The world had, at the time, been  facing an environmental catastrophe of monumental proportions. Rivers were dying.  The earth was heating up.  Species were disappearing at the rate of 100 per week, mainly through deforestation. Even the air was fillled with noxious gases, causing an alarming increase in respiratory and other diseases.. the weather patterns were in total kaos...the hole in the ozone layer had become alarming. Thousands more cases of skin cancer were reported.

 

Then, unexpectedly, the world's governments, in unison practically, said enough was enough.

 .A new world body was formed under the auspices of the United Nations. The United Nations Environmental Protection Organization.

 

All old forests were immediately protected, and re-afforestation gained an amazing new impetus.

Recycling became so well organized and developed that that it was enough to ensure almost half the worlds needs of those basic necessities such as paper, metal,plastic and glass in many areas. Ozone depletion and atmospheric pollution emissions were banned totally, as long range phasing out programs were scrapped. It was amazing how quickly industry adjusted, with whistleblowers releasing information almost on a daily basis of suppressed technology which could practically overnight eliminate dangerous pollutants pouring into the oceans, the water table and the atmosphere - without major restructuring.These were given full protection of the authorities, who were themselves growing exponentially into an awareness of the reality of global problems.

 

Sir Bob Gelding, the first president of the UNEPO pledged the worlds member countries to a serious attack on starvation .... the world economy was geared towards equity for all nations; any government which deliberately forced poverty, undue hardship and hunger on its people were severely dealt with, using the expanded powers of the UNEPO, but without infringing on  member countrys national sovereignty.

 

A great impetus to the setting up of this organization was given by Bill Brown, the President of Tasmania, which, as you know, seceeded from the mainland in order to protect its fragile environment from rape by overseas interests including, and in particular, by Australia.

 The resulting publicity produced a tourist  bonanza which more than made up for the loss of revenue subsidies which it had been used to from the mainland.

 

..............................................

 

My youngest daughter had just returned from a walk in the bush adjoining our property.

She held in her hand a small round luminous object which gave off a faint glow.

 

The CSIRO laboratories in Sydney were sent the object, who in turn sent it on to NASA in Texas.

 

The object was off earth, of that they were fairly confident, but apart from that they had no idea what it was. But there was more. Slowly the 'visitors' had been revealing their real origin....Atlantis....they were in fact time travellers. If they were off earth  it was only on account of the fact that they had long ago gone off earth and long ago also mastered the science of time travel.

 

I had just settled into a comfortable sofa. The children had gone to bed. Ruth stayed up in bed to read herself to sleep as she usually did.

 

My wife, curled up beside me who had dozed off fell into the empty space that was created by my sudden exit,  when there was a knock at the front door.

I opened the door to find my neighbour standing there, his face frozen with fright.

 

'Whats the matter?' I asked, moving away from the door to the outside so as not to alarm Beth as I spoke.

 

'Over there!'

He pointed to a small hillock between his place and mine.

It was pitch dark outside beyond a distance of twenty metres or so from the house.

'Whats there ?' I asked  somewhat rhetorically.

Just then I realized that although Seymour had driven  the 600 metres or so from his house to mine I did not hear his approach, even in the still of this night. This, I thought was unusual.

 

He had just had a night cap and was getting ready for bed.

It was early but he usually rose before dawn. A strange light pierced his window, he said. It came from the direction of the hill on the east side, to which he had just pointed. Almost in a panic he had put on his overalls and made his way out his side door to his 4 wheel drive Toyota. He turned the key - nothing. As he was about to alight the car moved foreward, propelled by an unknown source. He then noticed that the handbrake was not engaged. This was unusual but he did not dwell on it, as he pointed the car, via the roadway in the direction of my house - relieved in a sense that at least it responded to his steering.

Without him even applying the footbrake the car came to a halt just before the double carport adjoining the front porch. He automatically pulled on the handbrake.

 

No wonder he was in a panic, and incredible as it seemed at least it explained why I hadn't heard his approach.

 

I called to Beth that I would be back in a short while and indicated to Seymour to get into the Range Rover I had parked under the carport.

I did a reverse spin around the side of the house and headed straight for the hill - cross-country. My driving lights lighting up one moment the bottom of a ditch and the next the night sky.

We pulled up in the place indicated by Seymour and facing directly down onto his home.

Nothing. All seemed normal.

I got out and had a look around with a torch I kept in the glove box.

All  was quiet, there was no sign of a distrubance.

 

We drove down slowly to his house and went inside.

After an initial inspection he poured us both a drink and again recounted what had happened to him.

 

The source of the beam was some 60 metres away. It was three dimensional, triangular in shape, somewhat like a flattened pyramid, about twenty feet in length. He had caught a glimpse of it on his way to his car - the light it directed through the window of the room we were in now had obscured the object from this angle.

He also had noticed that the whole object was glowing faintly, making it more difficult to see anything but the outline and the pale white glow.

 

Seymours face itself turned white as he recounted the story again with more detail.

 

Things were getting out of hand.