Energy Flow

A lady who read my story ‘Crater’ from ‘Amazon’ commented to me that she could not understand why the aliens were able to build physical ships and devices when they had no physical form themselves.

Let me explain this.

In the first place this is a work of fiction. Science fiction, it is true, but fiction nonetheless. But, since it is science fiction then one must reasonably assume that the facts within the story have at least some scientific background. So…

In the beginning these aliens had physical form. They existed in a similar state to that which we have now. Their appearance is irrelevant and not pertinent to the story.

Over time they found that, with practice they were able to use their mental energy to control things rather in the manner in which we use a remote control on a television set now.

Eventually they were able to construct machines that built machines and devices. All of these machines were controllable by the power of their brains.

Perhaps it became inevitable that once their bodies had no further use they would be discarded in their path of evolution.

They discovered that it was easy to make things larger now that they had no recourse to physical manipulation—if they wanted bigger they just made a bigger machine to build that new bigger thing.

The only problem they had was that they had run out of raw materials.

They scoured other planets for minerals and rare earths. Space travel was easy since time meant nothing. Their energy could last forever as long as they could ‘top-up’ occasionally with energy sapped from sentient life form on other planets.

Ultimately, they were running out of fuel for their ships, especially the vast mother ships.

To solve this they built harvesters that razed everything biological on every planet they visited in order to reduce it to fuel; minerals were also harvested until every planet in their course was reduced to a hollowed out, dry, lifeless shell. The raiders were there to protect the harvester vessels.

Then they visited Earth…

In similar vein we have the ‘Adepts’ who also appear at the end of a story called ‘Rittach’, available from ‘Amazon’, of course.

These ‘Adepts’ manipulate energy. They do this to achieve their own ends in terms of prolonging life and the lives of those close to them.

Their source of energy is the emotions of other people or beings. The limitation is that they cannot take negative energy. Soaking up bad energy, hate, anger, jealousy, for example, is damaging, it will twist them into being evil people.

For this reason they can only take up ‘pure’ energy that is ‘clean’. They can absorb love, joy and happiness from people who have experienced that. That energy is now drifting away from that person, it is used, they have finished with it so the Adept can now latch on to an end of a tendril of energy and suck it up to be stored and used later.

In the same way, they cannot do harm to a living thing. They may only use this energy for good purposes or they will become twisted and dangerous.

Now that they cannot defend themselves from harm they have taken up with Payan girls who are warriors; they have no compunction in doing harm and, in fact, take great pleasure from it.

The Adepts maintain their girls to keep them in fighting shape by feeding them and restoring their bodies into a fit and healthy state.

Needless to say, they are able to give their girls pleasure from which emotion the Adepts feed to keep their energy reservoir filled up.

So what is the ‘scientific’ fact that is being used in both of these stories?

There is an almost Universal belief in what can be called ‘The Soul’. This is an energy that lives on after the body dies. It is a belief that is common to all religions Worldwide.

The soul is comprised of energy that, it is said, can be shown by using Kirlian imaging although that can also be said to be an image produced by an electrical charge that is passed through the object that is being photographed.

Certainly there is a source of energy within the body that can be tapped. We use energy to move our muscles and to drive our brains. The passage of energy around the brain has been mapped and shown to vary depending upon emotions, fatigue, age and defects within the brain itself.

There is another use of this energy that is more pertinent to the stories mentioned above.

In many cultures, particularly those from the East, there is a commonly held view that there is a flow of energy through the body. This energy is variously called names like ‘ki’ or ‘chi’ and is one of the forces that ‘drives’ ‘feng shui’.

Many problems are associated with this flow of energy being ‘out of balance’ and there are those who believe that they can restore that balance through applying their own energy to the ‘Chakras’ that exist in various parts of the body.

There is no magic here, no djinns or mystical apparitions. This is merely the transference of energy from one person to another for the purpose of doing good.

Note that this ‘doing good’ is vital here. The proponents of this practice believe that the presence of ill-will or doing harm will destroy the curative effect of this energy flow.

This idea of energy flow has been around for thousands of years and predates both Buddha and Jesus and yet it is often seen as some sort of Tibetan Buddhist thing – or, possibly, some kind of Ayurvedic Hindu practice but, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth; it was always a Universal belief.

And now it predates Earth by several billion years courtesy of aliens.

Ad Hominem

How strange people are.

A long time ago, in another lifetime, a decision was made to come and live here in Malaysia. Many of my friends, family and colleagues said that I should remain where I was. This would be the best choice, they suggested.
At length the comment, "If I were you," occurred.
But that is the whole point. You are not me.
You are giving me advice based on what you want, on what you need, on what you expect from life - not me.

People are wrapped up in themselves but, in some point of boredom, they will wish to run your life for you.
No doubt much of this proffered advice is well meant, it is entirely possible that some of this advice is worth listening to especially if you are in trouble and incapable of coherent thought.
A lot of it will be useless perhaps, even, contemptible.

There have been a couple of occasions in which this effect has been promoted in the media and on social networking sites just recently.
Let us look at a couple.

There is a young lady in her early thirties who is extremely attractive. She is young and vivacious, anxious to continue with a life that contains love, affection, good times.
In addressing this she has taken up with, and married, a young man who is a 'Worship Pastor' (whatever that might be) who is undoubtedly a fine fellow that has given the young lady the happiness that she needs.
Sadly, her husband died two years previously in a car accident. They had two children together after a marriage of some four years. A terrible blow to her and her hopes for a happy, contented life. Marrying this Worship Pastor was her attempt to regain that satisfaction and lifestyle that she wanted in her life.
Plaudits to her.
Not everyone would have chosen that route but choose it she did. It is her and this new young man's lives that are important here. Nobody else's life comes into this frame. Does it?
Oh! So many people have jumped up and hurled abuse at her for marrying another man after only two years have passed since her first husband's death. Clearly, they say, she did not love her first husband. Clearly, they appeal to us, she is a loose woman with no moral values.
How can they say that? What evidence do they have to suggest that this is true? Of what value is their opinion to anyone else?
Primarily, what right do they have to sit in judgement on this girl and her life?
How has this young lady affected their life?
Should we not be happy for her? She has overcome a dreadful trauma in order to accept another man whom she trusts to take care of her and her children with love.
We should, right now, be getting a warm feeling in our hearts and a little dampness around the eyes.

Just in case that wasn't enough for you what about a model who has been castigated by public opinion for having hairy legs?
No? Disbelief, is it?
Well, let me inform you that a Swedish model and artist is starring in a new campaign for 'Adidas Originals' wearing a short skirt and exposing her shapely legs. Hairy legs.
Words were flung at her. Words like:
'Disgusting'
'F***ing gross'
'Bloody ugly'
'Feminazi'
Afte all the hateful comments which, as we all know, are only too common on social media - especially from those with limited cerebral ability, came the rape threats. Rape? Really? Unbelievable.
All because of a little body hair with which she was comfortable, Adidas was obviously comfortable, the photographer was comfortable and the marketing people were comfortable.
What was the point in those dreadful comments?
Probably to make themselves, the haters, feel better.
The young lady did say that she also has received a lot of support from people. People with more intelligent views of the World who praised her for her confidence and not 'conforming to the standards set by society'.

Nice Shoes, Adidas

On the other hand, a young lady in Australia, from Sydney, took a quick dip in a rock pool at a place called Cronulla. Pleasant enough, you may think.
Then she noticed a shark, a reasonably large specimen, sharing the rock pool with her.
Answer?
Pick it up "like a baby" and fling it over the rocks into the ocean beyond.
You can't make this stuff up!

Where are all the haters? What about the damage she could have inflicted on that poor defenceless shark? Why did she have to disturb it? Why could she have not left it in the rock pool and got out herself? There is no evidence that the shark was in any danger or, even, suffering in any way. There is no evidence that it posed a danger to her.

It seems that being happy and getting married is a bad thing as is a woman having hairy legs but flinging large shark around is acceptable.

Why the title 'ad hominem'? Because these haters are attacking the person. They are not presenting reasonable arguments to support their views, ideas or opinions.
Why?
Because they have no reasonable ideas, views or opinions of their own so they attack the person - that is what is called an 'ad hominem' argument.
It is spiteful, it is demeaning for both parties and it is unnecessary.

You will see it all the time on social media. It is depressing.

World Bank View of Malaysia - The Angles

Fascinating, isn't it, how the media present their verbal images to the people? This, for example, is how the 'Malaysian Insider' told us about the 'World Bank Report'"


"THE latest World Bank report shows that Malaysia’s economy is growing weaker.

Out of the 15 Asian economies analysed in the report, Malaysia and a few others are the only ones expected to worsen.

The World Bank forecasts that under current conditions, in 2018, Malaysia’s growth rate will lower to 5% and in 2019, decrease further to 4.8%.

There are less than three months to go until 2018.

As the new World Bank report describes Malaysia’s economy: “The main risks to growth arise from the policy uncertainty in the major economies, geopolitical developments and commodity price volatility.”

While most Asian economies are rising, Malaysia’s is in decline, because it has not adapted to both global and domestic economic conditions.

The report also singled out Malaysia as one of only two Asian economies where household debt “exceeds 70% of GDP”. Many economists have concluded that Malaysia’s debt bubble is about to explode.

As others have correctly noted, the gross domestic product numbers and global economic rankings with which Najib is obsessed haven’t benefited Malaysians.

As the World Bank country manager for Malaysia Farid Hadad-Zervos recently warned: “This is the fundamental question: what does GDP really mean in the daily life of Malaysians?”

During his failed US visit, Najib said Malaysia’s 5.2% growth is “the envy of advanced economies”. To which everyone should immediately respond: “Iraq had 11% growth, Bangladesh had 7.1% growth and Ethiopia had 7.6% growth last year – should they be the envy of the advanced economies, too?”

Instead, Malaysia is falling behind its Asian neighbours.

As Bloomberg reported last month, Indonesians and Thais are the world’s top 10 populations where the highest numbers of millionaires are being created, increasing by 13.7% and 12.7% respectively.

Unlike its Asian neighbours, Malaysia still has not entered either the G20 or the trillion-dollar GDP club (Barisan Nasional’s latest target is a trillion ringgit).

According to the United Nations, today the Malaysian youth unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 12.1% and rising – approximately quadruple the national unemployment rate. A recent Bank Negara survey showed that three out of four Malaysians find it difficult to raise even RM1,000 in an emergency.

Najib is notorious for falsifying economic data in his speeches, selectively quoting reports, omitting bad economic news, and twisting the complete economic portrait of Malaysia, because he is politically unstable.

In the recent best-seller The Rise and Fall of Nations, the author describes a particularly hilarious but disturbing story about Najib’s inability to understand the Malaysian economy:

“On a visit to New York in October 2015, one of my colleagues asked (Najib) whether the collapse of the value of the ringgit is offering any boost to the nation’s embattled manufacturing sector. He answered by missing the point, saying the cheap ringgit is great for tourism, which can be an important contributor to growth in a country as large as Malaysia. Pressed on the manufacturing question, Najib seemed at a loss. An aide in the back of the room pitched in to help, but spoke about investing in oil and other raw materials. The crowd left with the impression that Malaysia is missing an opportunity, because the cheap currency coupled with the right reforms could supercharge Malaysian manufacturing.”

All Malaysians should read the new World Bank report to draw their own conclusions about whether Barisan Nasional is missing additional opportunities for growth – or whether it’s more focused on protecting the elite few. – October 9, 2017."


The actual World Bank Report (overview) said this:

"From an economy dominated by the production of raw natural resource materials, such as tin and rubber, even as recently as the 1970s, Malaysia today has a diversified economy and has become a leading exporter of electrical appliances, electronic parts and components and natural gas. After the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, Malaysia continued to post solid growth rates, averaging 5.5 percent per year from 2000-2008. Malaysia was hit by the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 but recovered rapidly, posting growth rates averaging 5.7 percent since 2010.

Less than 1 percent of Malaysian households live in extreme poverty, and the government’s focus has shifted toward addressing the well-being of the poorest 40 percent of the population (“the bottom 40”). This low-income group remains particularly vulnerable to economic shocks as well as increases in the cost of living and mounting financial obligations. Income inequality in Malaysia remains high relative to other East Asian countries, but is gradually declining. For example, from 2009 to 2014 the real average household incomes of the bottom 40 grew at 11.9 percent per year, compared to 7.9 percent for the total population of Malaysia, thus narrowing income disparities. Following the removal of broad-based subsidies, the government has gradually moved toward more targeted measures to support the poor and vulnerable, mainly in the form of cash transfers to low-income households.

Malaysia’s near-term economic outlook remains favorable, reflecting a well-diversified and open economy that has successfully weathered the impact of external shocks. Domestic demand is expected to continue to anchor economic growth, supported by continued income growth and a stable labor market, while an improving external environment would contribute positively to demand for Malaysia’s tradable goods and services. Accelerating structural reforms to enhance public sector performance and boost the productivity of public spending will be vital to sustain robust growth in a challenging external environment.

While significant, Malaysia’s productivity growth over the past 25 years has been below those in several global and regional comparators. As factor accumulation is expected to slow, accelerating productivity growth is the main path for Malaysia to achieve convergence with high-income economies. Accelerated implementation of productivity-enhancing reforms to increase the quality of human capital and create more competition in the economy will be key for Malaysia to secure a lasting place among the ranks of high-income economies."

Spot the difference, did you? It is almost a new story. One wonder how they justify this other than for purely political motives.

I am not a great lover, much less supporter, of corrupt regimes like Zimbabwe and South Africa but there is still a duty of care, a moral repsonsibility, for reporters and the media to tell the truth.

I have said this before in a previous 'Blog' but it rears its ugly head up once again. We all denounce Trump for his infamous attack on 'Fake News' and we applaud the media for defending themselves but, in reality, who is right?

No doubt that Trump is in need of psychiatric help but can he be wrong all the time?

I fear that calling on the media to present the truth is a long shot but we can always hope and, in the meantime, ignore much of what they say.

Fat or Fit?

Many years ago I worked with a Warrant Officer in Germany who was a shade... er... portly. Nice guy, very gentlemanly, almost old-fashioned you might say now.

At some point he decided that he would visit the Medical Officer for advice.
On returning to the Squadron he told me that he had asked the MO how to lose weight and get fit. The MO's response was, "Which do you want, Mike? You want to lose weight or get fit?"
Mike was puzzled, "Are they not one and the same thing?"
The MO laughed and said, "They are completely different. There are Rugby players out there who are fat but fit as fleas. There are also thin guys who are extremely unfit. Choose."

There is, on 'Facebook', a dear soul who has a myriad children and yet is superbly fit. Up until a short time ago, when an operation stopped her, she was also doing these 'Spartan' competitions and running through mud and stuff.
Now she is working hard to get herself back to supreme fitness in a pre-operation condition.
Stirling lady.

Another person on 'Facebook' is of similar ilk but, instead of doing physical competitions involving ropes, nets, sundry obstacles and mud, works strenuously hard to appear in competitions of a rather more glamorous nature. She is slim, shapely and stunning. She also has children.

Where do these people get the time?
There is, obviously, the same number of hours in each day for them as there is for everyone else and yet...

I am in awe of these souls.

I am in awe especially now when I have decided, at long last, to lose weight.
You might say, and quite rightly so, too, that at my age it is all a bit pointless. The probability is that I have little time remaining to me so why not continue in my current lifestyle and enjoy myself?

In 1970 I stopped drinking alcohol. Did I feel better for it? Was my wallet fatter as a result? Neither of these things was obvious.
I received a lot of abuse for not drinking. Comments like, "Do you make your own dresses?" were commonplace especially in the Sergeant's Mess where you were expected to drink yourself into a stupor frequently.
Apparently only real men drink.

In 1997 my youngest son, he was four, asked me to stop smoking. He said that he did not want me to die. A commendable suggestion that enticed me into screwing up my cigarette packet and hurling it into the bin with the oath, "No more!"
I have not smoked since.
Do I feel better for it? Is my wallet fatter? No. Neither of these things were apparent.
Am I fatter? Oh, yes!

The other morning I entered the bathroom and then, as one does, removed my clothing. Not a pretty sight, you might agree. My wife is made of strong stuff!
Looking in the mirror it dawned on me that, many years ago, I had a six-pack. Now I have a layer of fat that obscures it.
I worked out that I am carrying about twenty-five two pound bags of sugar around with me and tried to imagine holding that much sugar in my ams and then going up the stairs.

As a result of that I have started a diet. There are many diets out there and some are, undoubtedly, better than others.
The one I have selected is to go without potatoes (including chips!), bread, rice and to have all my meat and fish grilled, baked, roasted or steamed.
Some people have given me various advice - including moderation, but my mind is made up. This is how it will be initially. Perhaps, later, it may be modified, perhaps not. We shall see.

Getting fitter?
I already have the biggest keyboard I can find.

Racism

There arose a posting on ‘Facebook’ that was, in itself, perfectly harmless. Interesting, maybe, to those that are interested in such things, but there was nothing provocative about it.

And yet…

There followed an increasingly vicious and virulent list of comments that became, over time, increasingly racist.

Even at the start there were comments about other races that were uncalled for and completely bigoted.

Nobody was innocent. Perhaps ‘is innocent’ since the comments go on… and on…

This is from a country that is inherently multi-racial. Where people of all races, faiths and political parties work together and yet…

It is clear, from these comments, that the arguments are founded on little fact and have been coloured by propaganda.

People have been swayed to the point of vilification of others by those who seek to divide; by those who believe in the superiority of one race over another; by those who seek to profit from internal hatred.

So it is everywhere.

This kind of racism runs close to the surface in many countries. In the United States it is bubbling to the surface; it is erupting in Sweden and the UK where religious tensions run high and those with an indoctrinated belief in their own superiority believe they are above the law of the land; it is overwhelming in South Africa where a particular group feels unthreatened by the enforcement agencies to the point where they can kill, rape and mutilate—perhaps all three at once, at their pleasure, which it surely is; In Burma protests have run amok over the Bangladeshi immigrants who, it must be said (for all the sympathy rampant for their cause) that they really brought it upon themselves—as a little research will show.

So it goes on.

It is ubiquitous, this desire to be ‘better than someone else’ even if that group is demonstrably inferior by one measure or another.

On the original post mentioned above there was a reference made to an occurrence in Malaysia. This event that was a black day in the annals of Malaysian history happened on May 13^th, 1969.

A riot.

It spread over several centres but was particularly rife in a place called Kampung Bharu in Kuala Lumpur.

The comments about this riot displayed a grotesque ignorance over the facts surrounding it that was clearly engendered by propaganda and, in the modern parlance, ‘spin’.

There is a belief that the riot was caused by a Chinese march in Kepong. This march had no bearing on the riots at all. True, there may have been taunting by some Chinese at the Malays on the route but this did not cause the riots.

The outgoing party who had lost the election orchestrated the whole thing. They approached the Sultan and told him to re-instate them as the Government ‘or there would be trouble’. The Sultan refused.

During the riot the Sultan backed down to prevent further loss of life (which was considerable) and the Government was formed from the losing party. End of riot.

How do I know that the Chinese march had nothing to do with the riot? Because we were held back at Sungei Besi on May 11^th—two days before the riot occurred and before the March was planned.

Obviously somebody knew something.

How do I know that it was hell on that day in Kampung Bharu? Because I was there.

Do not tell me that there were only two races involved. Everyone got in on it. Old scores were settled and people who were disliked were ‘got rid of’ using the riot as an excuse.

You want racism back? Good luck to you.

It is poisonous and it is insidious. It will corrode your soul and destroy your country.

People need to get up in their Temples, Synagogues, Mosques and Churches and denounce it now—right now.

We will tolerate everyone as long as they tolerate us, our faiths, our beliefs, our politics.

All else leads to strife, pain and anguish.

You are part of the problem if you do nothing.

The Visitor

Aeons had passed. Aeons will pass. So many that they become one. Aeons became like seconds just as you, Sweet Lady, sweep past your admirers unconscious of both their existence and admiration.

Fuzzy patches all around. Universes unchanging even at this speed. Speed that seems so fast to us but is interminably slow to the inky void where the universes live. Elongated spheroids of fresh universes in the blackness blossoming just as you, Sweet Lady, blossom in your ephemeral life.

A scientific mathematician had calculated or, perhaps, will calculate the appearance of the visitor in elegant, flowing, and graceful, mathematical terms. The mathematician knew with certainty of the existence of the visitor but knew not when it would arrive. A detector was built to tell the mathematician of the visit. Perhaps the detector had already been built from those elegant, flowing, and graceful, calculations just as you, Sweet Lady, are elegant, flowing and graceful.

Multitudes of aeons passed before one of the fuzzy patches became uncountable points of light spread over unimaginable vastness. The remaining fuzzy patches remained unchanged, static in their spatial fastnesses. Only one opened up, slowly, so slowly, just as you, Sweet Lady, open up to the ardour of your favourite admirer.

Speeding through aeons as straight as possible, as straight as a point of lust. No target, no goal, no aim only moving, only heading one way without deviation. So it had been. Since birth it had headed in this direction. Had it been borne? Had it always been? There was no telling. There was nobody to tell. The mathematician knew or, perhaps, will know about the visitor. He was keen, agog, thirsting for proof just as you, Sweet Lady, thirsted for proof of admiration.

Even at unconscionable velocity the points of light remained as points of light for more aeons. There was no need for impatience. There is always time. Time everlasting. Somewhere, ahead, a light brighter than the collective universes had ever known blossomed briefly. For a fraction of a second it appeared, dominating all the other lights as far as could be detected just as you, Sweet Lady, overawe everyone who knows you with your brilliance.

Over time it faded. It grew through billions of years, into another fuzziness in the inky blackness. The visitor sped towards it as if this was to be its destination. Unknowing, unwitting, bearing down on the new universe. The points of light it contained spread out gradually, so very slowly. They became individuals inexorably becoming identifiable as separate entities. Their growth was insidious. The nearest ones became discs and clouds themselves but the farthest remained as points of light still, unchanging, unmoving. Just as you, Sweet Lady, remain unchanging, your beauty unmoving.

The scientific mathematician checks his detector and his calculations or, perhaps, he will check his detector and his calculations. There are so many variables. He confronts his fears and checks his calculations, those elegant, flowing, and graceful, calculations again and again. He is certain that the visitor is coming, he is not sure if it will come to precisely this spot. Perhaps it will miss and go somewhere else? Certainty becomes uncertainty, assuredness becomes doubt, confidence erodes away as the years pass and age creeps onto his stooping shoulders—or will creep onto his stooping shoulders. He checks his detector again or, perhaps, he will check his detector again. Just as you, Sweet Lady, check your make-up and hair just one more time before entering the dance.

There are more. Those that might have visited are spreading out in all directions. They have appeared from the brightness that is now dull and ancient. They, each of them, are newly on their journeys; they are fresh and eager, reaching out their lives into the aeons yet to come and to universes to be visited. They will never die, they are immortal, they are forever young. Just as you, Sweet Lady, are forever young, immortal, your beauty unfading through the reaches of time.

The aeons are swimming against the passage of time. The points of light, ever unchanging, become, suddenly, larger. The discs and clouds have points of light within themselves. Where they were once tiny, almost invisible as individuals, the points of light within them assert their individuality. Perhaps they are coming of age. Perhaps they are being born from one source of light dividing like a single cell into many cells like stellar parthenogenesis. Unfertilised female stars becoming gravid with multiple young in a single universe and single galaxies within the universe. Multiple universes—each spawned from a single blast, spreading their seeds in an infestation of galaxies and then galaxies into stars. Numbers beyond the capacity of any mind to count. Just as you, Sweet Lady, swirl into the dance, becoming multiples of yourself in the after image on our retinas.

Aeons have passed, aeons have yet to pass. They meld into each other seamlessly, becoming one. Time has no relevance, as the galaxies grow, imperceptibly, larger. Each one showing fringes of individual stars, the stars at the centre so close as to be one seething mass of heat and white hot, boiling, space debris. Shape, occasionally, appears as the galaxies spin like discs tossed carelessly into the blackness by a casual hand, the hand of a god-like child playing with a spinning top made of stardust. Shapes like spirals becoming defined, gradually and hazily, over the aeons. Weaving between the galaxies are clouds. Clouds of dust that rear up or flatten out into mystic shapes. These are clouds where more points of light flicker into life and swirl away to form another galaxy or nebula just as you, Sweet Lady, swirl across the dance forming a star cluster of admirers in your wake.

The scientific mathematician is distraught or, perhaps, he will become distraught. The detectors detect nothing. His aging shoulders sag or, perhaps, his shoulders that will become aged sag. Despair now, or in the future, etches his face. He was sure or will be sure. His mien is one of a person whose life has been wasted or will have become wasted. He returns, or will return, to those elegant, flowing, and graceful, calculations. There are no errors. The calculations are perfect. It is time that is needed, only time. How can we say that there is time when time may not exist for us? Only you, Sweet Lady, whose beauty is fixed in a moment of time; memorable, transcendent over the dullness of such banalities as time.

Patience. Edging through the vast wastes; coursing through the interminable blackness, unstoppable, unseen, velocity unchanging bent on an unknown, unseen, destination. The memory of a billion generations of mortal flesh would see no change in the vista ahead or behind. Only the passage of time immemorial since there was no time would see any changes. Born of a moment when time stood still and velocity was given to the visitor as a set value when there was nothing but blackness and fuzzy patches all around. Travelling for half an eternity, travelling forever, never to stop and, perhaps having never started but has always been. Just as you, Sweet Lady, travel forever in our memories having never appeared and never to leave but have always been.

A spiral arm from a galaxy lays in wait. Perhaps it has always been there—fixed and motionless, hanging in the void like a net waiting to trap the unwary visitor. Is it closer or is it slipping away? Perhaps it is just an illusion, a promise of things to come that are always just over our horizon never to be attained. Something that is desirable but beyond our fingertips, a yearning that remains unfulfilled. Just as you, Sweet Lady, are ever just beyond our grasp but always the object of our desire, a tantalising tactile promise of soft, sensitive sweetness that is, often, succulent.

The visitor is set on a course that has always been a vast curve. Perhaps one day it will return from whence it came, perhaps it has already been around once. This time there is a slight deflection. It is a small change of vector, a change in the course, but it is larger than the scientific mathematician might have allowed for. The visitor hurls itself past Ras Alhague whose massive gravity attempts to suck it into its fiery maw. It speeds on, ever onwards. The mighty star is as nothing, it is just a minor impediment to the journey, the journey is everything—and nothing. Just as you, Sweet Lady, are attracted, momentarily, to an ardent admirer of good grace and handsome appearance but sweep past, untouched, on your journey through your incandescent life.

In another fifty years, the blink of an astronomical eye, a small blue dot appears. It is the smallest object that the visitor has ever transected its travels. At almost two hundred thousand miles per second it passes through the small blue dot in four thousandths of a second. The blue dot falls behind, unnoticed, it was no impediment. The visitor continues, velocity unchanged. The scientific mathematician is overwhelmed with joy. His detector noticed and recorded the passage of the visitor; not only were the calculations elegant, flowing, and graceful, but flawless. Just as you, Sweet Lady, are an image of perfection in the minds of a billion men since time began.