Son of the Sun by Orfeo Angelucci

 

Orfeo Angelucci first shared an account of his interaction with space people by producing a self-published newspaper in 1953 and Ray Palmer's Amherst Press published Orfeo's case study The Secret of the Saucers in 1955.  Another hardcover book was printed in Los Angeles in 1959.  Son of the Sun chronicles how Orfeo met a man whose own flying saucer contact experiences offered something for comparison with his own upon contemplation of the nature of the events.  The man known as 'Adam' in Son of the Sun spoke to Orfeo about the virtue of the love of learning and becoming cognizant of "the One who awaits our evolutionary awakenings."  Reading Son of the Sun, the reader may at times wonder about how Adam’s impressions may have been altered due to the influence of Orfeo's sensibilities and perceptions.  Concerning the many allegorical aspects of what is chronicled, readers familiar with other flying saucer contactee cases may remember one of the space people's messages in particular from the Truman Bethurum case: "There is more to this than meets the eye." 

The first pages of the book describe how Orfeo found employment installing floor tiles for a furniture store in the California desert community of Twentynine Palms, where he shared the cottage of his friend Earl.  Each weekend Orfeo commuted to Los Angeles to be with his family.  In December 1954, Earl decided to go out of town for three days.  During this interim, Orfeo encountered the man whose experiences would compel Orfeo to write Son of the Sun.  His introductory Acknowledgment for the book concludes with a grateful mention to "the living, boundless Universe" — an indication of his realization of the intermediary and omnipresent spiritual Oneness among all living things.

"Welcome Space Visitors" is a headline in his newspaper as well as the title of an Orfeo Angelucci lecture that may be heard in an audio recording included on a commercial CD entitled "The Lost UFO Lectures."  He is heard to say about the contacts: "The law and the rule of nature is One."  The book recounts how on what would be a fateful evening, Angelucci decided to eat at a restaurant called Tiny’s Cafe.  Meeting 'Adam' there would seem to Orfeo as being a predestined event. 

Adam was a physician from Seattle although the name was identified as not his birth name but the one given him by the visitors from another world.  He was a man facing an eminent physical demise due to sarcoma.  Orfeo commented about comparing their experiences: "Whereas mine was more or less an experience while I was on this Earth, Adam had the experience of going physically and seeing the same things, except in a much more vast sense."  The setting was a colossal space ship.  The circumstances of meeting Adam were also described by Orfeo during an interview by Long John Nebel as featured in the 1966 album recording of "The Flying Saucer Story."  Orfeo spoke calmly:

I entered the door and at the table nearest the door was a very, very handsome man. And as I approached, he says, "Greetings, Orfeo.  Sit down."  And I say, "You have a third glass here.  Is someone with you?"  He looked at the glass and he was surprised.  He said, "I don’t know how that happened.  I only ordered two glasses."  He asked me to order.  Then he asked me if I wanted a bottle of beer.  I said, "No. Not tonight."  So he says, "Good."  He lifted the pitcher of water from the table and poured it into my glass.  Then he went into his pocket and he said, "Then how about some of the best champagne in the world?"  He took out a little pellet and dropped it in my glass.  And it started to fizzle like his own.  So he’s told me to call him nothing but Adam.  He — two months ago, he discovered he had nine months to live.  He had cancer.  And it’s incurable.  Anyhow, he says, "Eat up.  Let’s dine and just get acquainted for the time being."  I noticed that his glass was filling itself with water.  But no one had poured it in there.

Further details are provided in Son of the Sun.  The doctor from Seattle was thirty-seven years old.  After closing his practice and becoming interested in making sense of metaphysical aspects of life, Adam obtained a copy of Orfeo's newspaper while attending a lecture sponsored by a Seattle flying saucer group.  The previous decade of the 1940s had ushered in the early days of modern UFOlogy.

Adam had realized that through all the years of medical practice he had missed out on warm friendships and nearing the end of his life there was nobody whom he could call beloved.  Adam had come to Twentynine Palms upon finding a cabin to rent for two weeks.  Orfeo wrote: "In the course of three evenings he narrated his fantastic story to me . . . he had never expected to meet me in person.  And as for me, I certainly had never expected to meet one like Adam . . ."

Adam is reported to have told Orfeo in the restaurant: "We are directly observed by the space visitors . . . I am certainly glad you have seen these things happen here."  Angelucci remarked, "When I saw the pellets that produced the nectar, what other evidence did I need?  No one on earth could have given them to you."  Orfeo had tasted the liquid once before at the onset of his own unexpected cosmic initiation.  (article)

The narrative heard on "The Flying Saucer Story" LP continued:
 

So we went on for a while and as the dessert approached I heard music coming from the glass.  It was subdued music.  He said, "Wait a minute.  On this pitcher here the water was up to this black spot.  Now it’s down here."  He said, "But the pellet —"  He went in his pocket and he says, "Wait, I’m supposed to have four."  He took out the pellets.  There were only three.  He said, "What they were doing was sublimating the water or evaporating it from the pitcher into the glass by remote control and sublimated the pellet in his pocket over into the glass so that no one ever actually saw the process."  Of course, I know now that he had — had either experience with space visitors or that he himself was one.  And then I looked up at him and noticed that he was looking now intently into the glass.  He had a little smile on his face yet tears were streaming down his eyes, landing right on the table before me.  Now I thought, 'Tell me what — what is it that he — is going on.'  I looked at the glass and now there was the — well, the figure of a girl dancing in it with blonde hair.  A little miniature woman just dancing to the music and the music itself became more spirited as she danced.  I never saw such dancing before.  I immediately — I thought, 'Well Adam is either recalling someone or he’s had an experience out of world — literally out of this world' when she disappeared.  She never looked at me.  She always looked toward him but in the finale when the music ended with the crash she suddenly whirled and went on her knee and looked toward me.  But she had a very grim aspect on her face as though to say, 'You don’t know now but you soon will — why and what Adam is experiencing now.'  And with that gesture — that is when she got down on her knee, bowed like in a curtsy and the grim look toward me as much as to tell me, 'You too will know what Adam is now experiencing someday' — she completely disappeared.  That was the end of the dance and the music ceased. 

When two marines waved them a goodnight upon leaving the restaurant, this fleeting occurrence too became something to ponder.
 

"You see, Orfeo?" he asked.  "Why could not the whole world be at one with friendship, in consideration, and in all things?  People dream of such a day; religions are built entirely on that objective.  There is a constant evolutionary trend toward that one end . . ."

Adam expressed to Orfeo the necessity of him becoming the author who would write down Adam's fantastic odyssey.  The two men agreed to meet at Orfeo’s cottage so that Adam could inform him about all that had happened.

As I finished speaking, a rap sounded from inside the glass door of the café.  It was Tiny waving a last goodbye to us.  We bid him the same, and we looked into the café.  We saw something odd was happening.  All the tables had been cleared except ours, where the third glass still stood in its place.  Now, before our eyes, it grew smaller and smaller, until it disappeared completely.

Adam was quoted by Orfeo as having surmised, "We were conditioned by the nectar to see a projected mirage."

After the short drive in their cars to Orfeo's weekday home, they two men discussed the various aspects of Adam's predicament as he expressed his philosophical musings concerning his incurable physical state.  Adam said about his recent past:
 

"I found myself reaching through the limits of my familiar medical world into other fields of thought — I was putting myself in touch with a larger universe, which, though it had always beckoned to me, I felt I did not have the time to explore."

Adam began telling about what had happened to him after beginning to reside in the rural cabin without electricity, water or gas.  He recounted how one evening outside his cabin he experienced an epiphany: "I was sweeping into me all the cosmos, or else it was enfolding me."  He heard music and noticed a wayward star overhead roaming the heavens.  He realized it was a space ship and then heard a woman’s voice: "Adam, may I speak with you?"  Her calling him Adam was the reason he’d asked Orfeo to call him the name.  He’d nodded consent.  "Almost at the same time, the air a few yards in front of me shimmered into a congealing form.  It became a dome-shaped craft, sitting there on the sand.  A lovely woman stood near it, facing me . . . She was not Lyra, of whom you wrote in your book.  And it was not the one who had danced in the glass this evening."

The lady invited him to take a trip and thereafter escorted him inside the spacecraft.

There was a pause to the description of events as Orfeo realized that Adam seemed to know about the book The Secret of the Saucers at a time before the book was published.  Adam stated, "Perhaps it was shown to me in my recent experiences . . . As in your own experiences, at the moment I seem to remember clearly only the things I have yet to say, and as I tell them they fall back, lost to me for the time being."  Adam continued to recite the occurrences comprising his cosmic odyssey.
 

"As I was saying, we sat down on the two seats that were fastened to the floor."


"She was not a phantom, but very real, for we were sitting close enough that our arms touched.  The door slid closed as we sat down, and I could no longer discern the door area from the rest of the hull."

Describing the circumstances of traveling through space, the lady said to Adam:
 

"We cannot give you knowledge, but we can confirm what you already know.  Our ship can adjust itself to conditions around it to quite some degree, especially to electrical and magnetic conditions.  But you already had a good concept of this fact in your own understanding.

"Every living entity on earth must rise to learning and knowledge through its own initiative. . . ."

When Adam asked her name, she told him to call her 'Vega,' for it would be easier to comprehend than the knowledge of her true name.  She said:
 

". . . What good is all that mass of humanity?  Since the dawn of Earth's creation it has not yet served itself.  It's greatest violence against itself lies in the future."


"A human can devolve to as infinite a savagery as he can evolve to an infinite sphere of splendorous beauty."


"Evil in our world does not exist; only the love of pure learning."


"Do you not agree, Adam, that evil is willful ignorance?"

The space ship was said to be controlled by a monitor ship, as Vega explained: "They see all our movements, hear all our words, and know precisely what to do and when to do it . . . our beloved superiors do not make mistakes of which you or I would be aware."

As Adam’s journey through space progressed, the entire rear hull of the bubble-like craft became transparent.  Vega gave him a capsule that brought a sensation of complete exuberance.

 

"You can better endure the sight with that capsule," she said.  "Also, your conscience and subconscious will receive it in more detail, and with deeper appreciation."  

She told him further that after being absorbed fully this nectar would give him equilibrium and soon thereafter they discussed the speed of the space ship.

Orfeo wrote:
 

Adam had not yet learned that a mysterious force we call destiny had long ago, from the birth of time itself, sown a thread of preordainment, invisible to the physical eye but visible and sensible to the intuition of basically good beings.


Thus, two beings rode on in a space ship a ten million miles per hour, worlds apart in evolution's scale, but close together in Creation's intent.

Orfeo told Vega that he didn't understand or like the term she used 'superiors' so she thereafter referred to them as 'peers.'  She then revealed to Adam that her planet orbited the star known on Earth as Alpha Centauri.  Vega admitted that she was among a minority of her civilization that lagged behind the others.
 

It is easier to fall, Adam, than it is to rise.  It is easier to spend than to earn.  Civilizations rise one person at a time, but they can fall at once.  If a whole world rises, yet overlooks one lower being, that being could begin the toppling of the whole, no matter what the number involved or the length of time required.

She commented that "learning and love are halves of each other."

"At this moment, and only for a few moments, you love me and I love you.  This is merely momentary, an outpost of love, and shall pass behind us as we move on.  But we still love, and love is our final destination, no matter where we set our course.  In a few hours, we shall have forgotten each other as entities.

"Adam, because of this awakened love you now feel, you will be seeking it forever."

Adam reacted with telling her that he didn't want to leave her or forget her.  Vega explained, "You have not met her yet."

Adam asked who was this 'her.'
 

"You will spend a few days with her.  You will just call her 'Launie.'" 

"To you she will seem superb.  Yet she is one of the most retarded ones in our world.  She thrives on occasional adventures, but I do not infer what the word ‘adventure’ would mean on your earth.  She is not base.  She simply resembles a humming bird in her motions.  She hovers, tastes, and darts away to the next frivolity.  You will find bliss with her, and she an adventure in you.  Neither of you will be unduly affected.  Both of you will learn much that will broaden your scopes, even after your stay together is but a dim memory."

"We, the retarded ones, will be sharing your rapture—yours and Launie's—for all of us have been informed of your stay with us. . . ."

Vega explained that on her planet, which is no larger than Earth, the "unattained ones" numbered not quite five hundred million of the twenty billion population predominated by peers.  She said, "We not only obey them; we honor and love them.  You will learn why very shortly."
 

From her words and manner, Adam surmised that he was to be master of the situation at all times, because it was his world, his solar system and his sun, regardless of his stature in the scale of evolution.

All these facts his subconscious mind had evidently picked up, recorded, and now released to his intuition in a flash.  Thus he not only felt but knew he was being transported to a visiting space ship in which were housed half a million "moronic elegants," ignorant by their own standards, but to the eyes of earthmen, gods and goddesses, cosmic "morons" held to a course toward ascension by their peers.

Adam was in reverie, and in its depths the entire universe lay bare its secrets before him.  He murmured, "Oh my God, why have you given me so much?  My cup runneth over.  I have so much of abundance.  Like an egg, it is enclosed in a thin shell, breakable, but not vulnerable.  Oh, God, wherever Thou art, whatever Thou art, since my cup runneth over in abundance, may You see that it spills over on those who so need even a drop of this . . . this essence of fullness."

With these thoughts, earth Adam had transformed into cosmic Adam, and he felt a sovereignty within himself that was new and strange to him.

Vega spoke to him about the purpose of this trip —
 

Adam, it is this way: Knowledge in its highest sense would be but a skeleton without the warmth of love.  The skeleton appeals to very few, but the clothing around it appeals to all beings.  Love was not only the motivating force at the beginning of worlds, but it is also the ultimate goal which we seek. . . .

While Vega spoke to Adam in excellent English, he asked to hear a few words of her own language; however, the sounds meant nothing to him.  The "one language of the cosmos" was divulged to be comprised of intuition first and thought second.  Seemingly accentuating his intuitions, the music that emanated was attributed to be under the direction of the monitor space ship nearby.  When the music changed to a vibrant and lively tempo, Vega said: "Adam, that is my people's anthem; the anthem of our own planet.  When we land on our home ship you may refer to our social strata as the 'regulars' and the 'peers.'"

Adam with Vega soon landed on her home space ship stationed in the outer atmosphere of Venus.  The home base was a self-composed world ten miles in diameter and housing nearly half a million ‘regulars’ and not more than 1,000 of the ‘peers.’  "One name sought to fill his entire consciousness, the name of Launie.  The wearer of the name would be touchable flesh-and-blood, he felt sure."

Vega encouraged Adam to give the home ship a name and he selected "Andromeda."
  

Their small craft was now gliding at less than twenty miles per hour, gracefully weaving and dipping toward the center of this little artificial world.  Adam saw the area below him as they soared in midair over the beautiful city; a city inside a huge spacship.

Vega threw kisses with her hand to the waving throng just below.  By the thousands they kissed back, with graceful hands and child-like smiles.


Their craft was overtaken by a long ship which went forth as if oblivious to the waving people below.

"That is the ship which monitored us here from earth," Vega announced.  "It is going to its hangar."

Their own little craft descended to barely ten feet above the grassy streets, and slowed to a glide.  The people cheered by song as they waved, bowed gracefully, or danced about.  It was one grand symphony of welcome for Adam, the earthman, and for the historic adventure that was Vega's.

Their space ship landed in the center of Andromeda where there were buildings of great size that evidently were the governing facilities.  The sight of the crowd established that there was nothing different about them from Earth's people.  Upon saying good-bye to Adam, Vega told him:

"I am now going to see our entire trip reviewed by recording.  A group of our peers waits to review it with me.  Among them will be Lyra, Orion, Neptune.  Saturn also will be present."

As she spoke the name "Saturn," the crowd pealed a melodic song.  The mention of his name enraptured these people.  Vega walked away with her escort, and as she did so, some girls touched her clothing gently in admiration as she walked by them.  Girls will be girls, thought Adam, the universe over.  He followed, with his guide holding his hand as they walked, much like happy children.

"You need not name me, Adam," said his guide.  "You will meet too many of us to recall each by name.  You are not gifted at recalling names, so do not even try.

"Saturn is our chief here on the ship Andromeda.  His name and the ship’s name, as you know, are so given merely for your benefit.  His name suggests the planet of your own solar system.  It represents the beautiful symbol of the atom, hydrogen.  It is also the symbol of the universal systems after their attainment to perfect symmetry.  Our chief is that to us, so the name you give him fits well."

One new acquaintance identified himself to Adam as one of the ‘regulars’ for whom what is yet mystery is to their ‘peers’ elementary knowledge.  Adam was escorted to "a large building, its plastic structure glowing with a translucent green color.  A large golden dome shone above it."  He was greeted by singing children.  His guide went elsewhere and returned with a young lady, who informed Adam he would partake of breakfast while the others had lunch.  The young lady said, "Let us sing now for Adam."  Those who gathered "like a heavenly choir" sang Stephen Foster’s "Beautiful Dreamer."

'Beautiful Dreamer" performed by Roy Orbison

Adam glanced at the young lady standing on the platform and her glance met his in complete understanding.  The man next to him informed him about the young lady and the man who had been Adam's guide, "They are not wedded mates.  They are, however, in love, and when they fully decide to become partners they shall wed . . . Both of them are teachers of our children . . . The latitude of our teachers is equaled by the freedom of the pupils."

When Adam felt his body becoming numb and his vision hazy, the young lady with graceful haste put a pellet in his glass and filled it with water.  "As it fizzed and bubbled she put it to his lips."  She explained that the nectar given him by Vega had almost worn off: ". . . You were not dying physically, but dying from our estate back into your own.  You began to sense your true identity again, that of Adam, the physician; the physician of earth."

Then, children brought him the latest copies of his favorite newspaper and magazine on earth.  "They were not delivered to us," said the boy, vibrantly.  "We have hobbies here, just as your people have.  Some of us telemeter photos and news of events on your earth every day.  We have reproduced these two copies for you Adam."  The little girl told him it was time for him to get to sleep.  She also clasped a bracelet around his left wrist, explaining: "This is for your identification.  Should you become lost in the cosmos, all travelers of space would know where you hail from, and in whose care you are."

The young woman and her escort indicated to Adam that they would see him to the cottage that was to be his lodging.  As the man who had been Adam's first guide on Andromeda was departing, Adam learned that his name was Leo.  The young lady teacher said, "I would come with you now if you say so.  I would, Leo, if you truly say it."  Leo merely smiled, nodded his head and said to Adam: "Tomorrow you will meet in truth your Launie, who will give you the finishing touches of what all mortals must have for fullness of living and learning."

When Adam mentioned that he didn't know the name of the little teacher, she told him: "Whatever name you give me I shall accept, with pleasure."

Adam called his new hostess Lily as Leo encouraged him: "Know that the best things to come are only a little beyond the present, and that awareness is your best guide . . . Do not wallow in the present and crawl not after the past. . . ."

Lilly then said:
 

"Adam, you have justified Leo's faith in earth's people.  You have made him glad that you and I will be alone for a time.  This is one time in your life and mine that Alpha Centaurians, my people, have removed all recording facilities from our two lives.  Higher beings from other worlds no doubt record us just the same.  It will be my pleasure to bring you into my world for a while, and it is for you to bring me into yours.  I believe we shall find them to be essentially one.  Do you not feel as I do?"

Alone with Lily after sharing another round of glasses with pellets, Adam told her, "I do not wish to meet any other woman of your world.  I want to be with you."  During their conversation, Lily mentioned that the cottage was hers and an extra room had been added as his bedroom.  She informed him that this would still be his home after he met Launie.

When music was heard, Lily ran into the living room to turn a small dial so that the wall became a television unit that showed a three-dimensional view of three men and one woman walking together.  Lily became elated that the chief and three of the peers would soon be arriving at the cottage.  Preparing to give a "dance of welcome" for them, she asked Adam to select the song before rushing to her bedroom.
 

Then he saw what he thought was a vision but it was no vision.  It was Lily emerging from her room in time with the crescendo of the familiar earth tune, "Siboney."  He had been unaware that he had requested the song when she asked him to state his choice.

Wearing gleaming apparel that was scant yet artistic and proper, Lily danced as Saturn walked in, followed by Neptune, Orion and the lovely Lyra.  "Their clothing was simple, fitting perfectly, and looking like silk sprinkled with diamond dust."

Each elegant member of the group welcomed Adam as Lily's dance "gave faithful interpretation to each note . . . Lily was simply carrying out one of their customs, namely, that the lesser ones in evolution present themselves to the greater ones in the fullness of their entire beings, such as the dance through which she was now expressing herself."

  "Siboney" performed by Olga Guillot

Orion said, "Adam, we will not stay long, because you need sleep . . . When you awaken from your sleep you will be ready to learn all that your whole being as a man of near perfection might learn . . . We give thanks to the Creator for this opportunity to share with you what we have."

Saturn looked intently under Adam's right ear and put his finger there to rub the spot gently as Adam sat comfortably on a chair.
 

"All gone, isn't it?" he asked.

It was gone, indeed.  The little lump, the herald of doom, was not there.  Adam could hardly believe it.

"Yes, it is gone," Saturn said.  "The beverage Launie gave you a while ago destroyed all the nuclei of the cancer cells.  Metastasis has ceased temporarily.  The sarcoma has been returned to its root origin.  It will evolve again, but a month has been added to your earth days, Adam."

Neptune next spoke:
 

"Adam, our hostess and yours, whom you have called Lily, is in truth your Launie.  She is one of our little funmakers here; it is just a harmless pastime.  She has much to learn, so she is a teacher of some of our children and thereby learns through teaching.  You have been with Launie since you first set foot on Andromeda."

The following paragraphs show Adam and Orfeo's perspective of this turn of events.
 

Adam felt rushing relief from his guilty conscience, his feeling of duplicity in having been drawn from one lovely girl to another.  Lyra and Launie had suddenly become silent in the kitchen.  Now, for some inexpressible reason, Adam felt wedded, wedded to a girl he scarcely knew.  He looked toward the doorway of the kitchen.  Launie was standing there, draped in a white dress, in which she looked like an exotic flower in full bloom. . . .

Music soon was heard again.
 

Adam recognized the music as a familiar one of earth called "La Vien Rose."  It fitted the flowing presence of Lyra perfectly, but it was the lesser Launie who held his whole being spellbound in total love, for Launie was on a level he could fathom.  After all, Lyra was one of the peers, unreachable to his appreciation and to his less evolved senses.  Lyra was almost of a mirage, but Launie was warmly real.

Before long Launie and Lyra were bringing in two trays holding glasses of beverage. . . .


Launie lifted her glass to her lips, and suddenly broke into tears.  Lyra gave vent to her own emotions, following with tears of equal volume.  The men were at a loss to understand this outburst.  Orion looked intensely at Lyra.  Saturn and Neptune held their poise, but glanced at each other as if to say silently, "Thus be all learning and true ascension of soul; painful, delightful but progressive; and thus even the lowest rises up, and becomes a glorified one."

Launie also mentioned, "Every second of your trip here was recorded by our Antares, whom you will meet on the morrow."
 

"La Vien Rose" performed by Lady Gaga

(Consistent readers of this blog will be reminded of the symbolic significance of the rose for one engaged in developing a perspective of metaphysical aspects of life and love.)

*          *          *          *

At dawn of a Saturday, Adam suggested to Orfeo, "Let's continue this tonight."  Orfeo warmed up a cup of coffee for himself before going to sleep.

By late afternoon, the effect of the nectar had almost completely worn off on Orfeo.  At 7 pm, he again joined Adam at Tiny's Cafe.  "He lost no time in preparing a glass of nectar for me."  And then they "drove our cars onto the driveway of Earl's little cottage for the second time."  Adam's narrative then continued.
 

After Saturn and his companions had left them alone, Adam felt a pleasant lethargy, then a desire for sleep.

"Adam," Launie said, "go to bed whenever you wish, but go before fifteen minutes are up or you will be asleep wherever you are."


Never on earth, Adam thought, had such a lovely woman been so attentive to a man and yet belonged so completely to another man.

Upon awaking and having breakfast, Adam inquired about the food being served, "Do your people still eat animals?"  Launie replied with a smile, "We at home or on our base ships produce everything synthetically, as you would say." Speaking about her planet's moon, she said: "One thing to remember, Adam, is that for every pound of weight we brought to our moon we removed a pound of moon matter, to keep its weight original, and to keep the orbits in balance. . . ."

When Launie took Adam for a ride on an amazing gondola-like craft, she explained that the reason for the dark sky was that they were on the night side of Venus. 
 

"We are going to meet our chief astronavigator.  For your sake, we shall call him Antares, after the great star."

No sooner had she spoken his name than hundreds of humans soared into the air.


There were objects under their feet which looked like round skates.


"You see, Adam, they wear crystal-plastic shoes, which simply ride the magnetic waves.  The entire floor of Andromeda functions in the same way, as do our little craft here and our larger space ships, and as do the solar systems, the galaxies and the cosmic spheres-within-spheres. . . ."

When Adam mentioned that he was tempted to kiss her, Launie responded, laughing: "Go ahead, handsome one.  Leo would like to hear you say it too."
 

What to him was akin to a spiritual unfoldment was adventure for the sake of a little bit of learning to her.


[Launie informed him about the people in the air] "They all stayed grounded  until you and I appeared in the air.  It was a fine gesture on their parts toward you."

"Launie, do you not feel somewhat flattered with all this attention you are getting along with me?"  Adam wanted to know.

"No, not flattered, Adam.  We rarely are flattered.  We know joy and communion of spirit in such displays as these.  When any one of us receives a privilege or widespread attention, the rest of us are glad, and confirm that one's singular joy of the moment with some form of rejoicing.  Some day your own earth will know this fullness of living."

Their small vehicle slowed down and landed on the flat roof of a large building, where other crafts were parked.  Launie told him: "This building is our central astronavigational headquarters.  From here we control and keep in contact with all our smaller ships in the sector of Andromeda, including Andromeda herself . . . Antares is the chief of the department."

Launie and Adam went to the main office.  His impression was of being in "a sort of broadcasting station."  Antares was sitting at his desk when he welcomed Adam, who responded by stating, "All that I see and learn is appreciated, and I revere it.  At this moment it seems I have lost the dividing line between what I once called matter and spirit.  I wonder if there ever was a dividing line?'"

Antares asked, "Adam, do you think you would have appreciated all this if you had not met Vega and Launie?"  Adam answered, "No, I wouldn't.  I would have seen everything as merely material knowledge . . ."

Antares told him: ". . . you will learn enough to give you peace of mind, and the rapture of awakening to some extent.  Your material life ended when you closed your office for reasons beyond your control; but because there was the slight spark of the angel in you, you ascended, as it were, another rung up the ladder of spirituality. . . ."

After Antares pushed a button, Launie "accepted his arm around her shoulders and his kiss her on the cheek with such docility Adam felt a pang of painful jealousy."  Antares said to him, "When I pushed that button, Andromeda could tune in on us by sound and vision.  You may be sure that Leo too is tuned in on Launie, not to spy but to look upon her.  We do not know such emotions as jealousy, having forgotten them ages ago. . . .'"

Adam was directed to look around the building.  "All was being done by the retarded ones, supervised by a few peers such as Antares . . ."  Returning to the main office, Launie and Adam sat down as Antares showed a 'film' to them.
 

"You are looking at one of our televisions, my friend.  All our walls and partitions have this same capacity for electronic function."


"There, Adam," Antares explained, "is your solar planet Saturn.  As you look upon it, know that you are looking upon the exact replica of the atom, hydrogen.  Yes, your nine planets are replicas or symbols of some dramatic function of nature that underlies invisibly what we perceive visibly."


"Now, let us go directly to the surface of Jupiter . . ."

The information given resulted with Adam becoming "excited by the words which verified his own theories."  When the surface of Jupiter is viewed, Antares explains, "The misty vapor you see is that of molten metal."

Concerning the three spherical craft that submerged into the red "spot" and then returned to the surface, Antares explained: "They are spherical for the purpose of strength, not only in the vacuum of space but for the pressures of submergence in any ocean, or in any medium."

Adam is informed about a "red ocean of molten metals."  
 

". . . Can you imagine diving into a cauldron of molten metals more than ten thousand miles deep?  To us this is what you would call routine.  The floor of that blistering ocean," he continued, "goes to the very center, or the core of Jupiter.  In fact, the whole ocean is born because of the seed-cell area, which is only a few hundred yards in spherical diameter in the very center of old Jupiter.  Your earth has the same hot cell in its center, born of the great pressure that gravity exerts, and all atoms in that center are smashed to shapeless energy, fuming and seething to regain symmetrical form as atoms.  Your sun is so much greater in mass that it smashes a far larger area in its center into formless energy, and it asserts itself throughout the entire sun body, rendering the whole sphere radiant and lighted.  Your earth expels this energy by way of volcanoes, hot geysers, hot springs and earthquakes.  Jupiter expels its inner core by way of its red spot, which you now know as that burning orange sea.  The sun shines forth in majestic, life-giving light, radiance and heat.  This is the secret of all the bodies of the universe," Antares concluded.

Launie participated in answering some of Adam's questions —
  

"No matter how you approach the study of nature, you come upon that intangible, elusive yet vibrant thing called Purpose and Order.  It always lies exactly in the middle of the effects we observe and the causes we seek."


"For instance, think of the terms ‘Positive and Negative,’ ‘Action and Reaction,’ ‘Cause and Effect.’  What have you in the final analysis?  Just the same two essentials.  But in between these terms there is always the word, ‘and.’  So, there is the essence."


"It is always at the center, at the word ‘And,’ that life emerges.  It exists first, last and always.  It is what our peers are seeking at this very moment.  It is what all intelligent life is seeking.  What is that middle?  What goes on in that word, ‘And,’ which separates all countermotion?  Only there will we find the ultimate answer.  Only here can we find the Eternal Being of life.  Do you understand what I am saying, Adam?"

  
Adam watches as Alpha Centaurians within their spherical ships plunge into the metal ocean to take up many kinds of metal in various stages of molecular states.  Antares said: "Incidentally, that ship in the center was piloted by Leo, whom you have met here.  Now we shall take the roar you hear from Jupiter's red ocean and concert it to music by our crystal modulators.  Listen."

The Andromeda people's "prize astrophoto" from the cosmos as "captured by the best molecular telescope camera" was divulged as showing the "Corona," a small constellation with a "majestic planet" having two moons, one on each side, around which there were "six great satellites, each one the exact replica of Saturn, each a symbol of the pure element, hydrogen."  Antares commented:
 

"We have never been able to hold that majestic cluster in view, Adam.  When we lose it we do not find it in the same area again, but once in many years we re-locate it in an entirely different section of the Cosmos."

 

"By this time you may be ready to ask, could this be part of the very Throne of Creation?  We ask the same. . . ."  

Orfeo wrote about Adam's response to this instruction: "He felt for the first time like a full equal to Antares and Launie, and to any mortal being in the whole universe . . . Now he could look upon Launie, not as one inferior to her but, alas, perhaps even superior . . . In the pure light and glory of the Corona, which again overcame him, Adam could see Launie as an equal and as a woman.  She was at once a beautiful creature, free of negative qualities, and a fellow being in the vibrant universe who lent her beauty and her feelings to soften the otherwise grinding friction of mere existence . . . With so many thoughts and emotions racing through him, it was now difficult for Adam to know whether it was the Corona which revealed Launie in her true self or if it was Launie's presence which gave the Corona its divine semblance."

Antares excused himself to his duties just after another man walked into the room.  One of the peers associated with Saturn, Orion then instructed Adam about elements and physics.
 

"Tomorrow you will learn some of our ideals and aspirations, which are a strong part of our religious convictions.  We long ago learned that matter and spirit are intercompounded, and we have not yet been able to find a single instance where one is apart from the other.  But then, we still have so much to learn.  Today you will be prepared in regard to our knowledge of the physical world so tomorrow’s interview with Saturn will not be unintelligible to you."

Adam also encountered Mercury, who was head teacher and student in the physics section.  Mercury said that he thought he was more cut out to be a theologian than a physicist and added "just as Adam, here.  He knows well what I mean."  Adam replied, "Yes, I do understand.  How you people surely know me, my actions and my thoughts!  How on earth do you manage it?"  This question went unanswered while Mercury spoke further and mentioned Adam's familiarity with one of the written works by Orfeo Angelucci.
 

You have had a similar experience, called the sudden moment of enlightenment, the cosmic consciousness and many other names, but we shall call it the Cosmic Splendor.


There was one being on earth who was born with it, grew up in its glow, lived every moment in the fullness of it and lost it not even in the torture of the cross.

When Adam expressed surprise hearing this from a true physicist, Launie told him that, "True physics merges into metaphysics, and true metaphysics must come upon physics.  Neither is of the highest order unless it comes face to face with the other."
 

"All right, Adam," Mercury resumed. "You have seen our ships and observed their functions in outer space and within Andromeda, which is herself as superb as any of the craft we know.  Indeed, you see a little world in Andromeda, self-sufficient, and evolving, though we are nearly four and a half light years distant from our home planet.  These accomplishments come from reverence as much as from applied physics.  We cherish everything about us, and our peers live with the delight of the Cosmic Splendor pervading their consciousness.

"Now, the physics," Mercury went on. "Try to recall The Nature of Infinite Entities while I bring some of your own type of ginger ale to you.  It was in such a bubbling liquid that this concept was first conceived in the author’s mind."

Mercury described during the summer of 1946 an event in the life of a man who was "consumed with the desire to know the secrets of nature."  The man was eating a sandwich and drinking some ginger ale when there came the realization that "Atoms were in reality bubbles in the ether!"

"At first, the music he thought he heard was in his own mind, but then we produced some real music for him, barely distinguishable from that which he imagined, so he did not know we were observing.  Yes, there were faces looking on, smiling and beaming, and there were voices from a million choirs truly singing.  We on Andromeda celebrated openly.  Nearly five years later our home planet received the news, and by that time we were making open contact with this man.  It was Orfeo Angelucci."

 

"He was new to such experiences, and he felt God was blessing his discovery.  In the broadest sense it was blessed, but there are hosts in the universe to whom God gives the sublime pleasure of being His intermediaries, and it was these whom Orfeo saw in the ether, floating around with the bubbles.

 

"We have perfect motion pictures of those minutes.  What a transformation came over him!  His eyes were transfixed in high rapture and, like a musical record, the cosmos revolved around and around, giving up one secret after another.  The simple became complex, then returned to the purely simple state of complete oneness."

For Adam this moment was a 'baptism of the Cosmic Splendor.'
 

This new Adam would never know the meaning of the words death or oblivion.

 
"The Ether is the only substance that truly exists."

"From the atom to the solar system, to the galaxies, to the universe and to the beyond-the-beyond, Purpose remains un-altered.  In that Purpose, in that Eternal Light, my whole being tells me the Throne of the Creator is."

"Now I feel I understand the universe as much as any mortal being, and more than many who are still to come upon the Illumination.  I could build superb space ships and conquer disease, but I need the help of millions who would understand my plans and blueprints with keen perception.  There would be much work and play for everyone.  There would be no room for hate, jealousy, or ignorance. Indeed, one person having such negative characteristics would impede the work of millions."

"Whoever gave me the name Adam in your society did rightly, for Adam was the name of the symbolic first man of earth.  I will be dedicated to bringing the light of illumination, much like a rebirth, to my fellow beings on earth, no matter how much longer I am to live upon that sphere.  I will fear no evil, for truth is with me."

After returning to the cottage in the small basket-like craft, a boy and girl awaited Launie and Adam.  Both appeared to be about ten years of age.  A book had been laid on the table. 
 

"We have brought it, Launie," said the boy, picking the book up again and handing it to Adam.  "We completed it just a short while ago."  Adam looked at its title, The Secret of the Saucers, and asked, "I have never heard of this.  When was it published?"  "It has not been published as yet on earth, but it is soon to go to the press," said Launie, "and this is the finished product as the publisher has decided to print it.  It will be released within three months on earth."

 

Launie then went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, handing it to Adam.  As he took it in hand, she dropped a small pellet in, bringing the water to a sparkling fizz.  "Drink it, Adam.  It will give you calm vitality for a few hours. You can read the book while I am gone, and you will have finished it by the time I return. It is not very long and is easy to read."

It was comforting to know that another man of earth had been here before, even if not in physical reality.  Certainly this author must have been given the exact description of things here to have written of them.  He, Adam, was not only here in fact, but learning much more than this book revealed.

When Launie told him they would dine out, he asked, "Shall I dress?"
  

"You are dressed, Adam.  Look at yourself."

Indeed he was.  His clothes were of a different color, soft and silken looking.  He went to the mirror in his room.  Blue background, with starry dots and gentle rays.  How on Andromeda did they do this?  He went back to Launie in the living room.  Her clothing also had changed in the moment he had left her.  

Arm in arm, they walked along the grassy paths and streets to the Cafe Venus.
 

They were escorted to a table, and as soon as they were seated one wall became a three-dimensional television screen.  Sailing ships on a realistic sea were shown, and Columbus's landing on the eastern shores of the Atlantic—an actual picture four hundred and fifty years old—was viewed, the voices of Columbus and his men plainly heard.  Then the Mayflower giving its passengers to America, as well as many other outstanding events of earth’s history were shown, all of them actual recordings.

 

After dinner there was an hour’s stage show.  Adam knew it would be many centuries before anything like this could be reproduced on earth.  Had he not taken the nectar it would have been too much for him to see and hear.  Included were a few of the best compositions of earth, arranged in the incredibly beautiful orchestrations of the Alpha Centaurians.
 

Among the several hundred diners this evening, not one of the peers was there, but all of the diners were elegant in appearance and behavior.
 

On the way home, Adam noticed nearly no traffic overhead.  In the dome-like sky above Andromeda he saw the heavy clouds again, all moving in one direction, with occasional darts of lightning flitting here and there.  Strangely, there was no thunder.
 

They approached the home cottage, which Adam noticed was the third one from the corner.  He paused awhile and looked at the corner house.  Then he looked at the second.  His face lighted up as he looked at Launie, who was already smiling at him in advance confirmation.
 

"Launie!" he exclaimed, pointing to the corner house, and to the second one.

 

"Yes," said Launie.  "It is.  You have really read that book, haven’t you?  The comer cottage is Lyra’s, and the next one to it is Orion’s.  The third is mine, and for a while yours also.  You go to sleep now and rest, Adam.  When you awaken we shall go to Saturn.  Neptune will be present, as will Orion, Lyra, and myself.  Our meeting will be in Lyra’s dwelling."

  

*          *          *          *

After describing the narrative of Adam on their second night together, Orfeo wrote some paragraphs expressing his contemplation of humanity's Creator, 'Infinite Omnipotence' and 'the all-presence of the ultimate Intelligent Power.'  Some specific events that morning set him to consider his being "directed by some unseen Power" and he commented, "Perhaps [elucidation about] these things would come out tonight, when Adam concluded his story."

In the morning, Launie told him that they would have breakfast with the peers in Lyra's house.
 

Within a few moments they walked into Lyra’s house, which was made to resemble one of the fine homes of earth, and Adam felt a glow of comfort and welcome surge through his entire being.

Six teenagers served them — three young lads and three maidens — one for each guest.  They went about their business of serving without a flaw, not interfering in any way with the dining or the conversation of the guests.  They served the table with delight and enterprise, as though it were a high privilege.  At the end of breakfast the guests went into the comfortable living room, while the young ones set everything back in order and left unobtrusively.

Saturn discussed the Holy Bible with Adam.
 

"Would you say, then, that it is the Word of God?" Saturn asked.


"Yes, Saturn," he spoke up.  "It is the Word of God.  Just as much so as the truth from the mouths of babes is the Word of God.  Just as much so as what I am now saying or will ever say is the Word of God.  Just as much so as any word, from any source, is the Word of God.  Some words are mistaken and some are correct.  It is not God which is mistaken . . ."

"Whether you are right, Adam, or whether you are wrong, I frankly admit I do not know, but I agree with your attitude completely," Saturn said.  "Now that you have assumed a position equal to the moment, may I proceed to speak, promising at the same time not to break through any premise or salient that has not already been established somewhere on earth?"

The following are some passages from the description of Saturn's conversation with Adam.
 

"You see, Adam, Moses led a mass of people out of bondage of other people, but not out of evil.  The people had to find their own way out of evil.  And Joshua did not do better by breaking down the gates of Jericho, or its walls.  Remember always that evil in itself is ignorance, and therefore ignorance is evil.  Shed light on any darkness and it is no longer dark.  Shed knowledge on ignorance and ignorance no longer exists.  The love of pure learning is the only true virtue that exists, and apathy and care-not attitudes are the only sins that be.  The rankest atheism is nothing more than the manifestation and expression of lazy minds and ignorant souls.  Allegories and symbolic expressions are the underlying and steadfast truths of things that were and are yet to be. . . ."


"Many ages ago, our civilization was where yours is today.  Our sciences were theoretical and problematical, our creeds and doctrines rested purely on allegory and symbolism.  Then, one person brought forth a concept of the nature of nature which served as a point of departure from the bottom up, and answered all questions that could be raised.  It not only served us materially but opened up the human vista to such truths that our spiritual essence gradually rose with it."


"Even a so-called atheist is interested in the history or origin of earth and its life, and he is concerned about the future of the earth as is the most pious person.  He will exert effort and give his life for his own ideal, yet he professes to believe in nothing.  You see, there is no such thing as an atheist.  Such a person is merely ignorant of facts and blind to truths.  But the hypocracy of the pious one levels him to the same order as the atheist."


"So, we are all really one in essence, and since we are all concerned about the future, we must agree that the concern is a natural instinct.  A natural instinct is always unerring.  Deep inside our subconscious we all know we do not really die.  As long as life exists anywhere, none of us dies, and we feel intuitively that this is so.  Some of us see it clearly and plainly, and we call ourselves enlightened.  It is nothing more than knowing our own instincts.  The moment you die from your body, Adam, you cease to exist as you are, but you cannot go to oblivion, because oblivion has no consciousness.  Wherever life exists, you will again feel yourself as one unit of it although the entire universe became devoid of all but one mortal.  If that one were to disappear, then all life would have sublimated back to God, from whence it always was in the first place."


"Life is everlasting, both your life and mine.  What we leave behind when we go out, that is what we shall inherit when we come in, at the very next instant.  It becomes plain that, if only for selfish reasons, it pays to learn and to teach.  If there should be twenty billion people on earth near perfection and one should be either ill or unlearned, all attention would be focused on that one.  He would be the best known individual on earth.  He could start that civilization back to retrogression, like a germ in a body."

The following passage is Neptune's answer to Adam's question "are the ignorant and the malevolent made also in the image of the Father?"
 

"The Fatherhead is Infinite.  It has a Triune Personality, and you are considering only the two of Him; in fact, hardly more than one.  Remember, Adam, Positive and Negative, Action and Reaction?  These exist even in the Ultimate One.  The word ‘and’ is His third aspect, and completes the Triune Being.  Whereas mortals know life only at the third manifestation, or as the result of the Positive and Negative, the Father knows all three forms of Life simultaneously.  This phenomenon is reserved solely for the Father."

 
During an evening gathering at the Café Venus, as Adam noticed the music of "La Vien Rose" beginning to peal from seemingly everywhere around him in an orchestration unequaled by anything he’d heard on earth, an "exquisite" peeress known as Aleva indicated to Saturn that she'd reached a momentous decision.  Launie left the room to return with a tall glass of nectar for Adam.

He took two sips and set the glass back on the table.  He grimaced a little, even though it was delicious.  Somehow it tasted different from all the other potions of nectar he had drunk.  Launie told him it was a little different.  It was more potent, and would calm his system for a much longer period of time than the other mixtures had done in the past.  For at least eighty hours it would enhance his whole being and he would have no need of further help physically.  And, she assured him, when its effect wore off completely, his memories of these days would be deposited deep into his subconscious, to be recalled only as dream, far off, half real and half not.  Only the essence of his recollections would tell if they were real or not.  With that assurance to Adam she bit her lips hard, and wept like a child.


Only Launie was left with him, but it was not the Launie he had known these few days.  She had changed in appearance and in aspect, he noted, as his eyes cleared up from their tears.  He had known an unreachable Launie, a devastating Launie.  Now, before him and close to him was a more real Launie.

 
When Adam spoke to Launie again, he called her "Dora" — the name of a woman he’d known earlier in his life.  Launie disclosed that her people had chosen her to be his host and guide because she resembled Dora more than any of the others on Andromeda.
 

"Yes, you were a good man and a good physician.  But you slighted love, and though you were highly desirable on earth, you remained unreachable to the one who loved you.  She has not been married to any other man.  You were attracted to her, but you let your profession come first.  She waited day after day and month after month, until she no longer knew why.  A face and a voice kept haunting her, and the face and the voice kept saying, 'Wait for me.  I am far from you, but I will come to you.'  So, she still waits."


". . . she owes a few debts, and she cannot bear to think she may pass on with those debts over her head.  When you go back to earth, Adam, rush to her, lift her up financially and hold her in your arms.  She is Launie, Adam, and Launie is Dora."


"Launie," Adam managed to whisper.  "I saw you as Dora, and for the first time loved you as only love could understand.  I cannot wait to return to her.  She has been neglected and frustrated, true enough.  But it was not intentional on my part, and I have received the reward that such selfishness earns.  Somehow, I feel that she also slighted some essence, which if not slighted would have made her mine and I her own long ago.  But it does not matter now.  What matters is that she wants me more than anything else, and I feel the same way toward her.  She is free to claim me, as I am free to claim her.  It is all in good order."

 
Launie also divulged that some of the most daring and inquisitive Alpha Centaurians have traveled into the sun and come out again.  "Only our fittest crafts can make the dip and return, and only our peers have the kind of courage and skill required to do so.  The critical moment inside the star is more than most people could bear . . . When Aleva came to our table and spoke with Saturn, she brought written data from Antares that all was in order for her trip.  Saturn gave his approval.  Yes, she has fully decided to go into the sun, but only if it means something to some branch of learning.  We would have nothing to learn from her trip which would add to our records.  It would not be an exploration for our sake, but it would be for yours."

Adam immediately accepted the offer and Launie replied:
 

"Oh, no, Adam," she replied.  "You have the haste of the reckless.  Your decision while you are still with us would not be valid.  The nectar influences you, our environment molds your mind, Aleva is exciting to you.  You have not long to live, so what would it matter?  None of these reasons are valid with us.  You must decide soberly, of sane mind, and from your home planet.  You must remember that you have happy months awaiting you with Dora, and happiness awaits her because of your returning to her with love.  You must decide with absolute resolve that the exploration is paramount in your desire," she advised him.


"I understand, Launie," Adam said.  "The way I feel at this moment I pray that my decision as Adam, the earthman, will bring me into such an ultimate experience."

 
After Adam swallowed another capsule that Launie gave him, they returned to her house.

 

"Did I not tell you," she said, softly, enchantingly, "that I would be easy to forget?  But only in your vision of another, in a vision of where you belong . . . with Dora.  Your trip back home will be occluded from you in restful sleep.  You have nothing more to see in space for the time being, and you need the rest.  Besides, you must forget and regard your recent experience as just a long dream.  The capsule I just gave you shall bring sleep to you, Adam."

 
Soon after resuming his earthly life, Aleva landed in her ship to greet him outside his rented cabin in the desert.  The ship was a perfect sphere and he entered a craft that Aleva described as "a ship so well constructed it all but breathes and thinks . . . I am the third woman in your extraterrestrial experiences.  There will be no more.  There is no need for more.  If we emerge from the sun, you know that the fourth woman, Dora, your true Earth love, awaits and needs you, as you need her."  Aleva suggested that he call her ‘Eve’ for short whereas Adam named their ship 'the Little Dipper.'

Adam and Eve.  Into the sun, the sustaining light of Creation. God’s candle that was Light when called for.  All by his own decision and desire, though arrived at slowly and painfully like pulling a rib from his side, Adam had determined to experience the ultimate in adventures.


Adam the primitive now felt himself Adam the master.  Yes, now he was aware of the fact that all other mates and partners were east of the sun, and soon he and Eve would be one, fused by its fire into perfect love, into perfect oneness.


Only in the bowels of the sun can man and woman be merged into soulmates, which nothing can rend asunder.  West of the sun is all manner of aspiring evolution.  West of the sun is the fusion of perfection, known only by the highest beings, swarming majestically around the Fatherhead.  Yes, now he knew.  He knew not from what he had fallen, but he knew to what he must aspire.

The ship penetrated the sun's corona.

They were now submerged deep into the very body of the sun.  Adam forgot there was such a place as earth, or that there were any beings other than Eve and himself.  To be here with her was more than an experience.  Without her it would be an intolerable inferno, with her it was the taste of Paradise.  He was tasting love untarnished, love inviolable.

All around them was something without form, one essence extracted from both, the state of limbo and the state of Paradise.  The best and the worst became one mass of light.  Eve gave to Adam the precipitated essence of loving life.  Now he knew why no man could make such a trip without a mate.

The Little Dipper came to a terrifying, grinding stop.  The roar was deafening, the heat almost unbearable.  Adam and Eve perspired freely.  He looked to her for some explanation, but she was prostrate, her head resting on his shoulder.  He was suddenly alone.

Adam could have screamed out for mercy, but the roar would have drowned his voice even to his own ears.  Yet something amid all this, perhaps audible or perhaps just his own ultimate energy, seemed to be saying, “Fear not, for I am with you.”


They had rocketed into the sun at a thousand times the speed of a fast bullet, and were now being ejected by a force within the sun which accelerated the Little Dipper to the same dizzy velocity, much like a volcano spews out molten rock and metal.

Eve asked Adam if he was given the choice to be with any of the women who have awakened him into love for the remainder of his life, which would he select.  His answer was Dora.  Finding herself in the predicament of feeling somewhat inferior to an earthman, the peeress of the Alpha Centaurians mentioned to Adam that "our slowest men, any one of them, would have been just a little more than your equal in the sun."

As the Earth music "La Vien Rose" swelled throughout the interior of the spaceship, the couple discussed the event they had shared.  She touched a button and a section of the hull converted into television to show the crew of the monitor ship.  Among them was the leader of the crew, Enados, Eve's mate.  She gave Adam a small box of pellets to be wisely used as he would get no more of them.  Adam then asked her that if Enados was the true Centuarian name of her mate, how would it be said on earth.  She said, "Well, on earth the equivalent would simply be Adam."

 

"Here, Adam," Eve said, handing him a capsule.  "Take this."

He complied with her request and sat back again in confidence.  She had tears in her eyes, for she, a peeress, had found she was not first place in the choice of a primitive earthman.  From her world Adam would still select Launie.

When he had swallowed the capsule she asked him what number he wanted to hear.  "I would hear again 'Siboney,'" he said.

Eve looked up toward the mother ship, the Big Dipper, and the strains of Siboney filled the Little Dipper, the magnificent little craft that had challenged the sun.

The capsule took effect at once and Adam was sleepy.  Before him in the hull of the ship, the music of "Siboney" produced a beauty who danced to it.  As consciousness slowly left Adam, he watched her move to the familiar rhythms.  As lovely as ever, as poignant on film as she was in person, Launie danced on, her exotic face and eyes angelically lulling Adam into blissful sleep.

 

*          *          *          *

 

During their last moments of their conversation, Orfeo Angelucci wrote that Adam observed himself to be "in the process of waking from another world as yet, and I cannot recall if it was all real or if it was a prolonged dream."  Orfeo said to Adam:

"When the nectar fully wears off and when you feel secure in having deposited this story with me you will come face to face with the reality of it all.  With many who have visions and dreams which make their life more meaningful, we find that the vision or dream is but the conscious embodiment of many facts which had been forgotten until the vision wrested them from the buried storehouse of the subconscious. . . ."

Orfeo appraised that the end of Adam’s story signifies the beginning of his own awakening between two worlds —

The world in which he lived now was a pageantry of evolution never ceasing.  The other world was similar, but its form of evolution seemed to be less complex and given to deeper searchings.  Yes, the other world was something for earth men to aspire to.  Adam, having spent seven short days in a small view of it, was no longer adapted to his normal function on earth.  How could he go back to his profession?  The glory of the future pervaded his whole being like a Divine essence and he wanted to savor of it every moment.  He could see the potential for his own earth, but it would take much time and billions of people to bring this spacial globe into alignment with such beauty.  But it did not seem impossible.  The faith within him had concerted Adam the mortal, into Adam the angel.