BALENN

Chapter 3: The first interview

It was time to proceed to the boardroom.  Frank and the hunting party were there now, waiting in the audience along with the press and the TV people. Allen's two telepathic friends had also arrived: Sheila and Rita. They were waiting in the corner, just off stage, to help with translation if necessary. The troop of security men escorted the Ehesti on to the stage. On the way, they passed by Sheila and Rita. Beem smiled at them as he walked past and said in an attempt to be funny. Are you what, they call "ladies of the evening?" Sheila heard him clearer than Rita and she reacted by hitting him with her purse. Beem was shocked. That was not what he expected from his joke. As they stepped up to the podium, Allen gave a brief introduction. This is Bo, Beem and Beenan. Beenan will be the spokesman for all of them. Lights were flashing from personal fl ash cameras. Movie cameras were humming. Stage hands were busy moving the bright TV lights into place. The hustle and bustle finally stopped. Allen sent the sound boom out to a reporter for the fi rst question. Who are you and where do you come from? We call ourselves Ehesti, replied Beenan. We are from the world we call Balenn. Where is this world, called Balenn? Balenn is not a physical planet like those in your galaxy. We live in, not on, our world. To the human eye, our world would seem semi-transparent.

We have an energy source similar to your sun, but without the same light spectrum. Our world refracts the energy from our sun and redistributes it to other smaller worlds in our system, We are thousands of years ahead of your time frame, but closer in space. We occupy a space outside physical properties. Imagine if you will, a time way in the future, when all the galaxies have been explored and everyone knows everyone else. Your new frontier would then be in search of life outside the physical. There you will discover Balenn and the crystalline system. In terms of space occupied, we are quite close to earth. We have been coming here longer then your race has occupied this planet. Allen swung the microphone boom over a few feet for the next question. Are you captured or did you come here willingly? We came here willingly, sort of. We went through the motions of being captured because it was the easiest way of presenting ourselves to you. The Sasquatch Hunting Party began to mumble. They were sure they had captured the Sasquatch. My friends will give you a demonstration, said Beenan.

Bo and Beem transposed themselves into the crowd for two seconds and then over by the door and finally back on the stage. I will bet you could not do that when under our induction net, said one of the hunters. Later, said Beenan, we will show you the effectiveness of your net. Why do you look like Sasquatch, asked another hunter? The Sasquatch form you refer to, is far more prevalent in the universe than your own forms. This form is chosen for many reasons. First of all the three of us are what you would call middle aged. In your time, we are approximately 16,000 years old. We have the power to manipulate atoms and molecules to create or transform many shapes. We chose this form because it makes us large enough that we are not being chased by predators. Our forms have the ability to tolerate temperatures from minus sixty Celsius comfortably, without the need for clothing. We can occupy human form also, if we wish. Had you been given a chance to experience life in this form, besides your own, you would probably choose this form also. There is much less maintenance needed and we don't require food as often. In our own Balenn forms, we cannot experience the physical feelings of eating, touch, etc. I will lay my body down on this stage and rise from it in our Balenn life form. You will understand better after that. Beenan laid himself down fl at on his back at the front of the stage where everyone could see. He seemed to fall asleep. From his body rose a semi-transparent entity with a bluish tint. He expanded this form until it looked like a huge jellyfish covering the entire board room.

Everyone was astonished including Beem. He had no idea Beenan was going to do this, Beenan asked them telepathically to join in the demonstration. Bo and Beem both lay beside Beenan and rose up to join in the demonstration. They expanded to the same shape as Beenan, but with a slightly different color tint. Bo was slightly yellow and Beem slightly green. The concentration of the three forms one on top of the other combined with the incandescent lights in the room produced a light show extravaganza, covering the entire room. They stayed like that for a few minutes to let the cameras get a good picture. They inter-mingled their Ehesti forms until you couldn't distinguish them anymore. Their colors were alive like thousands of tiny twinkling colored lights. They zipped back into their bodies in an instant. In so doing, it produced a sound like salt falling on a metal roof. All of the twinkling tiny lights seemed to funnel back to the Ehesti bodies. They all stood up.