm curious what all that means."

"I may be able to help with that." Jennifer Eubanks says. "After world war II this island was used for the testing of Hydrogen bombs. I've heard it said that this is also a vortex, a place where the energy from different universes comes together at one place, and where ships can travel at super light speeds between places. It would seem to me that the hydrogen bombs exploding here may have sent energy traveling down that vortex, destroying any ships that may have been in transit."

"That's exactly what happened." Helana explains. "I saw that in our history downloads. The ET's were working in a different time domain, where those buildings are, not here where the buildings are not. So they didn't notice what was going on until the first bomb exploded. Some of the energy of the blast extended into adjacent time domains and traveled down the vortex filaments, sort of like worm holes, blowing up everything it touched. Other planets were affected as well, on the other end of the filament. There was great loss of life."

"How do you know this? Or should I ask, who are you, and where are you from? I doubt that you are from here." Henry Schmidt asks.

"Right now, I'm just a girl, like any other girl. A few years ago, though, that wasn't true. I came here as a dimensional traveler as part of my history class, to witness the past that our teachers talk about. But I got trapped here, and my body began to absorb the energy of this domain and I got too dense to go home. I would have died if Commander Beaker didn't save me with a device that transformed by body into this Earth girl that you now see. Originally I'm from about 500 million years in your future, but my ancestors were of Earth. You are my ancestors."

"Ok, mind totally blown. But what is this stuff about different universes, time domains, vortex filaments, worm holes? What is all that?" Henry Schmidt wants to know.

"Well that's a little complicated and I don't really understand it. But I will tell you what my teachers told me. In order for something physical to exist there has to be space for it to exist in, and a time that it can exists. So both time and space are necessary for physical existence.

Space is static, like a snapshot picture, or the images on a reel of film in a movie. Time is an oscillation, it moves, it goes up and down, round and round, like a sound wave traveling through the air. Like any oscillation that goes up and down around a zero point, there is a point where it is there, and a point where is doesn't even exist. This oscillation goes up and down many trillions of times a second, and there is a point where we are very much here, and a point where none of this exists. But like a movie where still images are shown so fast that they blend into what looks like normal time, we only experience our existence, and we don't notice when we are not really here."

"But it's more than that. Each oscillation is divided up into about 64 slices. We exist on only one of those slices. The other 63 slices of the time oscillation, something else exists. The other slices are very similar to this one, when it comes to big heavy things, like stars and planets and oceans and mountains and stuff. The spacial and temporal inertia of big heavy things keeps the different time slices in sync."

"But for little things, like buildings and people, they can be very different. So that is why one time slice has building and people and space ships flying around, and another time slice right next to it has just a barren island with nothing on it."

"At places like that island, where multiple temporal vortex filaments converge, and I think this could be the anomaly that Commander Beaker is talking about, sometimes things that exist on one time slice can slip into another. So you could be walking along with your friend, and they suddenly disappear. They may reappear somewhere nearby, or never be seen again. There are a number of places on planets like that, usually where there are large crystalline deposits underground. The crystals act as a resonant attractor and the filaments attach themselves at these points in space-time."

"Ok, on our 'time slice' of reality we call that Time Division Multiplexing. It's how mobile phones work, allowing for multiple conversations to exist on one carrier wave, each with it's own unique slice of time." Henry Schmidt says. "It seems that whoever designed this reality is an engineer. Are you an engineer? Do you know the mechanism for de-multiplexing the time division?"

"I have no idea." Helana says. "This is just what I was taught in school. I don't know about de-multiplexing. I doubt my teachers do either."

"Well, that is a lot of information to digest." Melanie says. "Ella, do you have anything to add?"

"I agree with Margaret. I think my crew synchronized our visualization, so we all saw the same things." Ella says.

"We saw the furry puppies." Eileen says. "There are hundreds of them. I want to slip time slices and pet them."

"Be careful." Patricia says. "Without the proper technology you could get stuck over there, or end up in a void where there is no air and die."

"I was just joking, Patricia." Eileen says. "You're so literal."

"Patricia?" Rebekah asks. "Did you ever stop by the Skinwalker ranch in your travels?"

"Oh no!" Patricia replies. "We were not even allowed to say the name. Very bad place. Don't go there. Bad things will follow you home."

"Ok. Remember your secrecy oaths, none of this information can leave the room. That should wrap it up then." Melanie says. "Lets eat and then enjoy our vacation. I'll see you guys at home. Right now I'm going to the beach."

"Wait! One more question." Henry Schmidt says. "I don't understand. A hydrogen bomb is a big explosion here, but it's just a flicker of light compared to the stars out there. Why did it cause so much damage?"

"It's because it blew up in the mouth of a filament and was channeled down the filament to the other end." Patricia says. "There are filaments that go through stars, too, but we don't travel down those filaments. Our ships would burn up."

"Ok, please one more." Henry Schmidt says. "I just have to know. Every space craft I've ever seen is metallic, or mostly metallic, with engines that would kill any living thing if they weren't shielded. How can a being, an animal, fly through space with no engine?"

"Animals have metal too." Patricia says. "Sodium is a metal. Calcium is a metal. Iron is a metal. Just because most protein compounds burn at low temperatures, don't doubt that there are some that can get red hot and not burn. Don't underestimate what evolution can create."

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 3
Demon Girls

Sunday Walk

"It's too cold for a morning walk. I don't get it." Ella says. "What's the point of January? There are no holidays, it's cold and dark, we have to go back to school. It's a nothing month. We should just hibernate in January like a bear and wake up when it's all over."

"I like it" Helena says. "It's a do over month, a fresh start on a new year, where you can leave behind the drama of the last year and start fresh."

"I can see that." Ella says. "You do realize though, that years, dates, months and all that stuff is totally arbitrary. We make it all up. If it was tied to the solstice or something like that then you could say it's real, but really, it's not real at all."

"Where is all that music coming from?" Eileen wants to know.

"It's coming from that church over there." Roxana answers.

"Is that your church?" Eileen wants to know.

"Oh no." Roxana responds. "My church sings, but not that much. In this church the pastor sings and dances up and down the aisle and then the whole congregation jumps up and starts singing and dancing too."

"They're coming out now." Ella observes. "Lets get out of the way so we don't get danced on."

"Oh look over there!" Eileen says. "It's that girl. That Jenna girl. She's coming out of a church?"

"Lets get out of here before she sees us." Ella says.

"Too late." Roxana says. "She's waving at us."

Sacred Ground

"You Demon Girls better get off Sacred Ground before you burst into flames." Jenna says.

"So you thought we were witches, and now you think we're Demons?" Ella asks.

"I'm kidding. Although you have been showing up in my dreams, and I know for sure you're not Angels."

"No, we are definitely not Angels. But we know a few." Eileen says.

"Janice is my Angel. She saved my life, you know." Jenna says

"Yes. I heard about that." Ella says. "How are you and Janice doing?"

"Follow me. We have a new place just across the street. She wanted to be close to the church. It's not because she wants to be close to God though. I think she has the hots for the preacher man. She's my woman though. He can't have her."

"Oh. This is cute. Tiny but cute. You girls live here together?" Roxana wants to know.

The Program

"Yeah. Janice hooked us up with some sponsor, some government program. So they set us up with housing, food, clothes, and drugs. Lots of drugs." Jenna explains.

"Drugs?" Ella asks. "Aren't they supposed to help you stay off drugs."

"You know doctors. They love to prescribe stuff. Check this out, all these bottles. I've got Phenobarbital, Xanax, Soma, Gabapentin, Prozac, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and some other stuff I can't pronounce. I have to go to the clinic to get my Methadone."

"So the Methadone keeps you off the Heroin." Ella asks.

"It's supposed to, some day." Jenna explains. "It's a fucked up plan. My doctor says I probably need 180 to 200 milligrams a day, but they start me off at 30 milligrams. Then I can go up 10 milligrams every other day. If I miss a couple days then they drop me back down to 30. So until I get up to what the Dr calls a therapeutic dose, I have to supplement, you know what I mean."

"So you're still shooting up Heroin?" Ella asks.

"Nah, I switched to pills, they are stronger than Heroin, and I smoke them, so I don't have to use the needle any more. My veins can heal that way and no more messy abscesses to worry about.

"So the Dr is giving you these pills?" Eileen asks with a look of concern.

"HA!. I wish. No, I have to score them the old fashioned way. I told you it's a fucked up program."

"And the clinic knows you are doing this?" Eileen asks.

"Of course they do. I drop dirty every time. They know, but then pretend they don't know. It's all about their liabilities. I call it Lie-Ability." Jenna explains.

"So how do you get money for street drugs?" Eileen asks.

"That's what the Xanax and Soma are for. I trade them, and then whatever else I can come up with to sell or trade." Jenna explains.

"That's totally illegal! And the program knows about this, and just ignores it? It really is a fucked up program." Eileen says shaking her head.

"Yeah. My counselor says it's fucked up too, but it's the best we got, and it's up to me to make it work. I'm cool with it so far, I get what I need, and I'm not dying anymore." Jenna explains.

"I'm so happy that you are doing better. I was so scared when I thought you were going to die." Ella says, with a tear. "Please forgive me for hating you guys when we were in middle school. You're a lovely person, and I love you, and I pray for you to keep getting better."

"You love me? Ha!. Bull shit! But I appreciate the sentiment. My 12 step group says I have to make up for past mistakes, So I'm sorry I hated you, but really I still sort of do." Jenna explains with a smirk. "So thanks for the company but you should go now before you start to irritate me. And stay the fuck out of my dreams."

Spirit Memory

"Did you see her clothes?" Eileen asks.

"Yeah, That's the first time I've seen her in a dress, and no black lipstick." Roxana says.

"No. I mean in her room." Eileen says. "There was nothing there but some old ratty shoes and torn up jeans. Didn't the sponsor program give her clothes."

"I'm sure she sold the new clothes, and anything else that was worth anything." Ella says. "I noticed that there were no TV's or stereos either. Make sure to not tell anyone, especially not her, that we are the sponsors. She would probably resent that and deliberately fail the program just out of spite."

"We're smart enough to have figured that out ourselves, Ella." Roxana says. "But yeah, that's totally on the DL."

"So why are we in her dreams? That makes no sense. Is it some sort of obsession?" Roxana wants to know.

"I think it's probably Spirit Memory. Your Spirit and your Brain operate as one but still have a separate consciousness." Helena explains. "Ella, Jenna, and I shared a near death experience, in the Spirit domain. Her spirit remembers that but those memories have never been downloaded into her brain. So she only remembers a little bit when she is asleep and spirit awareness is more accessible."

"Jenna is a very complicated girl." Roxana says. "I guess that makes sense given all the crap that's happened to her. I hope she survives. I got a bad feeling that this program isn't going to work out for her."

"Relapse is part of recovery, they tell me." Ella says. "I pray that she finally gets better. Janice told me it could be decades before she actually gets well, and maybe not ever. All we can do is send her our love, even if she doesn't want it."

"Don't tell my Mom or Dad about any of this." Eileen warns. "If they knew how fucked up the program is they will probably follow her and have her arrested when she tries to score some pills. I can't believe I'm saying that, but as messed up as the program is, it's all she's got."

"Yeah, they don't need to know." Ella agrees.

"Pizza anyone?" Helena asks.

"Yep yep yep. Lets do it." Eileen responds.

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 4
Kissable, NOT!

Ditch Day

It's a frigid January morning. The holiday school vacation weeks are over. Ella rubs the sleep from her eyes as she looks around the room. Her crew is all there. It was a sleepover night.

Unexpected Mission

"What the!?" Ella exclaims as she notices a limo parked in the street. The door is open and she can see their sister Patricia Rodriguez and Patricia's father Admiral Paul Rodriguez. The girls all rush to hug their sister.

"What's up?" Eileen asks.

"Well, since we're ditching anyway, Dad wanted me to attend a meeting with some military people about a strange craft they've seen and even been on one."

"We need to talk about keeping secrets, sister." Eileen says, with a grin.

"Ok, Admiral Paul, but only because we love you." Ella says as she gives the admiral a hug. Ella motions to a couple doing yard work down the street and they put down their rakes and head to their car. "Oh, but we need Beaker to come too. We love you Admiral Paul, but we don't work for you."

The Admiral agrees, opening his phone to make a call, and the girls pile into the limo, followed closely by the neighbors car.

Soon they arrive at a hotel meeting room, Commander Beaker and Melanie arriving just behind them. They are ushered into a room with a small set of bleachers along one wall, a podium, and a lower area where the girls are seated.

Commander Beaker approaches Admiral Rodrigues and says "Always happy to see you Admiral, and feel free to come by any time, but don't do this again without prior notification." They both smile and Commander Beaker takes a seat alongside the girls.

Unwelcome Attendee

Admiral Rodriguez stands at the podium and starts the meeting. "Welcome all, we are here for a short meeting, hopefully, and we would welcome your expertise in determining the nature of a craft that we have been studying for a number of years now."

A cold chill comes over the girls as they look around the room nervously. "Did you hear that?" Eileen thinks to the other girls. "Loud and clear." Helana thinks back. "I think he's one of them."

Ella thinks to her crew, fidgeting in her seat, breathing faster and getting red in the face "Definitely! He's one of those fuckers. That face is burned into my memory like an image from a nightmare. Let's kill the mother fucker!"

Eileen thinks to Ella "Calm down, my precious Ella, murder is not the answer. Let's make him live his punishment, long and slow."

Ella interrupts the Admiral "Excuse me Admiral Paul, but we have a serious problem that has to be settled before we can begin."

"Ok. What is that Ella?" the Admiral asks.

Ella points to the top row of the bleachers and yells "You! Frederick, Fred, Freddy or whatever the fuck you call yourself. Come down here in front of us, now!"

Kissable Face

"Whoa! Girls! What's going on?" Melanie asks "Let's not be rude."

"Oh God! Please! Not again girls." Commander Beaker cries out.

"Rude?" Eileen asks "Just listen!"

Ella continues "You know we are sensitives, we've met before. Remember? We can hear your thoughts when they're directed at us."

"Your thoughts as we entered the room are disgusting. 'What kissable faces, especially the dark ones.' 'Those soft lovely luscious lips.' 'I can't figure out which one to fuck first.'"

"We hear comments like this all the time from men and usually just take it as a compliment and move on. But you know why we can't do that with you."

"Our sister Margaret was you subordinate, and you raped her. You and your buddies, over and over again."

"You've done this with other subordinates, your students, and even your cousin. And now you want to add us to the list of young women you want to exploit? You messed with the wrong crew, Buddy!"

"We're 15 you fucking pervert!" Roxana blurts out.

"Ok. We've got this." Admiral Paul says. "I apologize to you girls, I didn't know. Guards, escort this ass hole from the room and hold him for further questions." Commander Beaker follows them with an angry, determined look on his face.

The meeting takes a brief recess as Melanie helps the girls calm down. Melanie explains to the group "You have to understand how sensitive these girls are to the alleged rape. In order to help their new sister Margaret heal from her ordeal they performed some sort of psychic mind meld to dilute the trauma Margaret was experiencing. They blended into a single consciousness. So the memories of the rapes and other abuse were re-experienced by all of them, in minute detail. So these girls at a very tender age were raped by this man and his cohorts along with Margaret. Their memories, and their trauma, are as one."

The Craft

After the girls have calmed down, and consumed a few pizzas, the meeting continues.

The Admiral continues "On several occasions a craft of unknown origin has been seen hovering in various places, usually in a residential area, seen by multiple witnesses. Witness testimony includes abductions, not only of civilians, but of military personnel as well. The abductee's are usually women who are introduced to young beings that are allegedly their sons and daughters from eggs stolen from them in previous abductions."

"Such abductions are not unusual, hundreds of reports have been received in the past few decades. What is different this time is the nature of the craft. In other abductions we have tracked the craft from low earth orbit down to its final location. In many cases we have been able to intercept the vehicle before it reaches its destination. I rescued my daughter from one of these intercepted craft. These recent crafts, however, simply pop into our reality from nowhere, and then vanish when they're done."

"Reports by credible witnesses of the interior of the craft describe it as confusing, thousands of times larger than the exterior, with visible landscapes which are definitely of Earth and others blended with it that are definitely not of Earth. My daughter grew up on alien craft, and I understand that you, Helana, are an interdimensional entity now living as an Earth girl. Do any of you have any clues as to the nature of these craft?"

"You go first, Patricia, you're the expert" Helana says.

Patricia explains "Like my dad said, my craft, which is actually a living being, was not like that. It's interior is indeed an extended spatial domain, but we don't pop in and pop out of existence like what he describes. We phase in and out, but that's different. I have heard of these types of ships though, and the're not alive. They are a nuts and bolts mechanism, but the mechanism within it is a time-space portal, a portable portal, that can project the craft to any point in time-space. That's all that I know about them. It's your turn Helana."

Helana continues "I have heard of them too. They are very interesting. The projection into time-space can be anywhere in space, and anywhere in time. A lot of the mechanism, computer like things, calculate the stability of the projected destination to account for rotating planets, solar orbits, celestial movement, time domain fluctuations, etc. It even has to account for time itself as these portals can project into the past or the future. The visitation to our planet can be from what, from our perspective, is the distant past or distant future."

"Across cosmic distances, though, past and future have little meaning. When they are here they are here now, as now is the only time we can experience. When the visiting beings enter the craft they are both on their home planet, or ship, and here at the same time. So when one of us enters the craft we are both here and there at the same time too. That is why looking out the window is so messed up, showing many places in space and time all mixed up."

"That's about all I know, but if you're trying to catch one, you won't. They are both here and not here at the same time so it's like trying to reach out and grab an item from a dream. All you will get is air. Sorry, but these ships will remain elusive."

The discussion continues for over an hour, but nothing further is revealed about the nature of the elusive craft. After some final pleasantries and apologies, the meeting concludes. The invitation for a post meeting dinner is extended but the girls would rather just go home.

Long Drive Home

It's only two miles back home, but it seems to take forever. The girls sit quietly, not even thinking to each other. A fresh wound has been opened on top of an old one. That always hurts the most. Commander Beaker and Melanie sit quietly in the car. They know better to say anything when the girls are this upset.

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 5
Into The Forest

Our Christian Duty

It's a cool 40 degrees as the girls head home from school, their heavy jackets tied around their waist like a skirt. It was 25 degrees when they left home to walk to school. They wish they had their bicycles now, but it was too cold to ride them in the sub-freezing morning air. There was a chance of freezing rain or snow, so walking was safer, and warmer.

"I'm putting my jacket back on." Eileen says. "It's still cold."

"I'm fine. The walking keeps me warm." Ella responds.

"Check it out! "Helana exclaims. "That old man needs some help. Let's help him carry all that heavy stuff."

"He looks like a homeless guy." Roxana observes. "He might be dangerous. Let's just keep walking."

"You're always too eager to help, Helana. "Eileen says. "He probably just wants to be left alone."

"No, maybe we should help out. It's also an opportunity to learn. I didn't know we had homeless people here. I wonder where he sleeps." Ella says.

"I have a feeling this is more than it seems." Helana observes.

"Oh man. Here we go. Helana gets a psychic hit and we're off on some stupid adventure." Eileen says.

"Let's just play along." Roxana says. "It's our Christian duty anyway, to be of service to all God's children."

"What happened to let's just keep walking, Roxana? I'm texting Mom, telling her we're going to be late and not to worry." Eileen says. "Of course, she's going to worry anyway."

Unexpected Encounter

"I don't have any, so go away." The old man says as the girls approach.

"Any what?" Ella asks. "We just wanted to help you carry all that heavy stuff."

"Bull shit! You kids are all the same. So what is it? White? Black? Blues? Percs? Just because I'm an old homeless guy you think I'm a drug addict? You think the company of pretty girls will make me share my stash? Go away! Leave me alone!"

"We're sorry to bother you." Roxana says. "We really did just want to help, you know, do the Christian thing. We're not looking for drugs. I don't even know what white, black or blues even means. We'll leave you to your business. Goodbye."

The old man slowly views the girls up and down looking for signs of deception. Satisfied the girls are being honest he says "Wait. Don't go just yet. If you're really as innocent as you pretend then you need to be educated, before you get yourselves raped, or worse. Walk with me a bit and I'll teach you a few things."

"What do we need to learn?" Ella asks.

Throw Away People
The Deplorables

"You need to learn about the throw away people, the people I live with down the lane in the woods." the old man explains. "It's like walking into another dimension, an alternate reality. It's a place where, when young girls like you show up, they are consumed in a variety of ways until there is nothing left of them but to push a shopping cart around town begging for food."

"Throw away people?" Helana asks.

"Yes. People get thrown away, for a lot of reasons. Parents throw away teens for being gay. Individuals with behavioral problem are expelled, evicted, or released from jail with nowhere to go, no jobs; left to beg for food just to live. People with addiction issues are rejected by family and pushed out of society into the streets, into the woods or the desert. All those that are deemed deplorable, undesirable, untouchable are thrown to the wolves, so to speak, and some of them right here in your lily white middle class town have been thrown out into the woods where they can't be seen."

"Hmm, I'm not all that white. But I understand what you mean. But aren't most homeless people drug addicts, or criminals on the run. Isn't that why they can't be part of normal society?" Ella wants to know.

Basic Research

"Yeah, I guess most of them are addicts, all of them except me in this forest anyway. There are a few fugitives, but mostly for just a failure to appear for a misdemeanor charge. Don't make the mistake of confusing cause and effect. Drug addiction isn't the cause, it's a symptom. Most of the people I know out here are mentally ill and the drug addiction and the antisocial behavior that gets them in trouble with the law are symptoms of the illness. Lots of people I know suffer from schizophrenia, but more than that are those that suffer from PTSD. PTSD is prevalent in the war veterans, but more and more It afflicts the youngsters that show up out here. Unresolved childhood trauma is the main reason for PTSD in kids. A lot of the homeless out here are mentally challenged. All of them have serious anxiety disorders. Some of the neighborhoods your parents tell you not to go to are as bad a place for children as a war zone in a foreign country. PTSD in children is an epidemic these days. People are loosing it."

"Ok, we're here at the path into the woods. You girls better go on your way. It's not safe for young girls out where I'm going." the old man warns.

"Ha! Not to worry. We're protected in ways you couldn't imagine. I want to see where you live, how you live. I want to learn." Ella says.

"So? You got secret government agents watching over you?" the old man asks.

"Well, we can't talk about that." Eileen says with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I know. I already seen um. They're not very secret. So what is this? A setup? A raid? Do you work for the Feds?"

"Like we said, we can't talk about it. We're in a special program sponsored by the Navy. This is just basic research for our program. Nobody is getting busted." Ella explains.

"Basic research? Hmm." The old man says.

"Ok. It's time to come clean." Eileen says. "The way you talk, the understanding you have of the homeless tells me something isn't right here. Who are you really? You're not some schizophrenic, or a war veteran with PTSD. Are YOU a secret government agent?

"Well I guess I'm busted. I'm not an agent. I'm an author. I've written a number of books about the aboriginal populations on several continents. In order to learn about them I have to become one of them, so I immerse myself into their culture for years sometimes, until I can tell their whole story. I'm doing the same thing here. In order to understand the homeless I've become homeless. It's the only way to really get to know them, down deep, where the rubber meets the road. I don't want to be some academic out here jotting notes in a clipboard for a few hours and who thinks they understand. They don't."

"So you're an academic. Like a sociologist or psychologist or something like that?" Roxana wants to know.

"No, I'm just a guy who writes books. I don't have any problem with those academic disciplines, it's just that once you finish all that schooling you end up with a sort of tunnel vision where you can only see things through the lens of that discipline. I want to immerse myself into the raw data, get the full experience, and do my own analysis without having to fit it all into a mold designed at some university."

"So how do you get published without any academic credentials?" Eileen asks.

"Those are some pretty big words for such a young girl? Are you an author too?" the old man asks.

"No, but I do want to write. I'm going to be a lawyer someday. My teachers say I have to have academic credentials to get published." Eileen explains.

"Well, you don't. These days you can self-publish so you don't have to go through all those gate keepers. But then you have to also self-promote, since you don't have a publisher doing that for you. I sold, basically I gave away, my first articles to magazines. That got me noticed. Now I've developed a good following,and a good mailing list, so I can get my books seen, and sold. The first one though is always going to be a problem. If you're not networked somehow nobody will ever see your book."

Into The Woods

The girls follow their new friend down a narrow paved path into the woods. After about a quarter mile they leave the path and head into the deep woods. It's cold and damp and gets darker the deeper they go under the forest canopy. The girls are getting a little apprehensive but then suddenly a group of tents and lean-to structures appear in the distance. They have arrived at the hidden homeless camp.

"Oh My God!" Roxana exclaims. "There's a whole little city out here. By the way. What's your name?"

"I'm Bernard. And you are?" Bernard introduces himself.

"I'm Roxana, and this is Ella, and her twin, Helana, and the tiny blond girl is Eileen." Roxana introduces the crew.

"Tiny?" Eileen protests. "At least I'm not a skinny with no curves stick like you, Roxana."

"Stop it girls!" Ella commands. "We came here to learn, not argue about nonsense."

"Skinny or not, you're all adorable. Glad to meet you." Bernard says.

"Ok, Bernard. Explain what's going on here. How does this little city work?"

"Well, lets start at the beginning. You see the wooden structure over there. He was the first one to locate here years ago. He calls himself Abaddon, but everyone calls him Abe. This camp is called Abe-Camp. He sort of runs the place and keeps the peace. So I guess you could call him the Mayor, or maybe Tribal Chief would be better. There are few rules here, but the few that are enforced are done so ruthlessly."

"Abaddon?" Roxana asks. "That's a biblical name, the angel of the bottomless pit. It's an evil name. Is that his given name or is it a nick name?"

"I'm guessing a nick name. Many of the homeless identify with evil names, Diablo (the devel), Lucifer, and names like that. I guess they see those as powerful names." Bernard explains.

"Who is that woman? Are there many homeless women here?" Ella asks.

"This camp is almost totally men. There is just one woman at this time, and her name is Mabel."

"Can I talk to her?" Ella asks.

"She's not very social but we can try." Bernard explains "Hey, Mabel. Come here for a minute. There are some people here I would like you to meet."

"Oh Good Lord, Bern. What are you doing with these kids out here. Are they going to join us? Can I have one? That blond one looks just like my first." Mabel says.

"No Mabel. They're not for sale. They're just visiting, some kind of school project." Bernard explains.

"Oh, just here to study the crazy people in the forest, huh? Well, fuck you guys. I'm too busy for this shit."

"Oh Mabel" Ella says "I'm Ella. I'm sorry if you are offended by us, but we're not here to judge you. I just want to know you and hear your story. I'm interested in how a woman ends up in this place. Wouldn't you be better served by the womans shelter?

"Can't smoke in the shelter. Stupid bitches that run the place don't let you do shit there. Followed my Ex here when he got out of prison. It didn't work out. He died, I stayed, and here I am."

"What do you smoke?" Eileen asks.

"Whatever I can get." Mabel explains. "Crack, Heroin, Meth, whatever. Lately blues if I can get some. Usually have to fuck some fool to get those. I'm a model you know. I did a shoot in New York City, long time ago. Nice talking to you little bitches, but I've got to get back to my business.

"Whats with all the trash?" Eileen wants to know. "And where do you go to the bathroom?"

"Do you see any dumpsters out here?" Bernard says with a laugh. "There are no services out here. We have to carry in everything we need, food, water, a tent, whatever. As for the bathroom, you dig a little hole in the forest floor and squat. Sometimes we have toilet paper, sometimes you gotta improvise."

"Isn't there some place to put all the trash so it isn't just piled up outside the tents?" Ella asks.

"Remember when I said everyone has serious anxiety problems?"Bernard explains. "Well anxiety and depression are two sides of the same coin. Living surrounded by your own shit is a sign of serious depression. Yeah, they could pick it up and carry it to a dumpster somewhere, but they don't. It's a problem too, a legal one. The County has tried to move all these people out and clean it up, but since it's public property, and these people are part of the public, the County can't make them leave. They have a right to be here and use the public property. The trash though creates a health problem, so that gives the County the ability to use the health department to clear all this out. A few years ago they sent in a crew and chased everyone out and then carried everything to rolloff dumpsters, including the tents, any structures they built, and all their personal possessions. I keep warning them that the County could do that again, but they don't listen."

"Can't the County make them leave, or arrest them, because of the drug abuse?" Eileen wants to know.

"That's one of the rules that is enforced here. If someone is buying or selling drugs or acting all stupid they'll get beat down. Drug use happens here all the time, but it has to be on the DL (down low). It can't be obvious because that puts everyone here in jeopardy. What they do discreetly in their tent is nobody's business." Bernard explains.

`

Helana, who has been quiet, but listening intently, begins to speak. "Bernard, Hi. I'm Helana. If I may, it seems to me that this little tribe, and those aboriginal tribes that you studied, must have their own unique economic system in order to survive. How would you describe this local economy here and compare it to the aboriginal tribes?"

"Helana! I love you! What a wonderful question. That is near the heart of my research. There are two distinct economies in the aboriginal tribes. There is the ancient system which is derived from the environment which allows for a hunter-gatherer approach, or an agricultural approach, or a mixture of both. Those systems have survived for millenia. A more recent system has arisen that is parasitic. When modern culture impinges on an ancient culture, either due to the destruction of their environment, or by assimilation, the ancient becomes a ward of the modern and the ancient culture then feeds upon the modern system. This little tribe is the parasitic type."

Eileen seems confused. "How is this camp parasitic? "

Bernard smiles, excited by the girls interest in his research. "Well, a parasite is an organism that feeds on another living organism, like a mosquito or a tape worm. An economic system can be parasitic if it feeds upon another system without adding value to that system. For example, that grey tent over there is where Booster Sam lives. He is a thief. He steals items from stores and then sells them to his clients for half price. He accepts payment in the form of cash or drugs. Mabel, who you met, has a sister in town who lets her use her mailing address. With a physical address she can get disability support, a food stamp card, food from the food bank, and some cash assistance. She trades most of her food stamps for cash or drugs. The tent with the red top over there is where Mike lives. We call him the appropriator. If you need something, like a back wheel for your bike, he will find one for you. Nobody asks where it comes from. He gets paid for the most part with food or drugs. Drugs and cigarettes are the main currency out here. Cash too but cash is usually converted to drugs or cigarettes first before it is traded for something else. So everything that feeds this little tribe comes from the modern culture that surrounds it, usually by theft. "

"Why doesn't Mabel live with her sister?"Roxana wants to know.

"Mabel and her sister don't get along. In fact nobody gets along with Mabel for very long. Mabel's schizophrenia makes social interaction difficult. Her sister has children and she does not want her kids exposed to Mabel's drug addiction, especially since Mabel supports her habit through prostitution."

Helana looks intently at Bernard and smiles. "Bernard, tell me if I'm correct. You are worried about the coming catastrophe, a possible Extension Level Event. Your interest in aboriginal culture is more than an academic interest. You are looking for the skills to survive when modern culture has gone extinct, right?"

"Damn Helana. I love you even more. You read me like a book. If I wasn't so damn old I would be bringing you flowers. Yes, I was worried about that, although being 70 years oldI'm not so worried about survival anymore since my time here is growing short. I'm hopeful though that the legacy of my work will be of benefit to the younger people, people just like you."

Roxana speaks. "If you haven't figured it out already, Bernard, our sister Helana is a psychic and a prophet. She sensed the need to follow you and that is why we are here. We are students participating in a Navy project regarding continuity of culture. Some in the Navy are worried about the coming catastrophe as well and are trying to discover a way to survive it, for our modern culture to survive."

"Yes, Bernard. I think we may have to adopt you and include your research with our own. "Ella says with a smile.

"So Helana, my love, when do you forsee these events occurring? "Bernard wants to know.

"That is really anybody's guess. Predictions fail more often than not. My sense of it though is around about 2053."

"I'll be over 100 then. I doubt I'll still be around then. But you will have my books. "Bernard says with a sigh and a frown.

"You will be around for as long as we need you. That is an order sir! "Ella says with a smile.

"Uh Oh. Damn! "Ella says with a worried look. "I just got a text from Beaker. The security team has been ordered to pull us out. It's getting dark they say. Thank you Bernard for your hospitality. We will be back soon to continue this conversation.

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 6
The Visitors

Something Touched My Leg

Ella tosses and turns, mumbling, having one of the strangest dreams ever. Jolting upright she says "What the Hell was that?"

Roxana, who spent the night, wakes up with a start "What? Huh? What's going on, Ella?"

"I just had a weird dream. I think it was some kind of download. I have to talk to mom about it. There were some old Indian people in it. I think my great grandmother was one of them." Ella explains.

"Your great grandmother sent you a download?" Roxana asks.

"No, the download is from someplace else. My great grandmother was just there, like we walked into a library or something and she just happened to be there. She didn't even see me."

"So who did the download?" Roxana wants to know.

"I'm not really sure. It was just pictures of places, usually near mountains, all over the world. They didn't say anything with words. I don't even think they have a language. I just got feelings. One of those feelings felt like ‘we are the Visitors'." Ella explains. "That was the feeling. I added the words."

"So it was all in a dream state?" Roxana asks.

"Most of it was a dream, yes, but I woke up, I jumped up, because I felt something touch my leg. But when I opened my eyes there was no one there." Ella explains, shaking her head in revulsion.

"I'm surprised it was just you. Usually when we have dream downloads it's all of us." Roxana says.

"It's because this is for my job, not yours." Ella says.

"Your job? What job?" Roxana asks

"I don't know why I said that. I must still be assimilating the download. I guess these places have something to do with my job in the future, like Helana predicted." Ella speculates.

Great Grandmother?

Later in the kitchen. "Mom, are there any pictures of great grandmother?" Ella asks.

"I think I have one or two. Why do you ask?" Alisha asks.

"I saw a woman in my dream and I thought it might be her." Ella says.

After rummaging through some old boxes. "This is the only one I can find. It isn't very good." Alisha says.

"It's good enough. That's her." Ella says.

"Oh good. You got a visitation. What did she say?" Alisha asks.

"She didn't say anything. She was just there. I don't think she even saw me." Ella says.

"So what was the dream about?" Alisha wants to know.

"It was some kind of download from a group that calls themselves ‘The Visitors.' They don't speak with words. It was just pictures of places from around the world." Ella explains.

"Oh. I think I know what's going on. Your great grandmother must be close to you, but beyond the veil. So when they opened a portal to you, you could see her on the other side, since she was close by." Alisha explains.

"So the visitors are ghosts? Since when do you know all this spirit stuff, Mom?" Ella asks with a shocked look on her face.

"It runs in the family, sweetheart. I just don't talk much about it because people would think I'm weird. You're not the only one with spiritual insight, dear." Alisha says with a smile. "There are many kinds of entities on the ‘other side', not just ghosts. but most likely those visitor entities just use that dimension as a pathway, a portal, to get to this one. They don't actually live there."

"This is totally creeping me out." Ella says with a shiver. "I better go talk to Melanie about it."

At The Office

Ella heads to the NAVY office on her lunch break. Commander Beaker and Melanie sit with Ella at a computer.

"It's weird. When I look at Google Earth I recognize the locations of the images. I must have assimilated the coordinates. But when I look at ground level views, it's all different. For example this one is just a flat rock face on the side of a mountain. But when I see the image they downloaded there is a big door in the rock face, and a paved road leading to it." Ella explains.

"Hmm." Melanie muses. "I'm assuming that the images you received are not as they are now, but how they will be. It looks like you've been given the job to make it so."

"But I don't know anything about drilling holes in mountains." Ella says.

Commander Beaker laughs and says "You better plan to take some engineering classes in college."

"Forget that. I'll get a bunch of money and hire the engineers." Ella says with a laugh.

"So the images are just of places, places with doors?" Melanie asks.

"Yeah. There are also some random images that don't make any sense." Ella says.

"Like what?" Commander Beaker asks.

"Well, there is a pictures of a bank, a big boat, a computer, a big tractor, a big electrical thingy, stuff like that." Ella says.

"Ok, did the boat look like this?" Melanie asks holding up an image from a bible.

"Yeah. Just like that." Ella says.

"An ark, a bank." Commander Beaker says. "It's starting to make sense. There is a seed bank that has thousands of seeds, in case there is a catastrophe. There is also a DNA bank that has millions of DNA samples for plants and animals, again in case the planet is destroyed. It's called the ARK, like Noah's ark. It's part of the continuity of government program."

I don't understand why they are showing Ella these sites if COG already has it." Melanie says.

"I'm guessing that it's because our program is COC, Continuity of Culture which is much bigger than COG. COG just wants to preserve the politicians." Commander Beaker says.

"Let's check some COG sites and see if Ella got a download. How about this one?" Commander beaker asks pointing to Google Earth.

"Oh, I ignored that one. It's just a big hole in the ground, like a meteor crater." Ella says.

"Oh My! If this is for real it's critical intelligence from the future. It seems to me they were showing you the vault sites that survive the upcoming conflict and which ones don't. The COG sites, it seems, which are strategic military targets, are destroyed in the war. It sounds like you have a lot of work to do when you grow up." Commander Beaker says.

"This is wonderful. Now we have a road map for preparing Ella for her future." Melanie says.

"Not so fast! I'm not making any promises that I'm going to do any of that stuff. I might just become an astronomer." Ella says.

"Life is what happens while you're making other plans." Melanie says. "Didn't Helana predict that you would be doing this sort of work, Technology banks, preservation vaults and such?"

"Helana also said that looking at the future changes it. This might just be bullshit. Whoever these visitors are, they're going to have to do a lot of convincing." Ella says. "I hope they don't have a bunch of bullshit jobs for my girls. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they start getting downloads."

Later in a meeting at the Navy office Melanie and Commander Beaker discuss the latest information.

Good News and Bad

"This is good news and bad. If these ‘Visitors' can actually predict the future, then it means that we are going to be unable to stop the coming conflict. Those craters she described sound like they were nuked with nuclear plasma drills. The COG underground cities will be destroyed. The good news is our COC technology vaults will survive." Commander Beaker Says.

"Maybe they're not viewing the future, but rather showing her how it should look in the future. I'm concerned that this information is being given to Ella at such a young age. To be able to influence such an enormous project she will need to be well into her 40's or 50's, and have the influence to appropriate a few trillion dollars." Melanie says.

"Maybe their timing is right." Commander beaker says. "Such an enormous project is going to take decades to fully assimilate in her mind. It will take decades to assemble the tens of thousands of workers to pull it off. I do wonder, though, if they are just going to scare her off."

"Their 'predictions' might just be that, a prediction. I doubt these entities viewed the future and brought back pictures for Ella." Melanie says. "We need to get the coordinates of all these sites and verify if they are suitable for drilling, and then secure the properties. Most of these seem to already be public land. They will also need to be secured and defended. I'm not sure how to do that."

"Ok, let's get her in here as soon as possible and get a complete list. I assume her download will fade over time." Commander Beaker says. "This really does back up Helana's predictions, and that makes me hopeful our efforts are not in vain."

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 7
Science Fair Project

The UFO Group

"Really?" Mr Danvers asks. "Or 'for reals' as you girls would say?"

"Yes Dad." Eileen assures. "We are all helping Ella with a science fair project and we want input from your UFO group."

"So what is the project about that would need the input from a UFO group?" Mr Danvers asks. "Are you building a flying saucer?"

"No, something different." Ella says. "Melanie calls it a dystopian post-apocalyptic survival plan. Imagine if you were trying to preserve our technology culture, rebuild it after a catastrophe like a comet impact, a solar micro-nova, nuclear war, or a volcanic winter. Stuff like that. What would we need to survive? We need a credible plan, and we can build a few simple items for the display to show how it might all work."

"Hmm, I see." Mr Danvers says with a serious look. "That's a big project, and if it really happens for real it would take the cooperation of the entire planet to pull it off. We have all assumed that if such a catastrophe happened again, as it has in the past, that the few humans survivors hiding in caves would have to re-learn how to make fire, re-invent the wheel and start over from there. Who put this idea in your head, the Navy?"

"The Navy is interested, but we have to figure out how to do it." Roxana says.

"That's rediculous. Can't the Navy hire a bunch of experts and put together a plan?" Mr Danvers asks."And why is this a Navy project and not being done by congress, and governments all over the world?"

"Sure the Navy could hire experts, and other governments too, like the United Nations." Ella says. "But they won't. They spend all their time fighting stupid political battles over budgets and funding and a bunch of other bullshit. Our government hasn't even invested the money to shield the power grid from a big CME which could happen any day now. So it's up to us kids to figure it all out. It's our future too."

"In my view of history, our future, we did figure it all out." Helana says. "But that future is in flux and is not guaranteed to actually happen. We will have to fight to make that future happen again, for the first time."

"Ok, but why a science fair project?" Mr Daniels asks. "Can't the Navy fund you a secret project to get it all done?"

"They could, but they won't." Eileen says. "A lot of this is secret, we can't tell people we are working with Angels and Inter-Dimensional entities. But we need public support. We need to inject these ideas into the public consciousness. So some high school kids with a science fair project might start that process without revealing any of the weird stuff."

"Ok." Mr. Daniels says. "I'll set up a meeting for Thursday night."

"Don't forget the pizza!" Roxana says.

Too Much Information

"Ok, Bill, mister industrial engineer, this sounds like it's right up your ally." Mr. Danvers says.

"OK. Yeah." Bill says. "This is something I've already given some thought. Maybe we should record these meetings and self-publish a book. The book could be part of the science fair project."

"I don't have all the answers, it will take years to figure all that out. But I do have a lot of ideas that can be used at a starting point. First, it will be dependent on the type of catastrophe. Some of them happen in a flash, like a CME, or an EMP, and it's over in a day or so. Other types, like a nuclear winter from a war, or a comet impact, or a big volcano can last for years. Worst case what if more than one happens at the same time. A big asteroid can trigger a thousand volcanos."

"So assuming the worst, those who survive will have to do so underground. So there will need to be underground sites, caves and tunnels and places like that. There will have to be food and water and medicine and other necessary provisions to support a small number of survivors for maybe three years. That's a big job."

Ella says "We have 2000 cave and tunnel sites picked out around the world, but they're secret."

"Be careful what you say." Mr. Danvers warns.

"Secret Sites?" Bill asks.

"My girls are part of a special ROTC program with the Navy. They are privy to some information they are not supposed to talk about." Mr. Danvers warns. "So please if they say too much, don't let that information leave this room. I don't want them getting in trouble."

"Ok." Bill says. "Let's all consider that we have a verbal NDA on this. I already have a bunch of them at work. 2000 sites? Let's say each site has provisions for 500 people. That means there will be a million survivors."

"Then do the rest of the 8 billion people on the planet perish? If 99.99 % of humanity is wiped out, then what's the point? It's unlikely those few humans will be sufficient to repopulate. Humanity will die out." Maria asks.

"You guys don't know me, but I have psychic dreams. I see things in the future, probable things." Helana says. "I have given it some thought and if the 1 million survivors are all trained survival experts, then as soon as possible they will exit the shelters, locate the pockets of those who survived on the surface, there will be many of those, and bring the resources and the technology that will sustain them. You're still looking at more than a 95% depopulation of all species, including humans, but it's better than extinction."

"Aren't there a bunch of books and movies about that already?" Maria asks.

"Yes there are." Roxana says. "And they're quite imaginative and entertaining. But the reality is that if the catastrophe depicted in these movies really happened, probably no one would survive. With our COC, which stands for Continuity of Culture, we can probably save 500 million people. With our technology banks we think we can recreate our technology culture in about 50 years."

"Ok, more things to forget." Mr. Daniels says. "Forget you heard anything about the COC program."

"Whoa! Let's back up a bit." Bill says. "There is a lot more going on, secret wise, isn't there? Secret government projects? Psychics? Young kids tasked with saving the world? I'm starting to get scared."

"Shit! I was afraid of this." Ella says. "Commander Beaker is going to be pissed. We need to get you guys debriefed and signed on to a national security oath. Then we can get you guys formally read into the project. Those of you who are scared, well, you need to leave and forget this meeting ever happened."

Waiting For This My Whole Life

"It's too late for that. I'm not going anywhere." Maria says. "I've been waiting for this my whole life. Sign me up."

"I'm in too." Bill says. There is a unanimous nodding of heads.

Back at the office

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Navy commander Beaker and I'm in charge of the special ROTC program that the girls are part of. My students have put me in a difficult position, but your background checks came back clear, so we lucked out this time. Your NDA's are ready to sign and remember that these NDA's have national security implications. Sign them and have Melanie notarize them and we can begin our meeting."

"For many years we have feared that the world is headed towards another great global conflict. This time with many world powers having weapons of mass destruction, some of which have Extension Level Event potential, this could be the end of it all. Archaeology and Cosmology have now confirmed that this planet has experienced many mass extension events in the past and that we are now, statistically, due for another one. There is a confluence of Earth cycles and Cosmic cycles that are coming together all at the same time. This time could be much worse than the last time."

"Our government has since WWII had a secret, now not so secret, program called COG, Continuity of Government, designed for the purpose of protecting our key government officials in the case of a decapitation nuclear strike. They have built extensive underground sites, tunnels, bunker, and entire cities to hide away the governing elite in the event of such a war. The program has evolved beyond just nuclear war but also planetary or cosmic events such as super volcanos, asteroid impacts, and even Extra Terrestrial conflicts, such as an off-worlder invasion."

"There are some problems with COG. It's only for the governing elite and their friends. Everyone else, everything else is left on the surface, on their own, to endure whatever cataclysm that may occur. The elite might emerge from their bunkers with nothing left to govern, and that is fine with them. They will try to repopulate the Earth by themselves. If the surface infrastructure that supports our culture, our technology culture, is destroyed, then these elite will have to start over, basically as cave dwellers hunting the few edible animals and plants that might remain."

"Although these COG site locations are top secret, our potential adversaries know exactly where they are. That means that the COG sites are strategic targets during a conflict. The USA and our adversaries have developed space based hypersonic kinetic weapons that can penetrate these underground cities as well as nuclear plasma drills that can penetrate them as well."

"It is our opinion, the few of us in the Navy who worry about these things, that there needs to be another program, a bigger program, and we call it COC, Continuity of Culture. Archaeological sites such as GOBEKLE-TEPE show that there were advanced human cultures before the last great cataclysm. We know nothing about them because they did not continue, their culture did not survive even though there is evidence that they saw the cataclysm coming. We want to survive the next event, we want our technology culture to survive so that we don't have to start over as cave dwellers wearing animal skins as clothing."

"Unfortunately the Navy brass is so bound up with political infighting that getting funding for our plans has been next to impossible. Many feel it isn't todays problem, and others poo-poo the entire concept of catastrophism. So we have to be creative to get this program funded and to do that we have to keep it secret and at the same time get public support. That is why we got these high school kids involved. They were only in middle school when we started."

"We are working with hundreds of youngsters and young adults across the nation but these girls right here score much higher than the rest. These girls are a true phenomenon."

"Our plan is to train groups of young influences that as they matures in the next 20 to 30 years will attract to themselves followers who will share their goals. Hopefully millions of followers that will create the critical mass to force government and industry to invest in our program. We estimate that we have about 30 years to get it done so these youngsters will be in their prime years in that time. If our estimate is wrong and a cataclysm happens tomorrow; well at least we tried. Our hope is that the Universe, or God, will grant us the time to make it happen."

"In our debates with Navy brass, at least those that care, there are those that think we should concentrate on prevention. I believe it's too late for that, we must accept the inevitable and concentrate on survival."

"A High School Science Fair project may seem silly, but it's a start, a way to get the concept of survival into the public mind. Our girls, our young influencers, actually came up with this idea on their own, an indication of their genius. We are very proud of them. They also decided to bring you guys on board as consultants and mentors all on their own. That is another genius move. I just wish they had talked to me about it first. We are glad to have you aboard and now I give them the floor to answer any questions."

Rogue Program

"One question to you, sir, before you leave the podium." Bill says. "The Navy isn't an agency that creates its own projects. It is under civilian control, from the President. Isn't this program a rouge program? Do you really have the authority to be engaging in a secret program such as this?"

"Guilty as charged." Commander Beaker says. "But you must already know that there are thousands of secret, sometimes extra-constitutional projects in the Navy, the Air Force, and dozens of other government agencies. It's how it works, but it's also a difficult political process to make it all happen without getting shoved out by some other extra-constitutional project that wants to steal your funding. It's ugly, but we believe saving our culture for our children and their future is worth the doing of it."

A Million Questions

"OK, I'll start. I have a million questions." Bill says. "Girls, you must consider this if you want to have technology survive; AFTER a major catastrophe nothing technical will work. There will be no power in the power grid. There will be no refineries for fuel so cars and boats and farm tractors won't work. All factories, all food processing plants, all cell phone towers, the internet, none of it will work, and it will take decades to rebuild that infrastructure."

"When you come out of your shelters everything you do will have to be done by hand, with the simplest of tools. So one of the first things to study in your research is the technology of developing nations. They don't have huge steel plants, but with the right information they can build a one man steel furnace and make small amounts. From those small amounts they can form small tools, a hoe, a spade, a machete, a knife, a hammer, and with a little ingenuity maybe a pair of pliers. This low level technology is happening all over the world, right now. Learn it."

"You might think it wise to stash a bunch of generators, to get electricity again, and it is a good idea, but you also need a way to power the generator in a sustainable way. So you have to have a plan to make fuel. If there is a nuclear or volcanic winter in effect then growing biofuel to make alcohol won't work because nothing will grow in the dark. Solar panels won't work either. But if you know how to ferment the existing dying biomass, then you can make fuel from that. Without solar forcing there may be little wind to power wind turbines and little water to power water turbines. You will have to be very creative."

"Although it is important to have a lot of finished products, such as generators, computers, and the like you have to know that you will not have the tools to make more of them for many years, decades even. So the most important part of saving technology is to preserve the tools that make the tech. And then preserve the tools that makes the tools, and so forth all the way down to the simplest tools that make screws and nails, hammers and screw drivers. You are going to have to rebuild technology from the bottom up."

If we start over from the beginning don't forget the animals. Horses and oxen built our culture and will have to do it again." Maria says. "There is no point in building a cart if there is no horse to pull it. Don't forget to save the beasts of labor and don't forget to save the food animals, cattle, goats, etc. Food animals can eat grass and stuff that we cannot, even dead grass. Plan a number of your tunnels to store bales of hay."

"OK, none of that is a question, but its wonderful stuff." Ella says. "One of the reasons we want to do this as a science fair project is because it will get expert reviews. They will probably tell us we are doing it all wrong and provide alternatives. That way we will learn more, for free. We should also get other students, and maybe some of the experts, who will get excited about our project and want to help out."

"I think we are off to a great start." Mr Danvers says. "We have 8 weeks to get the book published and get the display setup. And then we have 30 years to make it all real. Let’s plan to meet here 3 times a week. We will divide up the tasks and make the most fantastic science fair project ever."

What About Me?

Later in Melanie’s office. "What’s troubling you?" Melanie asks.

Roxana stares at the floor and says "I'm feeling left out. Ella has all these technical skills, and Eileen has a political mind. Helana can see the future, sort of. But me? What good am I. I'm no good at that stuff."

Melanie smiles and says "I think you may be the most important of all. Your family is very religious, very Catholic. I've seen you struggle with adapting your faith with the strange reality you and your sisters are living."

"But what does this have to do with religion? What good is that for building a technology bank?" Roxana wants to know?

No One is Coming to Save us

"The most important thing for getting people involved in our project is motivation. So many religions, such as Christianity are waiting for a savior to come and make it all better. There is also a great many who are part of a UFO religion, waiting for ET's to come and save us. If there is a looming global catastrophe and no one is coming to save us then there will be a great crisis of faith. That will kill motivation, and many will die who otherwise could have saved themselves. Someone with your experience could be instrumental in building motivation. You can teach them that the savior is coming, eventually, just not this time. This time it is up to us to show that we can rise to the occasion a fix it ourselves. It's our job to clean up our own mess."

"I don't know if that is even possible. Religious people would rather die with their belief than change it." Roxana says.

"You underestimate yourself, Roxana." Melanie says. "I have already seen you do the impossible. I put my faith in you."

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 8
Lady Wisdom

Lady Wisdom

"What? Who are you guys?" Roxana wants to know. "Am I dreaming? Is this night school? Oh, your white robes give it away. You're Angels. What are your names? What message do you bring?"

"Dear Roxana. We, like Angels, are daughters of the Infinite One, but not like Angels we are the first of the created ones. We are Wisdom, Prudence, and Knowledge. We are the Co-Creators, the Mothers of all creation." Wisdom speaks.

"Oh yes. I read about you in the Proverbs. You are the personification of virtue. Why have you come here in this form?" Roxana asks.

Wisdom speaks. "We are much more than personification, Dear Roxana. We are quite real, we are persons, one with the Creator, but separate as well. We have been here from the dawn of creation. Before the worlds were formed. We have no message to bring you at this time, other than to reveal to you that we are here, here for you. You have been chosen for a difficult task. Call on us when you need us. Wisdom, Prudence, and Knowledge are given to you, when you need us."

Roxana bolts upright in bed, the pullout bed in Ella's room, since Ella is still afraid to sleep alone.

"Knock it off, Roxana" Eileen says. "You pulled the covers off and it's cold. You'll wake up the twins."

"We're awake already." Ella says. "Did something touch you? Are those visitors back again?"

"No, not the visitors, unless they are pretending to be a goddess." Roxana says. "They said they are here to help me since I'm chosen for a difficult task."

"Well, if they can talk they're not my visitors." Ella says. "What else did they say? If they came to help let them help."

"That's all they said, just that they are here for me when I need them." Roxana says.

This Can't Be Real

"I feel that you are troubled, Roxana." Helana says.

"Yes. I am troubled. I appreciate help from the spiritual realm, but I don't trust them." Roxana says.

"How so?" Helana asks.

"They're pretending to be a goddess; Wisdom, Prudence, and Knowledge. They say they are real. But that can't be." Roxana says.

"Why not?" Ella asks. "You don't believe in a goddess? Isn't Mother Mary a goddess?"

"It's not like that. The Virgin Mary is the Mother of God, Queen over all things. She's not some goddess from mythology." Roxana explains. "These three that were in my dream are the personifications of Gods virtues, Hebrew poetic metaphors. They are not real persons, not a goddess."

"Why can't they be real?" Eileen wants to know.

"Because there is only the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the Virgin Mary who was chosen by the Trinity and ascended to become the Queen of Heaven. Then there are Angels. These characters from Hebrew poetry are not real persons." Roxana explains.

"Actually that should be the Father, The Mother, and the Son." Helana says. "That is the family of God, but I think His family is a lot bigger than just those three."

"NO IT'S NOT!!" Roxana yells, starting to cry.

"Hold on now. Don't cry. I think I know what's going on." Ella says. "This is an example of how difficult your job is going to be. If like Helana predicted that you will help religions from falling apart you will deal with a lot of this, different belief systems fighting each other over doctrine. That is probably the biggest fight in human history. Whoever they pretend to be, you're going to need their help, a lot of it."

"If I have to create a new religion then I'm not going to do it. I can't. I'm Catholic. I can't be anything else." Roxana says.

"Then just ignore how they presented themselves." Helana says. "It doesn't matter if they are real persons or not. Appeal instead to your Holy Spirit. Wisdom, Prudence and Knowledge can come from that Spirit too, without visions of a goddess."

"I'm going to have to pray about it, and consult my Church. I have no problem with visions, but I was expecting Jesus or Mary. I don't think I can just pretend it's the Holy Spirit when I know it's not. I have to be able to trust the source. I think you guys are going to be the ones to help me do the job, not some STUPID VISIONS!" Roxana says, still crying.

"I wonder what my vision is going to be." Eileen says. "Maybe Lady Justice? The one with the scales?"

"Scales?" Ella asks. "Is she a fish?"

"No, silly." Roxana says. "They are measuring scales, to measure out justice. She is a Roman goddess, a myth. Don't trust her. She's blind."

"I guess I'm the only one who doesn't get a vision." Helana says sadly. "Since I'm not supposed to be here at all."

"Don't be sad, Helana." Eileen says. "None of this would even happen without you."

Back At The Office

"What do you think of all these visions the girls are having. Is this shit real or just over imaginative teen girls?" Commander Beaker asks.

"That's a good question." Melanie says. "Anything is possible with these girls though. What I find interesting is that these visions are related to ancient Hebrew mysticism and UFO types that are not part of the traditional UFO narrative. Unless these girls listen to Whitley or ancient mysticism podcasts I feel it might be real. It's not what I think they would dream up all on their own."

"Well, real or not, we should support them as if it is real. It's headed in the right direction." Commander Beaker says.

Private Meeting

"So what's this private meeting about, Melanie?" Ella asks.

"You've always been the leader of this little crew so I wanted to talk to you privately, to help you help your sisters." Melanie says.

"How so?" Ella wants to know. "Right now I can't even help myself."

"I know you are feeling overwhelmed by what is apparently being dumped on you. But there is someone else who is suffering even more." Melanie says.

"Roxana?" Ella asks.

"Yes. We know how she was devastated when her dream of becoming a Nun was shattered. What she is being tasked to do will be a thousand times more devastating."

"Do you think she is going to lose her faith?" Ella asks.

"I think her faith will get stronger but her belief will be challenged." Melanie says. "First let me explain what belief is."

What Is Belief?

"For humans our survival advantage is our knowledge. More than any other animal we think our way through problems, not relying on instinctive reactions. We proactively create solutions to problems. As a result we have a thirst for knowledge."

"Unfortunately when it comes to the big questions, who we are, where do we come from, what is the purpose of life, do we survive death; for those questions little knowledge is available."

"For those questions as we struggle to figure it out we create, in lieu of knowledge, a belief. Belief is a substitute for knowledge. Belief is accepting something as truth that we cannot prove to be true. Belief is accepting something as fact that we do not know to be fact."

"Once a belief is established we can act in faith based on that belief. That brings us peace in that we have an answer to the great question. We feel our feet are on solid ground because we can put our faith in the belief. But belief is a poor substitute for knowledge. Faith based on a belief can fail."

"Belief becomes dogma and then becomes difficult or even impossible to change. That makes it impossible to continue to learn and grow."

"In order for Roxana to learn and grow and to help others learn and grow she will have to reverse the belief process. She will need to turn the belief back into the original question that belief tried to answer and accept that some questions do not have answers, at least no answer that we can understand."

"Well then we are fucked." Ella says. "I've known Roxana my whole life. I've blended with her mind and her religious belief has been the focal point of her life. She will never betray her belief. She can't, and even if she could, she wouldn't do that."

"The world is changing fast into something none of us have ever seen." Melanie says. "Don't underestimate Roxana. I'm confident she will rise to the occasion. She is getting stronger every day. She will need lots of support though."

"I will always be there for her, but I don't share your confidence. We'll see though. I'm hopeful but I'm not confident, not right now anyway." Ella says.

Your Wrong

"I think you're wrong though." Ella says. "You think that Roxana needs to modify her belief in order to bring together the various religions to save lives. But that means that all those other religions will have to modify their belief as well in order to find common ground. That isn't going to happen."

"My grandparents lived through the religious killings when Pakistan separated from India. Thousands died both Hindu and Moslem and none of them changed their belief. The dozens of flavors of Christianity bicker constantly about the minute differences in their belief. The Jews haven't changed their core beliefs in thousands of years."

"What Roxana needs to do is hold fast to her belief. That is her rock. Then while holding fast allow the others to hold fast to theirs. Only by respecting other belief systems will common ground be found. The changes you want Roxana and the others to make will take ten thousand years, and we only have 30."

"Please don't encourage Roxana to change. That will push her away."

"Ok." Melanie says. "I didn't think of it from that perspective. I guess you're right. I need your help, I think, more than Roxana does."

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 9
Visitation - Kaguya

Visitation

"WHAT?" Ella says. "Who are you?"

"I am known as Kaguya, and this is my friend Joshua."

"Am I dreaming? This doesn't feel right. All these visitors and visions lately. This one feels different." Ella complains.

"You might call it a dream, I suppose, but you are visiting another domain of reality. Don't worry, your spirit is here and your body is safe in your bed." Kaguya explains.

"So why am I here, in this domain of yours? What do you want from me?" Ella asks.

"We just wanted to say Hello, and for you to know that we exist. I am born, physically anyway, thousands of years in your future, but my spirit is ancient." Kaguya explains. "We are visiting a young aboriginal girl, alive in your time, but vitally important hundreds of years from now. She is a teenager like you, just 13 years old. So we thought we would drop in on you as well."

"Just to say Hello? That's silly. Are you like Helana?" Ella asks.

"No, we are not from Helana's Domain, but we know her, and we are partly responsible for her being with you in your here and now." Kaguya explains.

"Well then, thank you for that. Helana is the love of my life. We're not like gay or anything like that, but she is the most important person in my life." Ella says.

"Yes, we know." Joshua says, "When we saw that you two were genetic twins we knew she was the one to help you with your difficult task ahead. Genetic twins happen like once in hundreds of millions of years, so this was a rare opportunity. So we helped you, a little, to make sure she got stuck here. It was a convenient synchronicity."

"Synchronicity? What is that?" Ella wants to know.

"A synchronicity is one of those random coincidences, that isn't so random, since the One Infinite Creator has tweaked your reality a little bit to make it so." Joshua explains.

'So Helana is a gift from God? I think I already knew that. Tell him thanks for me." Ella says.

"Ha Ha, you just did." Kaguya laughs.

"Ok, you guys said hello. Can I go back to sleep now?" Ella asks.

"Certainly." Joshua says. "You will not see us again in this lifetime. So thank you for allowing us to visit. In a few thousand years, though, we will meet again. Sweet dreams, Precious Ella."

Ella sits up in bed with a start. "Whoa!, that was weird." Ella says as she falls back to sleep.

Later that day on the way to school.

"Helana?" Ella asks. "do you know a woman named Kagulla?"

"WHAT? Do you mean Kaguya?" Helana responds excitedly.

"Yeah, that could be it, Kaguya." Ella replies looking surprised that Helana is so excited. "Is she someone special?".

"Yes Yes, She is special, at least to me she is special. How do you know of Kaguya?" Helana wants to know.

"She came to me in what was like a dream, but more like night school with your Mom. She was with some dude named Joshua." Ella says.

"OMG! OMG! OMG! They're for reals! I knew it. I always believed it. What did she say? What did he say?" Helana asks with a squeal.

"They just came to say Hi, and that we would meet again in a few thousand years. They also said that when they noticed that we were like genetic twins they had God adjust reality so you would get stuck here and help me."

"They said WHAT?! They know who I am?!" Helana squeals again.

"Ok, calm down girl. What's going on?" Ella asks.

"Imagine you're walking along somewhere and the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz comes up and starts talking to you. Imagine your favorite character from fiction or mythology comes to you and they are real, and they even know who you are. Wouldn't that be exciting?" Helana asks.

"So tell me more about this Kaguya chick. Who is she? Why is she so important to you?" Ella asks.

Helana explains. "Well in this time she's just a Japanese fairy tale. In my time, in the future, there isn't much about her in history. Over the millions of years we have lost or forgotten almost everything about what is happening here for the next ten thousand years or so. Ancient Earth history is more fiction than reality. But we have stories, myths, but no proof that any of it is real. That is why sometimes we come back and look, like I did. Even then, though, it's hard to separate what is observed and what is imagined. Kaguya is from that time."

"Kaguya and Joshua are myth, stories told by word of mouth, or made into children's cartoons. Yes we have cartoons in the future. They are fun stores but not to be believed. You see, back in that time my people lived in a domain known as level 5 and Earth people lived in level 3. We were separated, we evolved in different directions, different time lines. Kaguya is of Level 3 Earth."

"But I believed. I would lie awake at night and would imagine that she was real. I would read the stories, watch the cartoons, and imagine if it was all real. I got laughed at but I still believed in her. I got laughed at because I believed in you. I'm covered with goose bumps now knowing she actually exist."

Ella asks. "So what is so special about the lady? Is she a super hero? Does she fly and wear a cape? What does she know of me? Why would she travel so many thousands of years in the past just to say Hi?"

"Because you have a lot in common. She is definitely a super hero, and so are you." Helana says.

"I think you are fangirling a bit much, Helana. How are we super?" Ella asks.

"Well, the Earth is actually a dangerous planet. Over and over again catastrophes happen which are Extinction Level Events. It's amazing that humanity survives. After these events certain individuals known as post-apocalyptic survivalist lead humanity back to safety, rebuild the culture, and put humanity back on course for survival, at least until the next catastrophe. You are one of those post-apocalyptic survivalist, and in her time, so is she.

"So what is her catastrophe?" Ella wants to know.

"My being here might have changed that a little, but either way I can't tell you. It might change your focus on the things we need to do this time." Helana says.

"Fuck that!. You brat. Tell me." Ella pleads.

"Nope, can't do it." Helana says.

"I'm going to bug you for the next hundred years if you don't tell me." Ella says.

"Nope, still not." Helana says.

"Girls, shut up!" Eileen says. "Its time for class."

Ella`s Story
My Love From The Future
Book Four

Chapter 10
Maybe Its My Heart That Dreams

This is the 43^rd in a series of episodes about 3 young girls who manage to adopt an inter-dimensional entity.

Karma 101

"No! Not that table." Eileen says.

"Oh. I forgot. I didn't realize you were still so sensitive about that." Ella says.

"Well, when you have to shoot some fool and watch him bleed and die, that sticks with you. Ya know?" Eileen says.

"It's called PTSD." A voice comes from behind them.

"Who are you?" Ells asks. "You look sort of familiar."

"Sorry to eaves drop on your conversation, but I've been meaning to talk to you girls for some time now. Hi, I'm John Lehrer. I'm the pastor at the local community bible church."

"Oh yeah". Roxanna says. "Your the preacher man where Jenna and Janice go."

"So what can we do for you?" Ella asks.

"Well, you already have. I know about the visitation under the bridge, and I know it's a secret and I won't tell. I wanted to thank you, and as a preacher I wanted to especially thank those who work in the spiritual realm as well as this physical one."

"Uggh!" Ella says with a frown. "I'm so tired of all the spiritual crap, and the inter-dimensional, and the demons. The Angels are cool but I wish the rest of them would just leave us alone. Is this bad Karma from some past life? What did we do to deserve all this drama?"

"Hey! Be kind to the inter-dimensional." Helana says with a smile. "You guys are all new spirits, so you have no past lives. I doubt it has anything to do with Karma. Instead, I think you were chosen."

"Oh. I forgot Helana, I'm sorry." Ella says "Hey, preacher man, meet Helana, our own real life inter-dimensional. You already know some of our secrets, you might as well know this one too. But if you tell, you'll get some of that bad Karma yourself."

"As a counselor I'm trained to maintain confidentiality. So I won't tell." Pastor John says.

"Have a seat, counselor. I'll buy your lunch." Roxanna says. "Tell me about Karma? I'm Catholic, so we're all about sin and judgment and grace and forgiveness but we don't do Karma. What is it?"

"Do you have a few thousand years to sit here and discuss Karma?" Pastor John says. "For millennia religious leaders, usually in the East, have contemplated, argued, and fought about what Karma is. I'm no expert but I'll share what I know."

"As a Christian I don't preach Karma either, but I'm also a PhD Psychologist and there is much evidence that Karma is a real thing, in this life anyway. It's not just some made up dogma. There's sufficient evidence of what has become to be known as Karma, but few, if any, really understand what it is and how it works. It's completely missing from the Christian tradition, that is, unless you know where to look."

"As far as past lives there's something similar to that such as generational Karma, the sons and daughters suffering from the sins of the father. Things like child abuse, the innocent suffering from the sins of the parents. The Bible speaks of the sins of the fathers visited upon the children for generations, but that isn't usually considered Karma."

Just World Hypothesis

"In a study of Karma, though, you have to be careful to separate that from what is called the Just World Hypothesis. That hypothesis states that if bad things happen to you then you must have done something bad to deserve it and if good things happen to you that is a reward for your good deeds. It's the idea that the Universe demands justice."

"This hypothesis has been proved false. The statistical analysis of many lives show that most of what happens is random, having nothing to do with the behavior of any particular individual. The majority of what happens to us in our life is the result of external events, our parents, the government, the weather, an occasional asteroid. These are things we can't control and have nothing to do with us being good or bad. For the most part if we do something stupid we simply have to experience the natural consequences of doing stupid stuff. Sometimes, though, God or his Angels will intervene, like to keep you from falling off a cliff, but that is rare."

"So the so called Acts of God are just random events?" Ella asks.

"Yes and No, I believe." Pastor John says. "I do believe that God and his Angels do impact our lives in many different ways. Divine intervention, though, is usually private and rare and can easily be interpreted as random events. It's not like a tornado tearing up a whole village and impacting hundreds has anything to do with Karma. That's just the weather. Divine intervention happens quietly, to one person here or there from time to time."

"What about some driver going really fast, running cars of the road, and then crashes. Isn't that called Instant Karma?" Eileen asks.

"That's what it's called." Pastor John says. "But I think that is just plain old stupidity. There's an old saying that 'If You're Gonna Be Stupid You Better Be Tough'. Much if not most human suffering is a result of stupidity."

"For me, in my study, I sense a non-spiritual Karma that is totally within the mind of the individual. It's a manifestation of the Bi-Cameral brain, and the resulting Bi-Cameral mind." Pastor John says. "It's not God, or Santa Claus, sitting on a cloud keeping a ledger of your sins and balancing that against your good deeds. It all happens in your own mind, most of it in what is called your sub-conscious mind."

Two Brains

"The bi-whatchamacallit? What the hell is that?" Ella asks.

"Bi-Cameral means two chambered. Our body has two of almost everything. Two hands, two feet. Two ears, two eyes, and so on. But it doesn't stop there. There are two chambers in your head that hold two brains. These two brains work together because they are connected together by a bundle of nerves called the Corpus Callosum. What most people don't realize is that both of these brains are conscious. These are separate conscious minds that are partly connected but mostly separate. It's sort of like those venn diagrams you study in math class where one region overlaps another. Part of them overlap but most of them do not."

"OMG you guys, it's Saturday and here we are studying math and psychology." Eileen says with a whimper.

"Ok. Lets order some pizza. I think we're gonna be here a while." Roxanna says. "Is this about that right-brain / left-brain stuff?"

Our Perceptual Bubble

"Well maybe." Pastor John says. "I'm not sure about the right/left brain hypothesis, but it seems that there is a collective consciousness to which both brains are connected, and within that field of consciousness there is a smaller field of awareness, a perceptual bubble, a virtual reality within which all our life experiences are perceived. It is within this perceptual bubble of awareness that we live our lives, unaware of the remaining vast array of reality that surrounds us. The Bible says that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that we cannot perceive. This bubble of awareness is probably connected more with one side of the brain than the other, but I'm not sure if it's the left or the right side."

"Oh Wow! That's exactly what Commander Beaker said." Ella says with a squeal. "So we all live in this little virtual reality, a perceptual bubble, and within that bubble is the world that we know and love."

"Yes, exactly" Pastor John says. "Our little perceptual bubble protects us from the vastness of the universe that would overwhelm our limited consciousness."

"I thought we were talking bout Karma?" Roxanna asks

The Still Small Voice

"I was getting to that." Pastor John says. "Somewhere just outside the bubble we live in is what we call our conscience, not to be confused with consciousness. Some call it the still small voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit. Some believe it is the right brain, the domain of spirit, speaking to the left brain, the domain of the physical."

"I don't know which, if any, of these ideas are true but I read in several places that God wrote His law into our heart, so that no one is innocent of knowing right from wrong. The bible also speaks of us eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby loosing our innocence and becoming subject to sin and judgment."

"As a psychologist I de-spiritualize all that and I believe that within our consciousness is a code, a set of rules, that all social animals have written into their DNA so that they can live within a healthy social group. Even social animals, such as wolves, have a set of rules that they must follow within the wolf pack. Domestic dogs, though, seem to have lost these rules."

"It's a result of Natural Selection more than some Extra Terrestrial DNA expert writing behavioral algorithms and putting it in our DNA. For humans these rules are complex. We call it a social contract. That is the source of that still small voice, and is the source of Karma. That's not to say that we can't hear the voice of God, but that is rare. The still small voice, I think, is an automatic behavioral algorithm honed and perfected by natural selection of the millions of years of our development as humans. As a pastor I get attacked for that belief but that's what makes sense to me."

"I would have to disagree." Roxanna says. "I believe God is an ever-present force in our lives, if we let Him in. It isn't that God doesn't speak to us, but that we don't listen."

Hearing Voices

"So that little voice makes Karma?" Eileen asks.

"I thought hearing voices means you're crazy." Ella says.

"Those crazy voices are what is called a tonotopic disruption, the input to the auditory cortex is scrambled. This is a symptom of schizophrenia, and schizophrenia is a disease. In schizophrenia though the voices are not still and not small. They are loud and disruptive and typically say things that are obviously insane. So you can easily tell the difference."

"More pizza please." Roxanna asks. "This is going to take all afternoon. I don't understand what this has to do with bad things happening due to Karma."

"Well I think it works like this." Pastor John says. "That code written into our hearts says that takings must be balanced. If I take from you then something of equivalent value is taken from me. This is to balance the social order and keep peace in the community. For example If I buy a car, I take the car, and the dealership takes my money. So that is a balanced taking, a balanced transaction. But if I drive off in the car without paying then that taking of the car will have to be balanced by something taken from me by Karma."

"So if I steal ten dollars from someone then someone will steal ten dollars from me?" Eileen asks.

"No, there is no equivalence of the event. There is only an equivalence of value. So for example if you stole that ten dollars, and the person didn't have food for supper, and got in a fight with his stressed out wife, then what you took from him, the taking, had a value much more than ten dollars. You also took from him his peace of mind and his wife's happiness. So then you wreck your car and it costs three thousand dollars to fix and that balances the taking. It's all about takings. A taking could be money. But someone can take your peace. Someone can take your happiness. Someone can take your innocence, like in rape, and condemn you to a dysfunctional sex life and a series of failed marriages. One simple taking can have an extraordinary impact that is very expensive to balance. In the most extreme circumstances Karma can take your children, or even take your life."

"So this all happens in your head? There is no Angel in heaven keeping a ledger and making bad shit happen to balance Karma?" Ella asks.

Karma Is An Inside Job

"I think Karma is totally an inside job. You do indeed create your own reality when it comes to Karma." Pastor John says. "For example you are having a party and playing loud music late at night. Your conscience, your still small voice is telling you that you're taking your neighbors peace, but you can't hear it due to the loud drama of the party. So the next day when the neighbors are glaring at you from across the street that small voice is telling you to go apologize, but you don't listen and blow them off. Then at work, for no reason at all, you say something stupid to your boss and get fired. On your way out of the office you're asking yourself why did I say that stupid thing. The small voice can sometimes get loud. It was the small voice coming through that sabotaged your job and got you fired. You did it to yourself. Many believe that it's one side of your brain in conflict with the other side."

"So who is calculating the value. Getting fired is much more costly than loosing some sleep." Ella asks.

"You calculate it yourself, in that other side of your consciousness that you're not aware of. And if you pissed it off by not listening and blowing if off over and over, it can really be a bitch. The phrase that Karma is a bitch is no joke."

"But how do you know the other stuff. How do you know when you stole 10 dollars that it took his wife's happiness." Ella asks.

"I agree with almost everything pastor John is saying. He is wise." Helana says. "The complexities of human consciousness are beyond comprehension, even to us inter-dimensional people . Don't forget about the Akashic record, where all knowledge exists. Your mind can connect to this record and know almost anything, even the extended effects of something you stole."

"But what about those people who steal and rape and commit all sorts of crimes and go on to live a happy wealthy life?" Eileen wants to know. "Where is their Karma?"

"Unfortunately there is a small percentage of people, maybe about 1 percent, that have no conscience." Pastor John explains. "They do not have, or cannot hear that still small voice. It's a psychological disorder known as psychopathy. They are psychopaths. They have no social contract. They can't feel the pain of others, in fact they think it's funny. When someone falls down and hurts themselves a psychopath will laugh. With no conscience there is no Karma. Many of them live dysfunctional lives because they can't fit in society, but a few become very wealthy, and even get elected President. It's this fact of psychopathy that shows me that Karma is internal. If it was that Angel in heaven balancing their Karma, psychopaths would not be immune."

"We know one of those psychopaths. He raped our sister since she was 14, over and over, and then was going to kill her." Roxanna says. "We told our Navy Commander, and we don't know what he did, but that perp was disappeared. Isn't that Karma?"

"No. That's Justice. Justice has nothing to do with Karma. Karma comes from the inside. Justice comes from the outside. Every bad thing that happens isn't Karma. Sometimes it's Justice. Sometimes it's just an accident. A natural disaster that kills thousands isn't Karma, it's just an unfortunate event. Matthew says that God causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike. That tells me that external events have nothing to do with Karma."

Isn't There Good Karma?

"What about good Karma. Isn't there good Karma too?" Roxanna wants to know.

"Yes, I believe there is." Pastor John says. "But you have to listen carefully to that small voice. Your life path can be guided to success or failure with tiny little differences in the choices you make. Little changes to your choices that you don't even notice can, over time, make a dramatic difference in how your life works out."

"Tiny differences in the choices you make, if they are negative choices, will ultimately lead to disaster. Tiny differences in the choices you make, if they are positive, will ultimately lead to success. You won't even notice these little changes, but that is how you are led to disaster or success."

"Listen to that small voice, and maybe sometimes it really is the Holy Spirit speaking. That way you can avoid the bad Karma and get the good Karma. The internal noise in your mind is intense so it's very difficult to hear that small voice, and sometimes it says things you don't want to hear. So do your best to quiet your mind and heed the voice. It will guide you to where you need to be."

"That sounds like the Law of Attraction." Eileen says. "My Dad talks about that stuff."

"I think Karma and the Law of Attraction have a lot in common." Pastor John says. "In the Christian tradition it's called Faith. Faith isn't a belief though. Faith is an action word. It's the actions you take based on your belief, or better yet those actions you take based on what you know. Knowledge is superior to belief."

"You're writing your sermon for tomorrow in your head, aren't you?" Helana says with a laugh.

Honesty Will Set You Free

"You are very perceptive, Helana" Pastor John says. "There's another very important concept that goes along with Faith, Karma, and the law of attraction, and that is Honesty."

"Your sub-conscious is very intelligent and very sophisticated but it has one problem. The sub-conscious cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. This is because of the way the perceptual bubble works. The bubble we live in is imaginary. Your senses and your memory provide all the raw data and your imagination creates the perceptual bubble that we perceive."

"So when you dream at night, or day dream, it can feel totally real, because what is real is created by the imagination anyway. When you lie or create any kind of deception your sub-conscious thinks it's all real, but then it doesn't match with what is perceived. That creates confusion in the sub-conscious and it doesn't know what to do. So Faith, Karma, and the Law Of Attraction are effectively shut down and the bad Karma can be amplified. It's very very important to be true to your word and avoid any deception, or the most powerful forces in your life will be wasted."

The Lord Spoke And Not A Thing Became Everything

"In The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz he says 'be impeccable with your word.' ... Your word is the power that you have to create. Your word is the gift that comes directly from God. The Gospel of John in the Bible, speaking of the creation of the universe, says, 'In the beginning there was the word, and the word was with God, and the word is God.”
"Through the word you express your creative power. It is through the word that you manifest everything. Regardless of what language you speak, your intent manifests through the word. What you dream, what you feel, and what you really are, will all be manifested through the word."

"Isn't the Law Of Attraction just the Power of Positive Thinking? Eileen asks.

"Yes, in some ways, but I think it's more than that." Pastor John says. "Positive thinking focuses the mind on positive things, making positive things more likely to manifest. What is really important is positive intent. Your intention drives the Law Of Attraction more then just thinking positive."

"What about negative intent?" Eileen asks. "What if I hate some girl and want her to get a zit on her nose."

"Any of that negative stuff, hatred, jealousy, any negative intention to harm or hurt someone, gossip, talking shit, all of that totally kills the Law of Attraction and amplifies negative Karma. One of the worst thing a group of girls like you guys can do is sit around and gossip. Gossip is instantly transformed into negative intention and creates an environment where the Law of Attraction cannot work. Jesus said that there were some towns where he could not perform miracles because of their lack of faith. These negative practices can even block the gifts of God."

"So in order to receive the good stuff first we have to be prefect? Ella asks. "Then whats the point? People aren't ever perfect."

"It sounds like a mission impossible, a catch 22 doesn't it?" Pastor John says. "What Jesus recommended was repentance. Repentance isn't walking barefoot on sharp rocks to pay for you sins like some think. Repentance is a change of mind, a purification of your mind, and it is a process that doesn't happen immediately. It takes a lot of work. It is effectively changing the resonance of your thoughts to more perfectly resonate with the mind of God. It's that connection to the mind of God where all the power comes from. The gifts of God, the Law Of Attraction, good Karma, it's really all the same thing once you realize that the Source of all of it is God."

"Don't worry, Ella. You're closer to perfection than you think. You're all kind and gentle spirits, you ooze goodness like nectar from a flower." Helana says. "Even millions of years in the future human spirits still struggle with negative thoughts, but I don't think you guys will need to struggle much with living a righteous life. You're almost there already."

"Righteousness? I'm sorry Pastor John, and Roxanna, but this is getting a little too religious for me." Ella says. "It's getting late and our mothers are getting worried. You said you were wanting to talk to us about something. What is that?

"Your friend Jenna, the one I saved in the tunnel, the one who you sponsored. She is just one of hundreds just like her in this county. I need your help to understand them, to know how to help them. My training as a psychologist and a pastor is lacking when it comes to these lost souls. I was hoping to have some meetings with you from time to time to share what we have learned."

"I think you already know what you need to know." Ella says. "Addiction is not the problem, it's secondary to a much deeper issue which is Unresolved Childhood Trauma. That trauma is the real global pandemic. You have to go deeper, back in time, and heal their emotional and spiritual injury before anything can be done for their substance abuse."

"Oh Ella, I love you. For someone uncomfortable with religion you just gave me a speech that came straight from the mouth of God. You could, if you want to, join our little church. We would love to have you there."

"Ummm. What? Now I'm even more uncomfortable." Ella says with a laugh. "Roxanna is our church girl, but she's Catholic. The rest of us wouldn't feel comfortable dancing and singing about God. But we can meet up from time to time. You bring the pizza."

"Girls? Whats going on? You were supposed to be home an hour ago." Alisha Patel says with a serious look.

"Oh. Hey Mom. We were having a meeting with Pastor John. He was teaching us about Karma."

"So is your phone broken? You couldn't call?" Alisha asks.

"Let me apologize. I had the girls preoccupied. We lost track of time." Pastor John explains.

"It's good to meet you, Pastor John. I appreciate your apology, but that doesn't excuse my daughters for not picking up the phone. Karma, huh? I studied that when I was young.

"Really Mom?" Ella asks. "And when were you going to tell me all about it?"

"Because I gave up on it. I studied comparative Eastern religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism as well as Taoism. They all teach Karma but they each teach a different kind of Karma. If Karma is a real thing, it should all be the same."

"I think what is going on is that each religious group has a slightly different experience of Karma." Pastor John says. "It may well be one thing, just experienced differently. Each group comes up with a different explanation, a different justification for what they experience."

"Mom. Karma is an inside thing, it comes from the Bi-Cameral brain. We have two brains. It's not some Hindu god keeping a book of sins to be paid for with Karma." Ella says.

"Oh Ok. Is that what it is? So you guys sat here for a couple of hours and figured out what others have struggled with for thousands of years. You must be really smart kids." Alisha says.

"Mom. Don't be sarcastic. We really are smart." Ella says.

"If you're so smart, tell me how do you get off the wheel of Karma?" Alisha asks.

The Wheel Of Karma

"What wheel?" Roxanna asks.

"What she means by the wheel of Karma is that many teach that until you resolve all your Karmic debts you keep being reincarnated until you do. You're just going round and round through multiple lives, like a wheel, until you can get off the wheel." Pastor John says.

"Whats the answer Pastor John? I want to know." Eileen asks.

"It's the most difficult thing anyone will ever have to do." Pastor John explains. "You have to repent, change your mind, change your consciousness and move it into resonance with the Spirit of God. You have to forgive, completely, everyone and everything that has caused you trouble, and then forgive yourself for every sin you have committed against anyone. It's a lot harder than you think. Once forgiveness is complete, there is no burden of guilt, and nothing for your Bi-Cameral mind to worry about. All is forgiven, all is good. And then you have to live a life of Love and never hurt another for the rest of your life. The life of Love may require you to live a life of celibacy in daily contemplation in a monastery somewhere. Otherwise you create more Karma and fall back on the wheel."

"I think I can do that." Roxanna says.

"Celibacy? Forget that." Eileen says.

"Roxanna, can you forgive, totally forgive, and then love those men who raped our sister?" Ella asks.

"Umm. Well. Ok, but when we reincarnate lets all do it together." Roxanna says.

Three Brains?

"You guys don't know anything about Karma." Mom says. "There aren't two brains. There are three."

"Three?" Pastor John says.

"Yes. Three." Mom says. "The heart has it's own brain. Try this when you are confused and don't know what to do. The brains in your head are probably fighting back and forth going nowhere. Calm down. Calm the mind in your head. Then tap your hand over your hear-t, and listen to your heart. The best advise is probably going to come from the heart. At your age, girls, just make sure it isn't your hormones talking."

"Lets go home girls. Dinner is ready. You can come too Pastor John. These girls could use a dose of religion now and then." Alisha says.