I was inside the vessel, entering a dark chamber illuminated by the light coming from a violet candle.

“SHAVATENU KABEL… USHEMA ZAKATENU… YODE TA’ALUMOT … ”

As I completed the last verse of the mantra, I saw a figure seated on the floor on the opposite side of the candle. The alien was a biped, clothed in a strange body garment. Its skull was narrow, adorned with brown fur that stopped at its jawline. On each side of its head were two fleshy protusions that appeared to accentuate the being’s hearing holes.

I wondered if the creature could see, for its eyes were small and partially concealed behind skin flaps. Its flesh was thick, especially around the nose and mouth. Most bizarre—each paw possessed five thick digits.

Was the being intelligent?

Endeavoring to find out, I communicated my thoughts. “I am called Avi Socha.”

I opened my eyes, disoriented from having passed through the center of the whirling electrogravitic rings. For some reason I was back inside the chamber above the generator, the darkness pierced by the light coming from a violet candle.

Seated on the floor opposite the flickering light was an extraterrestrial, one of the Grays described to me by Colonel Vacendak. Its head was elongated and hairless and perched precariously atop a spindly neck. Its eyes were big and black and had no exterior lids. Nor did it have ears, just holes. Its hands were thin and double-jointed, possessing three long fingers and an opposable fourth digit. The E.T.’s torso was clothed in a white tunic. I had no idea whether it was male or female… or both.

I jumped as its inner voice communicated to me. “I am called Avi Socha.”

“I am Zachary Wallace,” I said aloud.

My spoken words appeared to startle it. “You cannot communicate telepathically?”

“No. But I can hear your thoughts.”

I felt the being’s emotions darken, as if my response had disappointed it.

“Is there a more intelligent species on Berudim that I might communicate with? Perhaps one more like me?”

“I don’t know. Where is Berudim?”

The E.T. mentally projected an image of an alien planet above the candle, its atmosphere consumed in dense gray clouds.

“Where is Berudim in relation to Charon? Is it in our galaxy?”

The E.T. grew excited. “You know of Charon?”

“I’ve been having lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences. I think my consciousness was somehow sharing yours.”

“Our consciousnesses remain independent while our physical forms harbor the same soul. This is how we can communicate, through the universal mind. Show me your world, Zachary Wallace.”

I imagined Earth as seen from space.

“So much water… Show me more.”

I zoomed in on the United Kingdom, hovering over London. Gave him a quick tour of the city, then Cambridge University where I had taught long ago.

The image brought back memories of Brandy and William.

“So much sadness. Were we wrong to seed life on Berudim?”