CHAPTER 1: Lea

For months I awakened reluctantly each morning, mentally reaching back into my dream state for some indescribable adventure that lay, mistily, just beyond my reach. Last night my longing for its completion was realized. I awakened in another time-in another place in another body.

Lying in the middle of a small grassy clearing, I opened my eyes to a sky of soft azure blue. Trees towered in uncluttered profusion as far as I could see.

The musky scent of new-mown clover was brought to me on the cool morning air. The sound of birds calling to one another filled me with a sense of rightness and peace. My bare body tingled as its tiny hairs bent with the breeze. What beautiful freedom!

Arising, I breathed deeply, filling my whole being with the' beauty of my new surroundings. With a mounting sense of adventure I walked, jogged, then ran through this lovely wooded park. Running had always seemed to me the ultimate in physical freedom. Now I ran on and on with no sense of tiring, enjoying the soft earth under my flying bare feet.

Suddenly I was in a small clearing surrounding a natural fountain.

Swerving to avoid it, I stopped so suddenly that I almost lost my footing.

Tears of joy blurred my vision as I gazed with amazement at my legs-both of them!

Four years ago, in Vietnam, I had lost my right leg, and I had hobbled around on an artificial one ever since, unable to experience the exhilaration of running.

How had my leg returned?

Carefully examining my body, I realized that I hadn't seen it in such great shape since my undergraduate days on the football field. As an extremely active young man, I had had my share of scars, but nowhere was there even a trace of them.

I gave puzzled thanks for this new, apparently perfect, body.

As the morning sun topped the horizon I noticed the almost crystal clarity of the air. How long has it been, I thought, since I've seen a sky so clear and breathed air so fragrantly fresh?

Where could I possibly be? I had gone to sleep last night in Upper Manhattan in a one-bedroom walk-up which I share with my best friend, my stepbrother, Karl Johnson. But I had certainly awakened somewhere else.

Was I dreaming? Would I soon awaken back in my one legged body?

I looked about me eager to fill my eyes before this beautiful new world might suddenly dissolve into an evanescent dream.

A covey of birds startled me as they took noisily to the air. Contemplating their direction, I wondered what season this was. I had gone to sleep on a cold January night, but I had obviously awakened in some other time or place, for it was certainly not winter here.

I began jogging along a path that wound around the flower bed and into the woods beyond.

A shot of ice-cold apprehension burst through me as I realized that I was not alone. There before me stood a radiantly real woman!

She was dressed in an iridescent aquamarine tunic that covered a scant five inches of her shapely thighs. Her cerulean blue eyes caressed me with an all-knowing embrace. The sunlight, sifting through her short golden hair, formed a shimmering halo.

I was so startled to see her and so mesmerized by her beautiful clarity that I literally forgot to breathe!

Those all-knowing, all-accepting eyes seemed filled with dancing lights as she said, "Hi! I'm Lea. I've waited a long time for you, Jon. You don't remember me yet, but you will."

This can't be really happening, I thought.

"Oh yes, it can," Lea answered in a low almost musical voice that caressed my ears in a ticklish sort of way.

Her response to my unspoken thoughts disarmed me. "You mean, I'm not dreaming?"

For a long moment she looked at me thoughtfully. "In a way, yes; and in a way, no," she answered. 'You see, there are two Jon Lakes. One of them is asleep in what you think of as 1976 'time'; the other is standing here with me, in what you would think of as 2150 A.D., occupying the body you're so pleased with-your astral or soul body."

"My astral body? In what year?"

My amazement amused her. "Yes, your astral body. It's almost identical to your physical body except that its electrical vibrations move so fast that it can't be seen by the eyes of the physical body. Your astral body has translated 174 'years' forward in time to what you would think of as 2150 A.D."

"A hundred and seventy-four years!" I exclaimed. "Wow! What a dream! And you say that I've got two bodies?"

"Actually, there are three right now," Lea replied.

"Your 1976 body, minus one leg, is dreaming what's happening to you now. Your 2150 body awaits you. And this body-your astral body-presently houses the unique electronic essence that is called 'Jon Lake.' It is definitely not dreaming." When we get back to our Delta you'll learn more about that before returning to 1976."

Her casual remark that; I would be returning to my physical body delivered a surprising jolt.

"You mean I have to go back to my crippled body?"

"Oh, yes," she answered. "You must always wake up back in 1976 unless you free yourself by attaining a high level of Macro awareness."

"Macro awareness?" I puzzled.

"Macro awareness," she explained, "simply means an 'applied' awareness of the macrocosmic oneness of all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be.

"We here in 2150 are far from total Macro awareness. But we have evolved-to a point where we can remember our macrocosmic origin and practice some of the Macro powers-what you refer to as E.S.P., or extrasensory perception."

Somehow sensing my questions, she added, "You'll learn more about that later," and reached out to take my hand.

The most startling thing happened-her hand passed right through mine!

"What's happened to me?" I exclaimed, trying desperately to take her hand and finding it totally impossible to even touch her.

"It's all right, Jon," she quickly assured me. "I forgot that I'm in my physical body, which naturally can't touch your high-vibration astral body."

"Well, I'll be," I said, more to myself than to her. "I'm a ghost!"

"That's one way to say it." Lea laughed.

"But if I'm a ghost, then how can you see me?"

"I'm not seeing you with my physical eyes, Jon. I'm seeing you with my Macro power of clairvoyance, and I'm hearing you telepathically."

"You can see me and hear me, but you can't touch me?"

"Not yet," Lea replied, "but just as soon as we get to the life continuity lab we'll fit you into your 2150 physical body. Then we'll be able to touch again."

"Again?" I thought, and she heard it.

"You're not ready to understand that yet, Jon."

"Come on. Let's hurry and get you into your new body so we can touch again."

With that last word hanging like a huge question mark in my mind, I found myself running as fast as I had ever run, yet still unable to overtake the beautiful form of my new mind-boggling companion.

Suddenly we topped a wooded hill and began descending into an emerald green valley at the center of which was a sparkling clear blue lake. It was such a captivating sight that at first I didn't notice the twelve large buildings tucked in among the trees that surrounded the lake.

"This is our Delta. It includes twelve buildings and ten thousand people."

As we approached I realized that the lake was much larger than I had first thought, but so also were -the buildings. Each structure was about a hundred and fifty yards square and twelve stories high. They were constructed of lustrous, but opaque, green glass-like material.

I noticed that both men and women were dressed identically in short tunics like Lea's. They differed only in the various predominant colors.

Entering the huge building, we passed some young men and women. They all looked exceptionally attractive and energetic.