Outside Ascension

by Amy Proebstel

  “I seem to recall you being a bit confused when you were rescued, Nealand. I, for one, choose to believe my own daughter. Thanks for stopping by. If you do plan on coming over again, please be sure to call first,” Chris finished coldly as he shut the door on Nealand’s incredulous expression. He quickly returned to the living room to continue hearing his daughter’s accounting of her journey.

  “Tell us everything you remember,” Diane began when her husband was once again seated next to her on the couch facing their now-composed daughter.

  “Well, you read the letter Barla…I mean Aunt Barbara…wrote. That was the outline of my adventures, but there were some amazing things that Aunt Barbara took for granted since she had been there for so long. The first weird thing I noticed was that Petre didn’t have to steer his boat with any controls. He did it with his mind! I found out later that not everyone there can do it, but the ones that can’t are definitely the minority.” She paused to let this new information sink in and watched her father’s expression since he was the technology buff of the family.

  “That’s pretty amazing!” He said after a moment. “What else was different?”

  “Well, let’s see,” she said as she paused to think. She tapped the tip of her index finger on her pursed lips as she tried to organize the overload of thoughts flashing through her mind. “The food was amazing. Most people there can prepare it using their minds as well. Aunt Barbara obviously couldn't do it because she's not from there, but nearly everyone else does it that way. As long as they have the food in their possession, they are able to create a dish by thinking of the ingredients and how they should be assembled. Within an instant, the meal can be prepared and cooked! Aunt Barbara had me try lots of different things, and she told me it tasted so much better because they use aquaponics to grow their food. She said that in aquaponics they raise fish in a huge tank and use the fish water to circulate through troughs to provide nutrients for their floating produce. The plant roots purify the water which is then returned to the fish tank to continue the cycle.

  “They eat meat from an animal called a foxl for almost every meal of the day. Aunt Barbara showed me a picture of it and it looked like a cross between a cow and a sheep. The meat was really tasty, too.

  “They have horses just like here. I got to ride on one, which I fell off of when I was bitten by a beetlesnatch. I broke my wrist really badly when I landed. I found out later that Bryon saved my hand by counteracting the beetlesnatch venom as quickly as he did.”

  Diane gasped at the thought of her daughter’s injuries and almost permanent maiming.

  “Relax, Mom, everything turned out okay. It was actually because of my injuries that I found out I was pregnant. You see Bryon took me to be healed by a wise-woman before he teleported me to his house where his wife looked over the after-care of my injuries. Oh, that’s another thing; the healers use the ley lines and crystals to assist with their talents to treat their patients. Alena, Bryon’s wife, is a very talented healer who took care of my delivery. She actually went away to become a wise-woman while I took care of her three children. A wise-woman is the equivalent to a doctor here, except their healing works faster on Tuala than here on Earth.” Amanda held up her casted arm and said, “Alena could have had these breaks healed in a matter of hours instead of the weeks it will take here on Earth.”

  “Wait,” Diane interrupted, “Alena knew you were pregnant but still left you to take care of her kids while she became a doctor?”

  “Wise-woman,” Amanda automatically corrected her mom, then continued, “Yes, but it was my idea. I had to repay them somehow for taking me in and keeping me safe. Besides, Alena came home the same night I delivered the twins, so she didn’t miss anything important.”

  “Her timing was a bit too close, don’t you think?” Diane insisted, shuddering with the thought of how close her daughter came to delivering her twins all by herself.

  “I was glad to have her there. As big as I was getting, I was afraid Bryon would have to deliver the baby without Alena’s help at all! None of us knew I was going to have twins until the second baby was being delivered. At that point, it was obvious why I was so fat.” Amanda chuckled at the thought.

  “Good grief, Amanda, are you saying that not only did you not have any prenatal care, but you also delivered those babies at Bryon and Alena’s house?” Diane gasped as she realized what her daughter was saying.

  “Yes, it’s perfectly normal there. There’s no such thing as prenatal care because their food is so nutrient-dense that their bodies get sufficient vitamins and minerals for their babies without supplements like here. They don’t even have hospitals as far as I discovered.”

  “What else do you remember that your Aunt Barbara didn’t write about?” Chris prompted to keep his daughter talking.

  “Let’s see. The day after my girls were born, Alena performed their crystal ceremony. Oh, Mom, you’ll like this; the children wear the crystals until they’re eighteen, and the parents are able to watch and hear what their children are doing through the crystals. The best part is, the children never know about it because it is a closely guarded secret among the parents. Can you imagine if you had been able to watch my two sisters and me as we were getting into trouble? That might’ve saved you a few sleepless nights!”

  The three of them laughed together as they all considered the possibilities this technology would have for the parents on Earth. Chris was the first one to ask the next question, “Do you think you could look in on Juila and Jena right now?”

  “I don’t know,” Amanda said seriously. She sat back and closed her eyes; concentrating on the lessons she had learned from Alena on the technique to use the crystals. She had not had much practice with this art before she was swept away in the mudslide and brought back to Earth. Amanda strained her thoughts trying to piece together the connection she had felt so easily when she was on Tuala. Minutes went by, and sweat started to bead on Amanda’s forehead before she had to admit defeat. “Nothing,” she said with disappointment quite evident in her voice.

  “Hey, Amanda, don’t get discouraged. Maybe you’re too weak right now. Let’s try it again in a couple of days, okay? You had said the healers used ley lines to help facilitate healing, maybe we could find some here to help you communicate with your daughters!” Her dad said excitedly as he started thinking about how he would gather that information to help his daughter. Then to take her mind off of the communication failure, he prompted, “What else do you remember?”

  “The children are changed when they receive their birth crystal. The massive amount of elemental energy, shortened to ‘elemy,’ which surrounds the crystal around their neck matures them more rapidly. Their motor skills are enhanced as well as their abilities to think, reason, and speak.

  “I had noticed that the children, while being quite young, were very articulate and coordinated. While I haven’t had that much experience with kids, I was more than aware kids shouldn’t be able to be that helpful at three and four years old. It was really strange but also encouraging to see. You never knew what would come out of their mouth since they are so much more aware of their surroundings than we’re used to here at home. It’s almost like they are little geniuses, but they still need nap time!”

  Chris noticed that Diane was interested in this new line of conversation, but he still had questions about the technical aspects of these Tualans. To steer the conversation back to his interests he said, “You mentioned something about being teleported. Is the meaning of that the same there as it is here?”

  “Oh, Dad, you’d be astounded by that technology. It’s amazing! Families can own their own small telepod, and they use giant telepods instead of airplanes as well. As I understood it, they are powered by a crystal drive and controlled, again, by the mind power of the operator. One moment you’re sitting in the telepod at one location, then three heartbeats later, in utter emptiness, you appear out of thin air at your destination. It wouldn’t matter if it were ten feet or t
en miles, it’d take the same amount of elemy and time to get there.

  “They even have telepod races like the drag races we have here. Bryon took me to a show when one came close to town. They don’t use the teleporting in the races, just the raw power of the crystal drive to race to the finish line. It was very exciting,” she finished with a huge smile on her face as she remembered the rush of the event as well as the famous racer named Riccan. She definitely would not mind meeting him again!

  “What did the telepods look like?” Chris asked with interest.

  “They kind of reminded me of a UFO,” she replied as she thought back on her first impression of them. “They were almost all silver in color with windows all around the front. They had a side door which you walked through to get to the pair of seats at the front. I was only ever in a two-seater model, but Barla said they had family versions. I can only guess those would have more seats, as well as the larger airline versions.”

  “Hmm, I wonder,” Chris mused as he suddenly jumped up from his seat and left the room.

  Amanda and Diane looked at each other, startled that Chris had left so abruptly. “Don’t ask me,” Diane said with raised hands. While they waited for his return, Amanda took a drink of water from the cup on the coffee table in front of her. She carefully set the cup down and sat back in her chair. She closed her eyes and tried to gather together as many memories as she could muster to share with her parents. Amanda was relieved her parents were taking all of this information so well as it could have gone the other way just as easily.

  A few minutes later, Chris returned to the room carrying a large encyclopedia. He was flipping through the pages and muttering to himself. He settled himself down next to Amanda on the loveseat as he still feverishly turned the pages until he got to the one he had remembered seeing. “Aha,” he exclaimed, startling both women in the room. “Take a look at this picture and let me know if it reminds you of the telepods,” he said as he passed the book onto Amanda’s lap.

  Amanda looked down, and her eyes got wide as she looked at an exact replica of Bryon’s telepod. “That’s it,” she exclaimed, “that’s the telepod!”

  Diane rushed over to take a look as well. She noted that the article next to the picture read: ‘July 7, 1947; RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region.’ “What are you thinking, Chris?” Diane asked with growing excitement.

  “I’m thinking we might need to take a trip to Roswell, New Mexico,” Chris stated with certainty as a huge grin spread across his face.

  “Dad, I don’t understand.” Amanda looked from her mother to her father waiting for one of them to explain.

  “Back in 1947, a UFO was found on a ranch outside of Roswell. Of course, the media had a heyday claiming that a UFO had been found as well as a couple of aliens. Then the military jumped in, and suddenly, the story was changed from a UFO crash to debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to a classified program called ‘Mogul.’ Nobody believed the military statements and people started comparing their stories. Eventually, they opened a museum in Roswell to honor the crash. I think,” he paused to make sure Amanda was paying attention, “maybe the key to getting back to Tuala will be in or near Roswell.”

  Amanda gasped at the concept but was eager to see if the idea had any merit. Anything that would get her girls back was worth the try. “That’s brilliant, Dad! When can we go?”

  “I’ll call a travel agent and make the arrangements,” he answered. He turned to his wife and asked, “Do you want to come, too?”

  “Chris, how can you even ask that? Of course I’m coming!” She scoffed while scowling at her husband.

  “Just making sure,” he replied innocently. He took the book back from Amanda’s lap and stared at it more closely. “Wow,” he said and looked up again at his daughter, “You really flew in one of these?”

  “Several times, actually,” she replied with a huge grin on her face, “Dad, it was amazing and scary all at the same time. I wish you could try it, too.”

  “Me, too, honey. Me, too,” Chris said wistfully. They hugged each other in their excitement.

  Follow Amanda’s amazing adventures in

  INSIDE ASCENSION

  To keep updated on the next book of the Levels of Ascension, visit www.AmyProebstel.com for special sneak peeks.

  You can also follow Amy Proebstel on Facebook at www.facebook.com/levelsofascension.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Amy is a wife, mother, and owner of three Pomeranians and one stray cat who chose to be raised by her. She lives on an acre in the countryside of Oregon with her husband, Richard. Amy is a private pilot and, in her free time, she likes to take her husband flying.

  Her daughter, Kailey, is grown so she finds there is plenty of time to immerse herself in the world of her characters. The ideas for this series of books came to her in multiple dreams for which she is thankful she could not ignore. This is her first of many novels.

  Feel free to email Amy at Amy@LevelsofAscension.com.