On the western bank appeared an alien dwelling that was somehow familiar…

HASIN KADOSH… BEROV TUVECHA… NAHEL ADOTECHA …

My consciousness hovered over the center portion of the dwelling until it was drawn through a glass partition.

YAHID GE’EA… LEAMECHA PENNE… ZOCHREY KDUSHATECHA …

I was inside a dark chamber, the only light coming from the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offered a view of the lake and the snow-covered peaks of the mountains rising above the far eastern bank. An extraterrestrial being was seated before the glass, its demeanor melancholy as it stared outside at the weather.

SHAVATENU KABEL… USHEMA ZAKATENU… YODE TA’ALUMOT… I had moved to hover over the life-form when my consciousness was suddenly drawn into its aura by a magnetic force, inhaling me into a vortex of physicality. And I could hear!

“Zachary, this woman is here tae speak with you. Are ye sober?”

I stood, my temper flaring. “Of course, I’m sober. Hi, I’m Zachary Wallace.”

“C’mon, Zach, wake up!”

I floated in a pool of warmth and serenity, my consciousness gazing down upon the Manta, adrift in the crystal-clear water. Through the cockpit glass I witnessed Jonas straddling my vacant body, pushing against my chest until—

—Gravity gained a foothold, dragging me back into my flesh-bound prison.

Registering the blood rushing into my face, I opened my eyes. “Sorry. Did I oversleep?”

“Oversleep? Jesus … ” Jonas climbed off me, falling back into his seat. “According to the bio-sensors built into your harness, you all but died.” He pointed to a flashing screen showing my steadily rising vitals. “At one point your heart rate dropped below ten beats a minute, and your blood pressure hit goose-eggs. What the hell happened?”

I adjusted my seat, sitting up. “I don’t know. I mean, I know what happened, only it wasn’t me doing it. I was just sort of along for the ride.”

“Try speaking in coherent sentences.”

“I had an out-of-body experience, and instead of sticking around, my consciousness was in another time and place. It had slipped inside another being’s body. And then I was back in my body, in my father’s resort. Seven years ago.”

Jonas just sat there and stared at me like a guy who realizes—too late—that he’s hitched his mule to the wrong wagon.

“Something big is happening here, J.T. Get us going and I’ll try to explain.”

Jonas shook his head, then buckled his harness and powered up the engines, reengaging the autopilot. “I’m listening.”

“There’s a big piece of the puzzle still missing, but I’m beginning to grasp what’s going on. At first I thought this entity had selected me to disseminate its zero-point energy technology to mankind because, well—”

“Because you’re smart.”