Messages from the Deep Read Online Free Page B

peninsula and visit the cave there, then
move on to Nelson Bay shelter, another famous site. They start
discussing their relationship.
    Mariada says, “We live in the here and now
present and at this moment I have deep feelings for you and would
like to become even closer. But you must also know that if I were
to be called to go back into space, I would go, with or without
you. I would miss you terribly but I’ve left Earth before and I
would do it again. Do you accept that, dear Alex?”
    “Of course I do, Ada, and I would support you
even if it means the end of us being together.
    Actually, I have a confession to make,
something I haven’t told you about because it only happened
recently. I have applied for the Earth 2 mission which, as you
know, proposes to send people there in a few years’ time, when that
sort of travel becomes possible and safe, which is looking likely
now. My research here seems to have reached a peak and, while I
want to wind down a little, I also long for a new challenge. I made
up my mind a few weeks ago after I had a life-changing experience,
when I nearly drowned.
    I was swimming at Keurbooms at second beach,
beyond the restaurant, where we have swum so many times. But that
day I shouldn’t have swum there as it was Spring high tide, with
some big waves at times. But the water was crystal clear and just
the right temperature between cool and warm, so I went in anyway. I
would stay within my depth of standing comfortably and just dunk
myself a few times. Well, it was great and I enjoyed diving under
each wave that came in, then standing again before diving under the
next one, until I felt OK, enough, time to get out now.
    Just then, a bigger than usual wave came in,
a dumper that had a washing machine effect on the currents behind
it. Before I could try to go towards the shore, I found myself
powerless to avoid being sucked into deeper water by the retreating
backwash of the wave.
    I was coughing up some water when the next
wave hit me and, not having taken a breath first, I soon found I
was choking for air. Not sure whether I was upside-down or not, I
must have inhaled more water. I started to panic as I wasn’t even
sure if I should try to swim for the shore or rather to swim
further out, beyond the waves, hoping a current would take me
around and back to shore somewhere.
    I chose the latter but I was getting
exhausted and could sense that I wouldn’t be able to keep going
much longer. I looked towards the shore but it seemed far away and
totally deserted, so it would have been a waste of energy to shout
for help. After that, I remember giving up trying to swim and just
floating, letting go of all care and anxiety about what may happen
to me, going peacefully into the unknown around and inside me. I
was surrounded by pure love with no intruding thoughts in my head.
I felt so at one with the water that I could leave my body and see
myself floating there.
    I was being drawn towards a very bright
light, not blinding, but warm and comforting.
    I saw my deceased grandparents, relatives and
close friends who could communicate with me without words, like
telepathy I suppose. Some were welcoming but others seemed to be
telling me to go back, it was not my time. Strangely enough, one
was a dolphin, saying it would see me later, in space.
    I found that I was experiencing, at
lightning-fast speed, all the main events of my life, feelings,
thoughts and relationships. I could even see and feel the effects
and repercussions of my actions on others, and so I was able to
judge myself as to how ethically or not I had lived my life.
    I had a sense that this was the ‘hell’ we
imagine if we feel extreme guilt and shame.
    Just then, a power, something like my parents
and loving spirits combined, confronted me and told me to ‘go back
now !’
    I felt a huge jolt, like an electric shock,
and when I opened my eyes I found I was in one of those little
gullies near the restaurant, and I was able to dog-paddle