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It was already obvious thata load had been lifted from him, a load that he had not even been consciously aware of. It was interesting to me that although these creatures appeared strange in comparison to earthlings and undoubtedly would have frightened us if we had come across one of them, they possessed very human emotions and admirable traits that we can readily identify with. Idon't know what I was expecting. Because of our condition- ing, I don't believe expected them to be so human. Many stories seem to portray these creatures as having no emotions atall and this idea makes them appear even more alien to us. Ithought Phil might be repulsed by the idea of having once lived as such a strange-looking creature, but surprisingly it did not bother him. He said it was a very profound experience because it felt so real. He felt very close to the people on the spaceship, he knew they worked very well together. So the reason for not wishing to explore this scene had nothing to do with their appearance or the fact that he had had a previous existence as an alien being, but the emotions the incident carried. 14 The Keepers ofthe Garden