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He touched my hand in farewell and left the room in a silence vibrant with the words he had spoken. | looked long into the faces of my many friends, imprinting each on my memory. There were no spoken f are-wells, but each raised a hand, and | raised mine. Then, i allowed Orthon to lead me along the ways of the carrier back to the little Scout. Both Firkon and Ramu accompanied me on the drive back to the city. We did not talk. When we were back at the hotel and the time had come for me to take leave of these dear friends, a feeling of tremendous poignancy engulfed me. We exchanged handclasps and Ramu said softly, ?The blessing of the Infinite One go with you. | left them then, and went on up to my lonely room. 15 April 25th, 1955 Even as the presses are rolling on the pages of this book, an event of such importance has just occurred that | am recording it here and now to rush to my publishers for inclusion. All day yesterday, on April the 24th, the usual number of Sunday visitors to my home at Palomar Terraces filled the hours from early until late. As | met and talked with them, | was increasingly aware of being mentally alerted to an approaching visit with the Brothers. It was late when the last couple left and | went to my room and tried unsuccessfully to sleep. Within the hour an urge to get up and go into town became so intense that | knew | must leave without delay. During the long ride into the city | wondered if a request | had made at our last meeting was going to be answered. | had asked if they would permit me to take photographs inside a space ship in order to furnish further evidence to both doubters and believers. Apart from giving me the impression that this might not be so easy of achievement as | seemed to think, one of the Brothers had made a comment which | knew to be true. ?7Even should we succeed,? he pointed out, 71 doubt if it would convince the confirmed skeptics for the reason that Earth men still have so false a concept of other planets and the conditions existing thereon.? Nevertheless, | allowed my hope to grow. ? | went to the usual place and was met by a man to whom | had been introduced at a previous meeting, come to replace a Brother who had returned to his home planet. Without delay we drove to a desert spot where a Scout, identical to the one of my first meeting, waited for us. As we entered the little craft | glanced at my watch and saw that it was exactly 2.30 a.m. After greeting me, the pilot asked if | had brought my camera along. | had indeed! It was a small Polaroid | had recently bought. He had never seen one and asked me to explain the operation. AN UNEXPECTED POSTSCRIPT