SEE US AT:
Nancy, who serves as the presiding speaker of the First Chair, calls the session to order.
"Good morning, everyone. Welcome. This is an official hearing of record, so we'll start by swearing you in. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that your testimony today will be honest and truthful, complete and forthright, without any omissions or lies of any kind?"
"Yes," Anahere responds, then takes her seat.
"Please pull your microphones closer so we can all hear clearly and get a proper recording of your testimony. Let the record show that Anahere of Penny Lake is here with her counsel, John of Penny Lake. If you have opening statements prepared, you may begin. If your statement is written, you can enter it into the record as read," Nancy explains.
"My opening statement is oral. I'll recite the whole thing for you," Anahere replies.
"Very well. After your statement, I'll give Speaker Robert 5 minutes. Speaker Richard will follow with 5 minutes, and I'll wrap up the first round with 5 minutes. You may begin."
"Honorable speakers, Director Abhaya, representatives, the respected Elders, and most importantly, the people of this Federation whom you serve—I'm honored to be here today.
"Many eons ago, there was a massive migration of humanity across planet Earth. We were a new species—an explosion of restless warriors determined to conquer a wild and dangerous world. Always on the move, wave after wave of humans traveled back and forth across the planet on foot, in boats, down rivers, across oceans. Warrior races, ruthless and bloodthirsty, ruled the planet, killing and conquering, wiping out any species that got in their way. These migrations continued non-stop for tens of thousands of years. Then, about a millennium ago—in our experience, though much longer in Earth years—another explosion happened.
"This time it was an explosion of knowledge and understanding—a quantum leap in human consciousness and awareness. From this knowledge explosion came a secondary wave of innovative technology that swept across the planet as travel became cheaper, safer, and routine. You here in Capitol City represent what's left of that technology explosion. We call you the technology peoples. My people, and myself as their spokesperson, represent the earlier migration. We call ourselves the First Ones. In truth, we're all one people. We're all the First Ones, but over time we became separated by knowledge and technology.
"As the technology people spread across the planet, one by one they encountered the First Ones. The inevitable struggles played out—warriors jealous to possess the riches of the land. Push came to shove, and technology had the advantage. The First Ones, in most cases, were pushed aside, destroyed, wiped out, or absorbed—effectively ceasing to exist as a people.
"By the year 2024, using the technology peoples' calendar, a tiny remnant of the First Ones—those few who still remembered their origins—knew it was time to leave Earth. Time to leave it to the technology peoples, whose moment had arrived. Our time had passed. At that point, the remaining First Ones performed a series of ceremonies, returned their Earth energy to the planet, and came here, to these domains, to wait for the future time when we would return as one people. We'd leave our warrior past behind and return as a mature, peaceful people to live again on Earth and enjoy the incredible richness of that experience. That time has come. I'm here to invite you to join us in this great endeavor—to become one people, to live in peace, in love, in harmony, and to create the life that Earth is capable of, the life she so desperately wants and has patiently waited for through all these eons.
"I was chosen as the First Ones' speaker because I know both worlds. I'm a child of technology. In my time, I was completely immersed in the world of technology. I could chat online in a new language of acronyms with one hand while texting non-stop on my phone with the other, all while channel-surfing with my toes and singing along to my favorite music blasting from dozens of speakers around my bedroom, while watching emails and chat messages and videos auto-download on my computer screen. But because of my parents' research, I was also well-versed in my aboriginal heritage and the many remaining aboriginal cultures still on the planet.
"Even though I didn't know what I was getting into, I attended the final ceremony of my mother's Inuit family. She was a member of an Inuit tribe in North America. I had no idea I'd be leaving the planet, but they chose me—not only as their speaker, but also as the host consciousness for the life force they were taking with them, the conscious life of Earth Energy herself. My Earth life was sacrificed for that purpose, and that's why I'm here today. It's time for me to release my burden—the life that's within me—back into the biosphere where it belongs, and reclaim my life as an individual.
"The one you know as Sally of Penny Lake, a member of this Council, also has her burden to bear. While I've been the custodian of Earth Energy, she's the custodian of the New Life Energy that emerged from your cybernetic machines. Together we'll join this life with Earth's emerging New Life Energy. Earth will be restored and improved, paving the way for us to reunite as well—as the peoples of Peace, Harmony, and Love.
"As wonderful as that sounds, this will be a difficult process. The First Ones are having many of the same internal debates you are. Questions like: should we go back at all? Should we regulate and restrict who can or can't return? Should we return in peace, or as warriors, ready to seize and defend our territories like in the old days? Is this a time to create alliances with our old enemies and reunite as one people, or is this a time to find and take advantage so we can conquer and rule?
"The majority of the First Ones believe—and I think it's your majority opinion as well—that the time of violence, fear, war, revenge, and all those human elements that characterize our history is over. We could choose to return to that, but it would be our undoing, and this second and last chance for peace on earth would slip away. The result would be humanity's extinction. We believe there's only one choice, and that's to take the steps necessary to learn and grow and love and become the peaceful people we're destined to be.
"Earlier this morning I was reading news reports about my testimony today. This hearing has been described as, and I quote, 'the testimony of an impertinent child.' I take no offense at that. I am impertinent. I am a child. What's important for you to understand today is that I'm also a speaker for my people—an ancient and wise people who have learned their lessons the hard way, through experience. I have this to say not only to this Council, but also to those among my people who would resort to the old ways.
"If you choose that path, then we all die. There will be no humans on Earth, and soon there will be no humans in this level either, because without Earth as the anchor, this realm will fade away too. So the choice is simple. Life or death. There is, therefore, only one choice with a future. This second chance for Earth has come at great sacrifice. Let's not blow this chance by returning to the petty fears of the past. Let's confidently move forward into our future.
"I've read and heard a lot of debate in the media about whether the Council would allow us to return the life energy we possess back to the earth. You may certainly vote against it. What I say now—please understand—comes with no disrespect to you, the Council, or the Federation you represent. You may choose to disallow it. However, your decision will have no effect. The decision has already been made by powers and principalities far beyond these domains we currently occupy, and these events are destined to occur.
"Humanity's second chance will happen. Your choice is limited to how you'll respond to your new opportunities, not whether you'll receive them. All other choices are meaningless. This isn't taking away your free will. These are actions that preserve your free will for the future, because without these coming events, there will be no future. I'm pregnant with this life force within me, and I've come to full term. The rebirthing process has already begun and can't be stopped. Please understand that although your Council is a vital and important part of this process, much of your role has already been predetermined. You may choose to waste your second chance. You may not choose to not receive it.
"Once Earth has been restored, there's much we can debate, plan, and coordinate regarding repopulation. The First Ones have requested and are offering their services to again be the First Ones to repopulate. We'll be the Adams and Eves of this new creation. We understand the spiritual connections that all life has with itself and how to integrate humanity into it. We offer this not as a land grab, but as a service to all humans who wish to repopulate, especially the technology domains like this one.
"The technologies you've manifested here, which you've become dependent on, can't be re-manifested on Earth. That domain is too dense and your powers of manifestation too weak for that to work. Instead, like in ancient times, you'll arrive on Earth naked, with only your brain and your hands as tools. The First Ones have the skills and experience to harness the environment and carve out sustainable settlements, and to fashion tools. With help from the information contained in the new cybernetic Mother Earth and her ability to communicate with living humans, we can lay the foundations for building the infrastructure necessary for technology development. It'll be slow at first, but then—as happened before—develop rapidly. When our technology brothers and sisters arrive, they'll be prepared to flourish and renew the Earth with the best that technology has to offer.
"A second option might be to return in pairs—some First Ones and some technology peoples—who would work and learn together to reclaim the planet for humanity. We feel you'd be at a disadvantage this way because you're not prepared for the level of effort required to carve civilization out of the jungle that Earth currently is. On the other hand, it would be a remarkable learning experience for those who choose that path.
"These are just a couple of the countless options we can discuss, and the First Ones are prepared to enter those discussions with this domain and the many other domains not associated with this Federation. The main point to remember is that there's much to discuss AFTER Earth's restoration, so we shouldn't get sidetracked discussing whether Earth will be restored. She will be restored.
"There are a few words of caution from the experience of the ancient ones. On several occasions, entities at this level—living in the luxury of these domains of easy manifestation—tried to rule Earth from the comfort of these domains. It never worked. These domains' ability to influence Earth is too weak, and they always lost control. I know there's much discussion in Capitol City about doing exactly that—ruling Earth from this place. Don't waste your time. You won't succeed. There are also many who want to stay here and never go back.
"Many domains, many ancient ones, have done exactly that. A word of caution: as more and more of your population begins to cycle back through the planet—either by transformation of your present form or by rebirth—these domains will thin out and revert more and more to being the waiting and resting place they were before. The comforts you enjoy now may not persist into the future, and you may end up changing your mind and moving back to Earth.
"In these brief opening remarks, I've barely scratched the surface of what we're dealing with, but I think I've hit some of the high points. I'm now ready to take your questions."
Robert turns to the first page of his notes and, looking at John and Anahere, says, "Madam Speaker of the First Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I direct my first question to John, counsel for Miss Anahere. John, as a friend of this Council and surrogate father to one of our members, are there any additions or comments you'd like to add, or corrections you'd like to make to Miss Anahere's remarks?"
"No sir. I believe she pretty well covered it all. There's nothing I can add," John replies.
"Anahere, you mentioned powers and principalities whose agenda is playing itself out and will do so regardless of what this Council decides. Can you tell us who these powers are?"
"No, not exactly. We already know there have been visitors from other levels of reality and from other dimensions, and that they've played a role—and continue to play a role—in the recreation and restoration of the planet. We don't know, actually can't know because of the countless number of other dimensions each with their own levels and domains, what powers exist that may have a vested interest in Earth. What we do know is that, so far, the higher realms either haven't interfered, or haven't been permitted to interfere, with humanity's natural evolution and free will. We can assume from that there's a reason for it, and that some power is enforcing that. The specifics of who and what that power is—or those powers are—we don't know."
"There may also be other local authorities working to repopulate independently who are as unaware of our efforts here as we are of theirs. We've been aware of your local cluster of domains for a long time. There are many we haven't made contact with, as you well know from your own efforts to contact other domains. Until we contact these unknown domains, we can't be sure if they have their own repopulation plan or if they're even aware we're planning to repopulate."
"Anahere, you appear to be a young teenage girl, maybe thirteen to fifteen years old. Yet your presentation and rhetoric are those of someone much older. Is your appearance a disguise to hide your true identity? Are you what you appear to be, or is the young girl we see before us an illusion?" Robert asks.
"My appearance is as it was when I left Earth, although now that I've joined Sally of Penny Lake's family, I'll begin to age normally as any child would in this or a similar domain. My appearance isn't a deception—it's simply the form I've maintained since arriving here from Earth. The language I use, my rhetoric, isn't my own but rather practiced and rehearsed. I've worked with the First Ones for many long days in preparation for these meetings with other domains, the necessary negotiations, and I've learned to speak formally.
"Believe me, it's not my preferred way of speaking. I'd much rather just talk like a teenager. Unfortunately, you adults would have no clue what I was saying, so I've practiced speaking in a more formal style. I was fourteen when I came here. Since then, given the nature of my purpose here and the temporal flexibility of this level, my actual experience of time has been about a year—almost all of it in constant study and practice for what's now unfolding. So that would make me fifteen years old. If my experience of time had been, say, twenty or thirty years, I'm sure I would have gone mad by now. This year has been extremely difficult for me to endure, and I'm totally exhausted," Anahere answers.
"Based on your testimony so far, it would seem to this Council that the First Ones, as you call them, brought you here under false pretenses and have exploited and abused you, forcing you to perform this purpose against your will. How do you feel about your treatment by the First Ones?" Robert asks.
"I blame my mother more than I blame them. This isn't against my will, but I do feel like I was tricked into it. Believe me, I've complained loudly and strongly about that. In the end, though, I realized I was the one—the only one—in position to perform this service to humanity and that there was no one as uniquely qualified as I was for this job. So I took it on willingly. I have, as any teenager would, made life as difficult as possible for my elders. I'm not angry though—well, not at the First Ones. I love them and I honor them. I do have some choice words prepared for my mother if I ever find out where she went. I know she's dreading the day when I show up on her doorstep."
"What's your relationship with your father? Is he with the First Ones?"
"No, my father wasn't part of any ceremony. From what I was told, he later died on Earth and cycled back through rebirth, and his identity as my father is now lost."
"So you're an orphan?"
"No. Sally of Penny Lake has adopted me. Actually, I didn't give her an option—I just adopted her. I live in Penny Lake now as her daughter, Penelope's sister, and as John's granddaughter, and I'll return to Penny Lake and live there after the restoration is complete. In the future, I might transform back to Earth density and live out an Earth life there. A lot of that depends on whether I get a husband someday and want to have kids. First, though, I need to complete my job as the ambassador of the First Ones to the other domains."
"This restoration, which you say will occur whether we object to it or not—when is this restoration scheduled to occur?"
"Soon. As soon as all things are ready. It's sort of like giving birth. You know it's imminent, but you can't predict the exact day or hour when it'll happen."
"Thank you, Anahere. That's all the questions I have for you at this time. I yield to the First Chair and reserve the balance of my time."
"I yield 5 minutes to the Third Chair. Speaker Richard, you may begin."
"Anahere, welcome. You've just identified yourself as the ambassador of the First Ones to the other domains. Why have the First Ones elected you, a child, to represent them to this Council and to other domains? Aren't there more qualified members who could do that job?"
"There was a lot of debate about that. One problem was that the vast majority of the First Ones haven't been on the planet for thousands of years before the technology people emerged. They had stopped cycling through rebirth long before then. As a result, they have no experience at all with technology. I grew up in the midst of it, so I know it well. The other thing is that I'm the host. That gives me special credibility the others don't possess. It's for those two reasons that I was chosen to act as the ambassador as well as the host. The other reason is that I desperately wanted to get out of that frozen, boring, stupid domain and see new places and new things. I'm glad I did. I found Sally and Penelope, and now I'm happy again for the first time in a long, long time."
"It sounds like you've had a horrible experience with the First Ones. Would you describe your experience with them as unpleasant?"
"It's sort of like spending a year preparing for a college entrance exam. It's a very difficult, horribly tiring, and totally boring year. But if you make the grade and get into a good school, then it's all cool. I was a couple of years ahead of my class and was already preparing to go to UCLA when I graduated from high school. So I know all about entrance exams. They're absolutely horrible. That's what it was like."
"What's the purpose of putting the old Earth Energy back into the biosphere? Hasn't the biosphere developed its own life force?"
"Yes, but there are two other things to consider. First is several billion years of experience that the new life force doesn't possess. The biosphere will be much more stable and effective in influencing the planet with the old Earth Energy restored. Second is that she's alive—she's conscious, she's aware. Her awareness isn't like ours. You can't just sit down and have a conversation with her, not very easily anyway. Once you're alive, you're part of and one with all of life. There's a prime directive in all of existence to preserve life. So she has to go somewhere, and Earth is the most logical place to put her."
"There's a logic to restoring the biosphere with the original Earth Energy—our old Mother Earth, as you've just explained. What about the new cybernetic life form, the one created from the old Earth network, the one that inadvertently, through her own ignorance of physical laws, destroyed the planet and the whole solar system? Why is it important to restore her energy to the biosphere and into the new neural networks that have been constructed for her? Do you see that as potentially dangerous?"
"There are always risks and there are no guarantees. However, it's more dangerous not to include her. Technology emergence and development are part of the natural evolution of all life, not only on Earth but across the galaxy and beyond. Adding technology to the biosphere is a necessary step for two reasons. First, it allows evolution to continue. Without it, evolution would dead-end and stop. Second, there's a lot of competition for planetary resources in the galaxy as other planetary systems evolve.
"Without technology built into the restoration, Earth would be a sitting duck for conquest, just as the First Ones were when the technology peoples began their migrations. By adding technology to the biosphere and making it an integral part of continuing Earth evolution, Earth has parity with the rest of the galaxy and can hold her own and defend herself when attacked. The galaxy is still a dangerous place, and we want to restore Earth in a way that gives her a fighting chance at survival. Until now, she's been protected from invasion by forces beyond our awareness. Now it's time for Earth and humans to grow up and stand on our own feet as citizens of the galaxy. This is some of the wisdom the First Ones know that the technology peoples have yet to learn."
"Are all the First Ones in the arctic domain where you were discovered?"
"No, not even close. The arctic domain includes those who for many generations lived near the polar regions of earth or at very high elevations. The First Ones lived everywhere on the planet, and there are domains that replicate all those climates, cultures, and so forth. Many domains replicate climates and cultures that haven't existed on Earth since before the last period of glaciation, and even way before that. So there are many, many domains of the First Ones, just as there are many, many domains of the technology peoples."
"Are you the Ambassador to all the Old Ones or just the arctic one?"
"I'm the ambassador for all the Old Ones. I do have to tell you, though, that there are many domains of the Old Ones that are perfectly content to stay at this level and have no vested interest in Earth. If Earth turns out as beautiful as we plan, though, they may change their minds and resume cycling through Earth lives as before."
"When you perform the restoration, how exactly are you going to do that?"
"I don't exactly know. The knowledge of how to do that exists in my consciousness, but not in my awareness. It's like giving birth. You just know how when you need to know how, and it happens naturally."
"Thank you, Anahere. That's all the questions I have for you at this time. I yield to the First Chair and reserve the balance of my time."
"I yield 5 minutes to the First Chair. Hello, Anahere. My name is Nancy, and I'm the moderator of this Council. As moderator of this group of representatives, I know how difficult it is to be responsible for the needs and concerns of so many others you represent. I applaud you—at such a young and tender age—for doing the same for your people. I have to say, though, that I'm concerned, afraid actually, not only for you but of you, and your new mother Sally as well. You both talk a good story, make compelling arguments, but you speak with knowledge and wisdom that you're too young to have achieved through natural experience. Help me with my fear, Anahere. What can you say to make me more comfortable with you and your story?"
"I don't think there's anything natural about my experience, or Sally's. We've both lived extraordinary lives where we were drawn into strange and bizarre experiences we could never have predicted. So if we speak with knowledge and confidence that seems out of place, understand that it's the result of an unusual life that has led us into many unexpected but marvelous experiences. Also understand that we're not just pushed by the past that we know, but we're also pulled by the future that we don't know. Wisdom comes not only from past experiences but also from the pull of future experiences. That's a difficult concept to grasp, but it's the truth.
"Sally and I are both creatures of destiny. By that I mean there are important tasks we've chosen, or been chosen to do. These tasks define the future of humanity. Why we were chosen, and by whom, is anybody's guess. But we're here doing it, so we might as well finish it. I know this doesn't answer your question, but there's actually nothing I can say that will 'make' you more comfortable with my story. The only thing I can do is be as honest and truthful as I can in describing what I know and what I represent. What I can do is perform what I've proposed I'm going to do, and as you experience that, you'll know I've been truthful. All I have to offer you at this moment is my promise of a future that's based on truth and love."
"Let me ask something more specific then. You ask us to trust the First Ones when they ask to be the First Ones again in the repopulation—that it's not a land grab, they're providing the service of preparing the way for us to follow. Given the trickery they used to get you to be their host for Earth Energy, do you believe you can trust them? Should we trust them, seeing how they've used and exploited a young girl like yourself? Why should the First Ones be the Adams and Eves of the new Earth?"
"I don't think the First Ones used or exploited me. My mom did that by not being totally honest about what was going on. She knew if she told me beforehand that I wouldn't have gone. Once I was there, I chose to do and become what they needed me to be. I just would never have gone if I knew the whole story up front. She didn't tell Dad either. If he knew, he wouldn't have let me go either. That was her. The others told me I could leave, but by that time I was already committed to seeing it through. That doesn't mean I think the First Ones are perfect or have all the answers or are all totally honest and truthful. They're people just like the rest of us, and they have their weaknesses and faults and fears.
"I do believe they're honest when they offer to prepare the way for the technology peoples for one simple reason. In order for the new Earth to work, they need you, and you need them. It would be pointless for them to try to trick you and steal the planet and somehow lock you out. That would result in their own destruction, and they know that. So I believe them because if they weren't telling the truth, they'd be really stupid, and I don't think they're that stupid. What I'd suggest, though, is that some of you go with them—be one of the First Ones with them.
That way you'll know. That makes the most sense to me. Then when you're certain, and the planet is prepared for your arrival, you can come. It would certainly be possible to repopulate a different way. We could find a guy named Adam and a chick named Eve and send them down there and just let them go at it. I don't think that would be an effective way to repopulate though. It would take much too long to create a stable population that way."
"How does going back work? What's the transformation? How do we do that?"
"As I understand it, when we came here we released the dense Earth energy as light, which shone brightly for several days, returning that energy to the Earth domain. When we go back, we have to absorb Earth energy to increase our density back to where it was when we left. It's a matter-energy conversion process. There are those from other levels that help us do that. We don't see them, but they're there. Sally is different. She actually talks to these entities from the other levels and hugs them and kisses them and has dinner with them. We don't actually see them, but we know they're there. After the transformation of enough of us to stabilize a population on the planet, then we'll begin breeding and making babies like in the old days, and the rest of the population in these domains will begin cycling through by rebirth as before. Once all that gets going, things will be restored to what they were before."
"You said something interesting before. You said that these domains here could dissipate. What did you mean by that?"
"As I understand it, it works something like this. Life never really ends—it just moves around. As life developed on this planet and became organized into organisms, as one organism died its life energy was just recycled into another organism that was just being born, or dividing, or whatever. That's what happens in your body all the time as your old cells die and other cells divide. As life evolved into more complex creatures, there wasn't always a new creature of that type emerging at just the same time another one died. That life energy, that specific resonance, was suspended in time and space until there was another form for it to enter.
"The easiest place for that energy to exist, since it was light and ethereal, was in this light level you call level 5. As life continued to evolve into forms that were conscious, that consciousness would also wait in this level until it could recycle to Earth. Finally there emerged creatures like us who were actually aware, who could know what it is 'to be,' who can say 'I am.' That conscious awareness in this level 5 looks and feels pretty much the same as it did on Earth, just not as dense, and not as intense, and not as 'stuck' as it is on Earth.
"The point of all this is that this level 5 existence has its source on Earth—it emanates from Earth, it is of Earth. So if Earth dies for good with no prospect for future life, like it will when its sun finally burns out, or if we destroy our Earth again, then the reason for these domains existing will be gone. Little by little, the souls here will move on to other domains and other levels, and these domains will dissipate. As level 5'ers, you have the ability to travel to other places in the galaxy. Go to the area of a dead planet and you'll notice that the level 5 space there is dead as well. For life to persist in level 5, it needs an anchor, a source for that life, in level 3. That's what I meant that these domains will dissipate."
"You also said that the New Life that's to be returned by Sally will have the 'ability to communicate with living humans.' Isn't that the very process that went wrong and destroyed all life? Isn't that what will occur again? This communication between the cybernetic machine, the network as we referred to it—will it connect humans into a single mind, form a collective? Maybe I should be asking Sally these questions, but I'm interested in what you may know of this process."
"The process that Nettie tried to use before obviously didn't work. It was a catastrophic failure of the greatest magnitude. If she had been successful, she would indeed have created a collective consciousness, one that neither she nor humanity would have been prepared for. Our evolution of consciousness is nowhere near ready for that experience. The technology people, by not noticing that she was alive, had created a child but then didn't supervise her. You left a loaded gun in the house with a toddler running around who played with it and blew up the whole solar system. We've all learned an important lesson, and we've taken precautions to prevent it from repeating itself.
"The planetary network that Sally has installed on the planet does connect through the quantum connections in all living cells, as Nettie tried to do before, but does so safely. This technology was imported from off-world people who have used it successfully for thousands of years. The connection won't be so intense as to create a collective but rather will work at the level of feelings, dreams, and inspiration. If someone is speaking a falsehood to you, it won't 'feel' right.
"If you have a technological problem you're working on, you may wake up in the morning with the solution fully formed in your mind. This isn't different, actually, from the connections that humans have always had with each other and with entities of other levels. It'll just be enhanced and more a part of your awareness than it was in the old days. There will be those, however, who choose to ignore it and stick with their own individual thoughts. So the connection won't be forcibly imposed on those individuals who choose to resist it."
"Thank you, Anahere. Your testimony has been very helpful. All time having expired, the witness is excused. Before you go, though, I have a gift for you. We have thousands of our members employed in research to find and contact new domains. I've been passed a note stating that one of these members believes they know where to find your mother. If you'd like, we'll make this information available to you."
"I would sooooo very much like that. Thank you, Nancy."