THIAOOUBA PROPHECY - 5

The same ceremony followed each time I was introduced, and thus I officially made the acquaintance of all the members of the crew. There was a striking resemblance between them. Their hair, for example, varied only in length and shade, which ranged from a dark copper to a light golden-blond. Some had longer or broader noses than others, but all had eyes of a colour which tended towards light rather than dark, and all had very neat, well-shaped ears.

Latoli, Biastra and Thao invited me to sit down in one of the comfortable seats.
When we were all comfortably installed, Biastra moved her hand in a particular way near the armrest of her seat and I saw coming towards us, floating in the air four round trays. Each carried a container of yellowish liquid and a bowl of something whitish with a consistency similar to fairy-floss but in granulated form. Flat ‘tongs’ served as forks. The trays came to rest on the arms of our seats.

I was quite intrigued. Thao suggested, if I wished to partake of this refreshment, I might like to follow her lead. She sipped from her ‘glass’ and I did likewise, finding it quite a pleasant-tasting drink, similar to a water-honey mixture. My companions used the ‘tongs’ to eat the mixture in the bowls. Following their example, I tasted for the first time what we, on Earth, called ‘manna’. Similar to bread, it is however, extremely light and without any particular flavour. I had eaten only half the amount in my bowl when already, I felt satisfied, which surprised me considering the consistency of this food. I finished my drink and, although I couldn’t say I’d dined in fine style, I experienced a sense of well-being and was neither hungry nor thirsty.
‘Perhaps you would have preferred a French dish, Michel?’ asked Thao, a smile twitching on her lips.

I merely smiled, but Biastra snorted.

Just then, a signal drew our attention to the panel. In the centre, and in close-up, appeared the head of a woman, resembling my hostesses. She spoke rapidly. My companions turned slightly in their seats to better attend to what was being said. Naola, at her desk, entered into a dialogue with the figure on the screen, just as our television interviewers do on Earth. Imperceptibly, the shot changed from the close-up to a wide angle, revealing a dozen women each in front of a desk.

Thao took me by the shoulder and guided me over to Naola, installing me in a seat in front of one of the screens. She took a seat next to me and addressed the people on the monitor. She spoke for some time, rapidly, in her melodious voice, turning frequently towards me. From all evidence, I was the main topic of conversation.

When she had finished, the woman re-appeared in close-up, responding in several brief sentences. To my great surprise, her eyes fixed on me and she smiled. ‘Hello Michel, we wish you a safe arrival on Thiaoouba.’

She waited for my reply. When I had overcome my surprise, I expressed warm thanks. This, in turn, elicited exclamations and numerous comments from her companions, appearing again in a wide-angle shot on the screen.

‘Did they understand?’ I asked Thao.

‘Telepathically yes, but they are delighted to hear someone from another planet speak his own language. For most of them, this is quite a rare experience.’

Excusing herself, Thao re-addressed the screen and, what I assumed was a technical conversation, ensued, including Biastra. Eventually, after a smile in my direction and a ‘see you soon’, the picture was cut.

I say ‘cut’ because the screen did not simply become blank; rather, the image was replaced by a beautiful, soft colour - a mixture of green and indigo blue - which produced a sense of contentment. It gradually faded after a minute or so.
Turning to Thao, I asked what it had all meant - had we rendezvoused with another spacecraft and what was this Thiaba or Thiaoula..?

‘Thiaoouba, Michel, is the name we have given to our planet, just as you call yours ‘Earth’. Our intergalactic base has been in touch with us, as we will be arriving in Thiaoouba in 16 of your Earth hours and 35 minutes.’ This she had checked with a glance at the nearest computer.

‘Those people then, are technicians on your planet?’

‘Yes, as I just said, at our intergalactic base.’

‘This base monitors our spacecraft continually and if we were in trouble for technical or human reasons, in eighty one per cent of cases, they would be able to control our safe return to port.’

This did not particularly surprise me as I had realised I was dealing with a superior race, whose technological possibilities were beyond my comprehension. What did occur to me was that, not only this spacecraft, but also the intergalactic base appeared to be manned by only women. An all female team such as this would be quite exceptional on Earth.

I wondered if Thiaoouba was populated only by women ... like space Amazons. I smiled at the image. I have always preferred the company of women rather than men: it was quite a pleasant thought..!

My question to Thao was direct. ‘Are you from a planet solely populated by women?’

She looked at me with apparent surprise, then her face lit up with amusement. I was a little concerned. Had I said something stupid? She took me by the shoulder and asked that I follow her. We left the control room and immediately entered a smaller room (called the Haalis) which had quite a relaxing ambience. Thao explained that we would not be interrupted in the room, since the occupants acquired, by their presence, the right to absolute privacy. She invited me to choose one of the many seats that furnished the room.
Some were like beds, some like armchairs, others resembled hammocks, while others again, were like high stools with adjustable backs. I would have been difficult to please if one of them did not suit my requirements.

Once settled comfortably in a kind of armchair with Thao facing me, I watched, as her face became serious again. She started to speak.

‘Michel, there are no women aboard this spacecraft...’

If she had told me that I wasn’t on a spaceship but rather, in the Australian desert, I would have more readily believed her. Seeing the expression of disbelief on my face, she added, ‘neither are there any men.’ At this, my confusion was absolute.

‘But,’ I faltered, ‘you are - what? Just robots?’

‘No, I think you misunderstand. In a word, Michel, we are hermaphrodites. You know, of course, what an hermaphrodite is?’

I nodded, quite dumbfounded, and then asked, ‘Is your whole planet inhabited only by hermaphrodites?’

‘Yes.’

‘And yet your face and mannerisms are more feminine than masculine.’
‘Indeed, it might appear so, but believe me when I tell you that we are not women, but hermaphrodites. Our race has always been this way.’

(seems logic in the view of the books from the danish visionary Martinus - who wrote LIVETS BOG - 60-70 years ago - where he explains that we all in one time of evolution will reach a level where we have the the poles in our higher self in total balance - and then we will get the ability to materialize or create our bodys at will. Thaos race seems to be on that level. Runes comment)

On level x2 is our higher self - connected directly to X1 - our super/God-self. X3 is the bodys in different dimensions. Here are shown the physical, the astral and the mental body- layer. On X2 level are the two sex-poles (F-M) that need to be in total balance before we are REAL PEOPLE - being able to create ones own body. As a girl here, the F (feminine) is the dominating -connected to her sexual-centre. Rø- from Martinus ideas and not from the THAO- book.

‘I must confess, this is all very confusing. I’m going to find it difficult to think of you as ‘he’ rather than the ‘she’ I have done since I’ve been among you.’
‘You have nothing to imagine, my dear. We are simply what we are: human beings from another planet living in a world different from yours. I can understand you would like to define us as one sex or the other, for you think as an Earthling and a Frenchman. Perhaps, for once, you could make use of the neuter gender of English and think of us as ‘it’.’

I smiled at this suggestion but continued to feel disoriented. Only moments ago, I had believed myself to be among Amazons.

‘But how can reproduction of your race occur?’ I asked. ‘Can an hermaphrodite reproduce?’

‘Of course we can, exactly as you do on Earth; the only difference being that we genuinely control the births - but that is another story. In good time, you will understand, but now we should rejoin the others.’

We returned to the control post, and I found myself looking at these astronauts with new eyes. Looking at the chin of one, I found it to be more masculine than it had seemed earlier. Another’s nose was decidedly masculine, and the hairstyles of some were now more manly. It occurred to me that we really do see people as we think they are and not as they are.

In order to feel less embarrassed among them, I created a rule for myself: I had taken them to be women, as to me they were more like females than males: thus I would continue to think of them as women and we’d see how that worked.

From where I was, I could follow, on the central panel, the movement of stars as we proceeded on our way. Sometimes they appeared enormous and blinding as we passed by a little too closely - a few million kilometres from them. At times too, we noticed planets of strange colours. I remember one was of an emerald green, so pure I was stunned. It resembled an enormous jewel.

Thao approached and I took advantage of the opportunity to ask her about a band of light that had appeared at the base of the screen. This light was composed of what looked like millions of tiny explosions.

‘These are caused by our anti-matter guns, as you would call them on Earth, and are, in fact, explosions. At the speed at which we travel, the most minuscule of meteorites would shatter this spacecraft were we to hit it. So, we make use of specific rooms to store certain forms of dust under enormous pressure, and this is fed into our anti-matter guns. Our vessel could be considered to be a cosmotron, firing streams of accelerated particles that disintegrate the most microscopic of errant bodies in space, for great distances ahead and to the sides of our spacecraft. This is what allows us to attain speeds that we can. Around our vessel, we create our own magnetic field...’

‘Oh please, not so fast. As you know Thao, I have no scientific background and if you speak of cosmotrons and accelerated particles, you are going to lose me. I understand the principle, which is certainly very interesting, but I’m not good on technical terms. Can you tell me instead, why the planets on the screen are coloured the way they are?’

‘Sometimes because of their atmospheres and sometimes because of the gases which surround them. Do you see a multicoloured point with a tail, at the right of the screen?’ The ‘thing’ was approaching at high speed. Second by second we were better able to admire it.

It seemed to explode constantly and change form, its colours indescribably rich. I looked at Thao.

‘It’s a comet,’ she said. ‘It completes a revolution around its sun in approximately 55 of your Earth years.’

‘How far are we from it?’

She glanced at the computer: ‘4 150 000 kilometres.’

‘Thao,’ I said, ‘How is it you use the numerals of Arabic? And when you speak of “kilometres”, are you translating for me, or do you actually use this measure?’
‘No. We count in Kato and Taki. We use the numerals that you recognise as Arabic, for the simple reason that it is our own system - one which we took to Earth.’

‘What? Please explain further.’

‘Michel, we have several hours before arriving at Thiaoouba. This is probably the best time to start ‘educating’ you seriously on certain matters. If you don’t mind, we’ll go back to the Haalis, where we were before.’

I followed Thao, my curiosity stronger than ever