The proud human animal, as Titanic survivor Eva Hart described humanity, was responsible for such disasters as the loss of so many lives and the world's greatest ship, all because ice warnings were routinely ignored and optimum speed was maintained even when the ship was speeding into an ice field full of bergs. That was the case on Earth I, whereas on Earth II a red starlike entity, an alien from space, converged and intercepted the Titanic on its maiden voyage.

Pride and arrogance learned nothing from the Titanic's sinking on both Twin Worlds and led to the destruction of Chocolate City.

The captain of a doomed American ship of state, just before the fatal convergence with a neutron bomb popping off in the heart of the Capitol, a most charming knave of a president sends a text message to Ms. Albright his Secretary of State instructing her how to respond at the press conference: "If anybody asks, deny we know anything like a massacre of black Christians is going on in southern Sudan". With his mind and heart clear of executive duties, he steps out briskly into the corridor. he has reason to be pleased with life today. Things are going well soliciting funds from Chinese billionaires for both his legal defense war chest and also his re-election, so he deserves a bit of amusement, he decides. Renowned for his pathological philandering, not to mention his constant lying, he does not let that bother him in the least as he goes prowling for yet more pretty wenches to spirit back to the relative privacy of the Oval Office. Cruising a White House student intern reception, he finds just the right one among several dozen ready and willing prospects and strikes up a little conversation with her for the sake of the appearances as his secret service dicks look on with glazed eyes--having seen the big boss operating like this so many times they could write a book on it if they dared.

He pulled a stick-on name tag from his pocket from a bunch he always carried. "Hi, just call me Bill," he smiled, turning on his high-powered charm. "May I do you the honors, Ms--?" he said, still smiling. Overwhelmed, the girl managed to gasp out her first name. Writing "Monica" with a black Magic Marker, he then applied it to her left breast as she beamed and looked like she might pass out.

At the games held in Trapesos, a particularly grueling race across country (which including some high mountains) circles around behind the city and port on high rocky mountain paths fit only for goat hooves, not human feet. Running the race on bloody feet without sandals, leaving a red-spattered track behind him all the way, an Argonaut, Kleon of Tiryns, wins, but he won't walk again without limping for several weeks after he wins the glorious laurel crown of the victor and is carried throught the crowded streets as the people shout praises to his name and throw flowers and gold pieces and jewelry upon him.

FOR THE CHRONICLE OF THE QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, PARTS I-VIII, AND CONCLUSION, GO TO VOLUME IV AND THE JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE CHRONICLE, ANTE ANNO STELLAE 1230-1200.

Another end of the world occurred during the time of Noah, who survived it with seven of his immediate family and lived to be over 900 years old. His means of survival during the world-wide flood, the Great Mubbul? A gigantic multitiered, wooden craft built like a chest to hold a bride's trousseau, that was impregnable to water and extremely bouyant and yet 100 foot waves could not capsize it. Designed to float and not requiring any navigation, it served its purpose of keeping Noah and his family, and all the assembled representative of earth's main animal species dry and well-fed until the flood waters receded. Noah was a genius, but he was only following the explicit instructions of Almighty God, who had built the ship of the earth without a drydock and then launched it to sail through empty space. As soon as Noah's Ark was launched by the rising waters, any manmade structures, such as the court astrologer's high tower and now his chief refuge in the flood, were going to suffer badly if the Ark converged with them.

CHRONICLE OF THE FURLED SAIL: THE MAN WHO NEVER LAUNCHED FORTH

Jason and his brave Argonauts gained fame for launching out into the unknown, but long after them lived a man named Larry Prufrockski, born and raised in Tacoma, a port city in Washington State, who never did anything close to launching. It wasn't that he couldn't launch out into the unknown and risk the perils and dangers for the sake of adventure and finding fresh, new meaning in life. He was certainly a strong fellow and quite intelligent. But he happened to be one of those early-maturing types who knew how to use a good education in the public schools and after graduation from high school immediately get a nice, not too demanding, solid union job. He left pioneering and adventure to others, for he noticed they didn't always end up with good retirements and hefty savings in the bank.

Before he even graduated, Larry chose the railroad as his profession, and he chose well. He knew the railroad had good pay and plenty of benefits and was certain not to land him in the unemployment line with the next recession and would give him absolutely everything essential he wanted in life--without a talkative, expensive wife to fuss over him--something he didn't figure he needed, which would just complicate things unnecessarily, according to his simplified, basic, pragmatic view of life.

Of all things, he most liked orderliness, trains that ran on time, a set schedule with 9-5 hours, and at home, square, beige-painted, tidy rooms that didn't get cluttered with tacky, over-colored furnishings and silly knicknacks like the places of he had seen belonging to other train personnel he knew, etc.--and so his whole lifestyle reflected that simple train, er, trait.

The next thing he liked, after orderliness, was trips abroad spaced at calculated intervals taking him on organized group tours to exotic places he wouldn't want to live but liked to visit and explore, just to vary his life a bit. To share with one or two friends he chose to cultivate, he wrote trip journals and typed them up from his notebooks, carefully, without misspellings and double-spaced, giving stapled copies out to his friends, then he went on to plan the next trip, which he would take in five or ten years time, depending on how bad he wanted to vary his life a bit.

"Russia--1986

"My flight was to leave Seattle on August 2, 1986 at 8:30 in the morning, but was delayed till 9:45 A.M. due to a problem with air conditioning. The plane arrived at JFK in New York one hour late and then I had to switch to Air-France. I asked four people how to get to Air-France and they must all have had problems as not one of them were helpful. My first taste of New York and four rude people!

The weather was hot--about 85 degrees so was dripping wet when I arrived at the check-in counter. The lady from the travel company had alot of excuses for not meeting me when I landed and gave me tickets for the trip to Russia.

"Air-France had trouble leaving New York so we had a two hour delay. There were alot of problems on the plane such as: cups leaking, seats not working, food containers that wouldn't open.

"This was the start of a bad day!

"We arrived in Paris, France and had a two hour delay before a departing on the flight to Leningrad. Our Russian plane was smaller and sort of dirty with alot of flies on board.

"At about 6 o'clock in the evening we arrived in Leningrad and went through the passport area in about thirty minutes and then another thirty minutes to go through customs to check for money, books, etc. Custom officials took three books about Russia from one lady, but they werre returned to her when she left Russia.

We went by bus to our hotel on the Gulf of Finland, which is an arm of the freshwater Baltic Sea. It was a large hotel with about 2,400 rooms. We had a very good dinner with cavier on eggs, meat, potatoes, bread, beer, etc. I received a single room the first night due to the number of people on the tour. I took a shower and slept like a log until I awoke at 5 A.M. ready to go and I had only four or five hours of sleep. I got up and went for a five mile jog to look the area over around the hotel. There were few people out at that time of the morning.

Our first breakfast in Leningrad was not much--cheese, bread, tea and coffee. I think they were trying to tell us something. After our "large" breakfast we went by bus to tour Leningrad. Our guide liked to talk or listen to himself talk, he rambled on and on the exact measurements of something which got to be very boring."

"After seeing many buildings and parks and hearing the exact size of each park and building in Leningrad we returned to the hotel for lunch. After lunch we went to a large church where there were alot of people and very hot inside. I only stayed ten minutes and left to walk around the area. We were back at the hotel for dinner at 6 P.M. which was very good also, but everyone was still full from lunch. We then went to the ballet for two hours and returned back to the hotel to end the day.

"The next morning, August 5th, I was up at 6 A.M. and went on a five mile run around the area. The breakfast was the same as before of cheese, bread, tea and coffee. Our tour went to a meeting with Russians, but I went walking around town for three hours instead. I went into alot of stores, tried some good bread, fruit drinks and ice cream and then missed the tour bus back to the hotel. They had told us if we got separated to take "bus number 7" to the hotel. It was the wrong bus and I went ten miles across town for five kopecks (about seven cents in U.S. money). At the end of the bus route the driver said to ride back and start over and take "number 10" to the hotel. Wrong bus again another ten miles back to start. The driver drew a picture of a bus with cables--an electric bus "number 10". A Russian woman and a little girl took me to the right bus this time. I had alot of miles for my five kopeks! I gave the little girl a pen for helping me with the buses. They seem to like the pens that "click" better than the ballpoint pen that the top just comes off.

"My group had gone somewhere so I rested till 6 P.M. and then had dinner. This hotel was the best of my trip in Russia and it had the best food. Most of the people working at the hotel were very nice and the people of Leningrad were the friendliest in Russia.

"The next day, August 6th, we took a hydrofoil to the Summer Palace in St. Petersburg. It took almost forty five minutes to get there and there was some wind and rain.

We had a tour of the inside of the Palace, which has several large rooms that had been recreated as close as possible to the original. During WWII the Germans had destroyed and looted almost everything so they had to start from scratch to rebuild, using photographs and old plans. The rooms were very large and all had marble floors and crystal chandeliers and many of the items were gold leafed. All of the rooms had an excellent view of the outside gardens and waterfalls. We took a fast trip around the grounds, but missed seeing the music and water show which was suppose to be a high light of the Summer Palace. We then had a bus trip back to the hotel for lunch. We should have had one full day there as there was much to see.

"After lunch we went to the Hermitage for about three hours. The Hermitage is a world famous museum for its art collection.

It is very large and has millions of things to see, some good and some bad, but all interesting. Most of the art was described in Russian so you didn't know what it was or by whom. There are seven main halls containing Russian history and culture, prehistoric history and artifacts, Asian and European art, and the most popular section with paintings of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir and other world famous artists.

"Catherine II wanted to have a home for her collection of art which she had acquired and also a rural retreat where she would go privately, hence the name Hermitage, which for her the queen of Russia meant a sort of rustic country cottage of only 600 or so rooms she could use to relax in with a few hundred friends, some of them handsome Hussar officers she liked, only she kept adding rooms for more guests and it got as big over time as any palace she had in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Her friends, men and women, kept moving in to the "hermitage" as guests, I suppose, and she was a high society type who always wanted plenty of people around her, even in the country.

There are also many marble statues and old weapons and armour that were used in Russian history. What they did with them was fight alot of wars that you can read about in books, but we did not have those books along, fortunately.

"We went back to the hotel for dinner and pack for our flight to Tashkent. We will fly at night and arrive in the morning about 6:30 A.M. due to a time change. August 6th, we are in Tashkent and I couldn't sleep during the flight and was tired so went to bed till noon. The weather was warm out being 75 degrees at 6:30 A.M. It must be on our tour that orders the food because the tables of other tour groups have more and better food. We had about thirty three people to start and only fourteen went due to the accident in Chernobyl. Chernobyl experienced nuclear fire and melt down which caused widespread nuclear contamination for hundreds of square miles in Russia, Finland, and parts of Sweden and Norway. The tour might have cut back on the tour and food due to the small group of people going.

"After lunch we took a tour of Tashkent and saw many large buildings and nice parks. It was hot, about 100 degrees and our bus does not have air conditioning.

"We went to visit a song and dance group from the area in the afternoon. They were good and lasted about one hour.

"At dinner in the hotel as I was walking to my table a Mongolian man stopped me and shook my hand and gave me a big bear hug.

"He was talking in Russia and acted like we were old friends. There was another couple there also and we shook hands. I acted like I knew them and then went on to my table. Our Russian guide and everyone in our group was very interested and curious to know if I spoke or understood Russian and if I knew the man or the people. I just said he was a friendly person and as for knowing or understanding Russian I said no I didn't speak or understand the language, but then smiled and gave a little laugh to keep them in suspense!

"I left dinner early, so everyone could see me leave, and stopped once again at the Mongolians table and talked. His wife offered me a drink and I shook hands again and looked at my watch as if we were going to meet later. I knew everyone from the tour group was interested what was going on and I enjoyed every minute of the joke. I went back to the hotel to take a shower in a washer type tub, about two feet by two feet in size, with a hand held water hose. It was crazy getting my six feet body in that tub and I ended up getting more water on the floor then on me. After the shower I went to bed.

"About 5 A.M. on August 7th, several men were working on a door in the hallway talking and banging something so I got up. I used the tea water to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth because the water is bad and would make you sick and I knew the tea water had been boiled and was okay to use."

"We had the usual breakfast and then a bus trip to a Moslem Mosque. We were in the courtyard about fifteen minutes and a manf from the Mosque walked through and saw me with shorts on. He talked to our guide and then asked me to leave the courtyard.

"Our guide did not know shorts were not allowed. He said that ten years ago they would have stoned me, but times have changed--I think he was kidding.

"We visited a large factory where about 2,400 women are employed to make scarfs and other lthings. They gave each of us a small scarf that they had made as a gift.

"After lunch at the hotel we had the afternoon free. I walked around the city for several hours and ate an ice cream cone. A Russian woman pushed a small cart with ten cartons of ice cream out from a warehouse type building. She had a tray with some change. The cones are small but the ice cream tasted good. When she sold her ice cream she would return to the building and another woman would come out to sell hers.

"I went back to the hotel to pack for the flight this evening to the east coast of Russia to the city of Khaborousk. The plane leaves at 10 P.M. and we will have a six hour flight from Tashkent to Khaborousk at 10 P.M. and we will have a six hour flight from Tashkent to Khaborousk and also a six hour time change. We will arrive at Khaborousk at eight o'clock in the morning.

"At dinner our guide and I had a little go-around.

"They bring six bottles of mineral water and three bottles of pepsi. Everyone likes the pepsi but not the mineral water so I asked if we could trade the water for pepsi. The guide started a long winded speech about the price of pepsi, four water to one pepsi. We pay for the water and never use it so I said to forget the pepsi and I would drink water. I asked him to open one for me but he hands me one that had already been opened. I told him I wanted a new one opened as we had already paid for them. He got sort of mad because they all have little schemes to make money. They charge you again the next meal as no one drinks them.

"We arrived at eight in the morning at Khaborousk and took a bus to the hotel. Everyone will rest because of the night flight. I went for a walk and found a road race. They only ran about three miles so I ran with them. I was tired because of the plane flight but it felt good to stretch my legs. There were about fifty people in the race. This afternoon we will have a tour of the city and will see a circus tonight. This is a smaller circus and not the famous Moscow circus.

"Our hotel is small, but okay. I have a radio but no television. There is again the hand held shower. The people here are friendly but will not meet your eyes.

"Our local guide, as well as our national guide are a pair, both worthless. We had a one and a half hour tour of the city that was a waste of time. We got to see very little because our guide had his little book and was reading again all the exact measurements of things.

"I ate dinner and then walked around Khaborousk's streets and visited the stores. I had an ice cream which was very good. The circus was at seven o'clock and it was hot inside and alot of flies, but it was interesting. After seeing the circus I went back to the hotel and showered and got ready for bed as I had been up over twenty four hours.

"The next morning, August 9th, I think, I was going to run but was tired so slept till eight o'clock. I ate breakfast and went to the beach. There were alot of people there--mostly fat, short, older women taking the sun, but everyone is friendly at least at the beach, and one fat, smiling older woman gave me a paper plate of her cabbage salad, which was kinda like cole slaw and tasted okay along with sliced sausage and good homemade bread she added to it. She knew a little English too and said I reminded her of her son lost in the war. She got tears in her eyes when she said that. I didn't know how to ask her what war and how he died and not hurt her feelings--so I didn't say anything, and she just reached up and gave my head a litle pat, and left me to eat the food, and then I lay down and soaked in the sun like everyone else. I didn't go with them on the tour and stayed at the beach all day till almost 6 P.M. After dinner I returned to the beach to take pictures of the fake palm trees and the waves and people swimming, and stayed there till around ten o'clock when I returned to the hotel and got ready for bed.

"After breakfast the following morning I didn't go with the tour. They were going to a Peace Meeting and I wanted to take pictures, but it started to rain. I met two young men that wanted to trade or buy things. I traded a running book for a belt and buckle and several badges. The young people want to buy your jeans, shoes, shirts, hats, glasses or anything you have. For jeans it costs fifty rubles or $75.00 in U.S. money. If you get caught selling anything you will be taken to jail as this is black marketeering and against the law.

"There are lines for almost everything. Lines for drinks, ice cream, bread, etc. We saw about two hundred people lined up to buy their daily ration of one pint per person of vodka. One pint of vodka would cost about $3.00 which is quite a bit of money, but the people still line up and pay. The people don't have much to do and they have over indulgence in drinking in the Soviet Union.

"The meat in the markets is poor and high priced. The meat is not wrapped or covered on the counters and alot of flies around it. There seemed to be alot of vegetables and they looked okay. I bought a small jar of honey about the size of a baby food jar which cost three rubles which is $4.50 U.S. money. Food and everything is high priced. The people don't say much but are helpful if you get lost or need help.

"We left Khaborousk, by train abound two o'clock, for Irkutsk. It will take three days to get there and we will pass through Siberia. There are twelve cars and two engines on our train. In each car there is a lady that helps make beds and wil get you tea. Our lady in charge would not open the windows so I went next door to take pictures. Later I gave her some tea and candy and she opened the window for about thirty minutes.

"Siberia is a very large area of six million square miles. From Khaborousk to Irkutsk there are rolling hills with alot of water, small streams, ponds or swamps, but the further west we went it got drier. There are many birch trees and some fir and pine too but we did not see one bird or wild animal for the first two days. They must have been deep in the woods or just very few of them. There are not many people throughout Siberia as the living conditions are not the best and the work is hard. Most of the houses look small and very old looking. They have large gardens planted at each house in mostly potatoes and they also grow sunflowers. There are soldiers at the bridges and tunnels because we are close to the Chinese border.

"I have the lady in charge, name of Marishka, eating out of my hand now! I showed her pictures of my house by Meeker Park, and also Ft. Nisqually and Never-Never Land and the Union Train Station dome and Point Defiance Park and Mt. Rainier in Washington. She would raise her thumb to say "number one"--meaning good. I gave her a couple more tea bags and she brought me an apple and some tea a little later. Later, bartering again, I got an egg and a sandwich from her for a couple ballpoint pens and decals she liked.

"We had dinner what there was of it.

Not much to eat and what there is gives you indigestion. I went to bed about eleven o'clock and tried to sleep, but the train moved about and the bed seemed the size of a two by four. The goat that gave his life for dinner also gave me a stomach ache--he died for nothing!

"Today is August 11, I think. I slept two to four hours and ate breakfast. This trans-Siverian diet is very good. There are alot of people losing weight. I think I should market it.

"There isn't much to look at but the birch trees and a small town every fifty miles or so. There are small cabins in the woods for hunters or railroad workers. The towns are like the states in the 1900's. They have firewood for heat and a path to the outhouse.

"The lunch was the same as breakfast, very small. I took a few pictures and had a nap in the afternoon. We got off at stations that had a ten minute delay to look at the people selling items and to stretch our legs. Tired of this routine, I didn't wait around like the others this time but took off from the station on foot down a little path I saw. It took me through some mixed birch, fir, and pine trees, and then I saw above the tree tops Russian type little domes they have on churches sticking up ahead, the types that look alot like onions or corkscrews.

"I can't imagine how the carpenters and builders put those things together like that--it must involve a lot of ladder work, as those dome are pretty steep sided, without anyplace to stand!

"I had a moment more, I guessed, so I took a peek inside, and it looked all wood, kind of dim, smelled like incense burning and candles, and there was someone there looking like a priest, and I didn't like the idea of paying him for pictures, so I left. He was kneeling down anyway, probably chanting a prayer, so I didn't want to interrupt the service. I never get much out of these churches anyway, except a good picture now and then.

"Wondering if the train had left me behind in that awful monotonous wilderness where you can't tell one place from another, I ran as fast as I could to the train, and it was just about to pull away and leave me in nowheresville, but I hopped on a train car further down from mine, and then everyone in my tour group's cabin looked a little surprised I made it back in time. I chuckled, and they all wanted to know where I had been and what I saw. They all looked excited, or wanting a little excitement on this killing stretch of track, so I told them I took a picture of a real Russian angel I came across in the woods, and they all looked as if they believed it (or wanted to believe it), especially Marishka who takes care of our cabin and barters stuff with me--she got this goofy look all of a sudden, looked up and crossed herself, then must have remembered she's in an atheist country where anyone seeing her would report her to the KGB dicks on the train for arrest and land her in some Siberian coal mine the rest of her days, and she got very red in her nose and checks and ran out--we didn't see her for quite some time, and when she came back, she looked a little distant, and she was wearing a locket on a chain around her neck with a miniature Lenin's mug on it, and a red star lapel to boot! So much for crossing herself--she must have repented her momentary backslide from Marxism!"

"Funny thing though, she came and leaned over where I was sitting and whispered in my ear, "Only a holy saint, or the damned, sees angels like that," and then she hurried away. I had to laugh at that. Marishka is so superstitious. Me, a holy saint? Not on your life! I'm just an ordinary joe--middle of the road type, and I take care of myself and the rest I don't fuss about--and that's it! Holy smolly--that religious stuff is not for me.

"I slept better last night, but still didn't get enough sleep. I'm glad we are only on the train for three day as the food isn't good and not much to do but look at trees grow.

"We arrived at ten o'clock at night and took a bus to the hotel. That was the last I saw of Marishka of course. I guess she's still riding that trans-Siberian train to nowhere, and everybody's losing weight around her!

I have a radio and television in the room and hot water. I took a long shower that seemed like one hour and went to bed. The shower really felt good as we didn't have one on the train.

I got up at 8 A.M., ate breakfast and went on a tour of a church and a museum. After luncn we went to an open market. There were alot of people there selling vegetables, meat, flowers, eggs and almost everything. Most of the people look old and the prices were high on everything. They sell their produce to make extra money. I caught a bad cold and cough so had the guide buy me thirty anti-biotic pills which cost about sixty cents.

"The food is much better here and we also have ice cream at dinner. I went for a walk and the win came up and it started to rain. It continued to pour rain for several hours. I went back to the hotel and packed to leave for Mongolia in the morning. We will leave about five o'clock and it will take thirty six hours for the train to reach Ulan Bator the capital of Mongolia.

"The train was very cold so I didn't get much sleep. This is August 15th, and we started the grand old trans-Siberian diet again. The customs officials from Russia checked for several hours and then the Mongolian customs for another hour. The Russians checked under the train, over the train and all over in the cabins and checked papers very close. It would be difficult to escape here by train.

"After arriving at the hotel in Ulan Bator and eating breakfast we went on a tour of the city and saw some museums. The food is better here and the hotel is fine, though there are some little beggar boys, with ragged sweaters and pants with holes and no shoes either, hanging around hoping for a handout from us rich Americans I guess. The Mongolian soldiers with the Soviet Red Stars on their uniforms, soon as they see them, give them a kick and run them off though--so they have to be careful. The people are more friendly then in Russia. We went to a local temple where about fifty men and boys in orange robes were all chanting, praying and ringing bells. I think they were Buddhist monks, but we couldn't understand a word, so that's just my best guess. Mongolia too is communist and atheist, so they aren't about to promote religion. I wonder if this is where we got separation of church and state-they've had it here a long time, I think. It's a pretty good idea.

"Our local Mongolian guide who claims to be a descendant of Genghis Khan the ancient king of the Mongols came and said the plane was ready several hours early so we left for the airport. One hour later we were on a plane for the Gobi Desert, which the guide says is as big as the Sahara in Africa, though I have to wonder about that, since he didn't show us any National Geographic map to compare the sizes but expected us to take his word for it. Genghis Khan has a descendant here?--that too is a stretch. These local guides can be a bit hard to swallow at times.

"On the planes in Mongolia nobody checks seat belts or anything--just fill the plane and leave. Then the hostess on plane hands out candy to eat on the flight. It was old-fashioned hard rock candy made in Russia. It made my teeth stick together when I tried to chew it, and they also ached, it was so sweet. It will be a two hour flight to the desert camp.

"We arrived at the Gobi Desert around noontime and ate some lunch. For the two days we will be here we will live in round Mongolian tents called yurts and will get to ride some camels. Some of the women don't want to try it, but they do anyway and enjoy it, though the ride is kind of rough because of the way camels walk, and gave my dinner a lurch or two that felt like seasickness. Fortunately, our guide had some Dramamine tablets along for tourists, which means I wasn't the only one who ever got that reaction and felt like feeding the fish when riding camels.

"The yurts are about twenty five feet in diameter and are maybe ten feet high. They have wooden supports and covered with a thick white felt like cloth cover. They are warm in winter and waterproof. All the yurts have a red wooden door which stands for happiness and faces east, the door to the sun's rising, they say, because the sun also rises red-colored in the morning. On the inside there are rugs on the floor and there and there are four beds in each and a table and chairs or stools where we could sit and drink tea. There is a wood burning stove in the middle of the room that gives alot of heat. The stove is about two feet around and two feet high with a chimney going up throughn the center of the yurt. The beds have several thick like comforters that felt good in the early morning cold. The yurts are pitch black at night without lights. The showers are one hundred yards away with cold water only. As for the other necessities, the Mongolian men just go out a ways from the yurt and pay their respects to Mother Nature. When in Rome, do as the Romans do--same as in Mongolia--so no problem! As for the ladies--it must have been a little awkward doing the Arabian squat out there in the dark--but they didn't say anything to us men, of course. After all, we all knew we were camping, Mongolian style!

"The bus driver, who drives like a Mexican road racer, drove us to some sand dunes about an hours drive from camp. The desert has a little grass, but the sand dunes nothing. The sand is easy to walk on so we walked around and took some pictures. It was so wild and untouchd it was easy to picture hundreds of thousands of wild, yelling Mongols charging across this country on their tough little horses all following Genghis Khan--it was pretty wild looking, with no sign of civilization as far as we could see, even with the binoculars.

"After dinner there was nothing to do so I went for a walk and saw two Mongolians with a tractor and trailer out in the middle of nowhere. I gave them several Russian cigarettes each and hopped on their trailer. About eight miles out I got off the trailer and started to walk back to camp. I could see the camp lights still burning so there was no problem. The two men didn't know what to think when I got off the trailer in the middle of nowhere. I had about one hour before sundown, but misjudged the distance and lost sight of the camp when it turned dark.

"When I entered the yurt the people in it all jumped, looking as if they saw a ghost. They had been real worried, it turned out, wondering if I had got myself lost and out where I would walk forever and nobody would ever find me or my bones. It was supposed to happen sometimes to even Mongolians who are born and grow up here, so it could happen to American tourists like me. I didn't tell them that a big, tall Mongolian with a funny, stovepipe hat on his head showed up in the dark and had a lantern and led me to the camp after the yurt's lights went out and I couldn't tell where the camp was anymore. They might have wondered who he was--and I couldn't tell them--for he vanished just like he was made of thin air--right when I turned around at the door to thank him for getting me back to the camp. It happened so fast I wasn't even sure I had seen him--but maybe this wide and wild desert plays llitle tricks on your eyes. I've heard there are optical illusions like palm trees and pools of water produced in the desert because of the burning sun's rays radiating from the land, but at night too? No doubt moonlight does strange things at night, just what the sun does by day.

If the calendar in my head is correct today should be August 18th. After breakfast we started on a tour to some mountains that were forty or fifty miles away. We saw several groups of mountain goats high up on the slopes of the mountains and several hawks flying about looking for food. There were a lot of gophers about. We hiked around the area and then had lunch in an open area. The sun was warm so just rested on the grass until it was time to return to the camp.

After dinner we played volleyball for an hour or so and then went to see some Mongolian folk dancers and singers and watched a movie about the Gobi Desert and Mongolia, also a short documentary from the National Geographic about the visit of Justice William O. Douglas, who visited this area in the Sixties and wowed the natives with his talk.

Early the next morning, around seven o'clock, we left by bus to a local camel breeding area. The camels are large and smell bad. Ugh! After taking some pictures of riding the camels, we returned to camp and ate breakfast of rice, bread, jam and tea and got ready to return to Ulan Bator. Our plane arrived, finally, and we have six more people than seats, but no problem--they are put in the baggage area. The plane must have taxied for two miles before lifting off.

At the hotel at Ulan Bator I took a long shower and used alot of hot water to shave and shower. Seemed like it must have been 1,000 gallons, but it sure felt good to get clean and put clean clothes on.

After a so-so dinner we went to a duty free store to shop. I found nothing to buy so went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep, wrong, they started working again on a ditch with a back-hoe and trucks. They finished working at three in the morning--had to get the trucks back, I guess.

The next morning which was August 20th, if my days are right, we ate breakfast and then took a bus ride to the mountains. It was a nice drive but not much to see or do. We stopped and rode a yak and took some pictures and then returned back to the hotel for dinner and then in the evening we went to a variety show with singing etc. One thing happened though. I wanted to change money, U.S. to their money to buy some little things in the gift shop at the hotel which only takes local money, and the money changer insisted on giving me the smallest denomination bills, rather than the bigger ones that don't stuff my wallet so much. I could not get it into the thick head of the man at the counter--to do this simple thing for me, and I must have yelled some, for our local tour guide was called in to handle the matter. I told him what I wanted, and he explained it to the man in Mongolian, but no--he still couldn't understand what I wanted--he handed me the same big wad of small denomination bills, and I could have thrown them back in his face! I don't want a bulging wallet--it is nice and slim, and I intend to keep it that way so it is comfortable in my pocket!

Finally, seeing I just could not get them to see sense, I just forgot the whole thing, and walked off. I took another shower, and it helped calm me down.

Tomorrow at 7 A.M. we leave Ulan Bator and fly back to Irkutsk and go through Mongolian customs again.

Our flight to Irkutsk was about two hours and then Russian customs again. I had eight dollars in those small denomination bills they have, which is a wad in my hand to handle, and couldn't cash it in so I gave it to a woman on the plane, who reacted like I had given her a fortune!

The Russian passport area was fast but the baggage area very slow. They wanted to see my money and count it for them. Then they took my walled and looked all through it (probably for Mongolian money) and checked my suitcase. I must have had an honest face because they let me pass.

That afternoon we visited a museum that took all of ten minutes to see so I walked about town for several hours and then went back to the hotel. I bought some things in the hotel store. They wouldn't take Traveler's Checks and wanted only U.S. dollars and I wanted the items so I paid cash. I had a single room again so couldn't fuss about the hotel.

We had about an hours wait for our plane ride to Moscow, but other people had already been waiting four or five hours. When we left they were still waiting. The airport police had two men, British clergymen with round collars, and made them strip down to their shorts and checked their suitcases about four times before they let them on the plane. I heard they were checking for Bible smuggling--as Bibles are considered "bombs" here, for some reason. I sure was glad I never carry a Bible. We landed at Omsk for about forty minutes for fuel. It is a closed city (all military and top secret) so we had to stay in a certain area.

On our arrival at Moscow we had a little rain to greet us. The airport is an hours drive to the city. Our hotel is the best in Moscow and everything is near by. It is a large hotel holding 5,000 people. There was nothing doing on tonight so after dinner I went to bed early as there was a five hour time change.

I awoke at 6 A.M. but stayed in bed to rest till 8 o'clock. We had a nice breakfast of eggs and rolls. After eating we walked around Red Square, St. Basil Cathedral and the Kremlin. Everything is in one area so you can walk and see several things at once.

Red Square is a large area in front of the Kremlin. To the back of the Kremlin is the large department store where the Russian people shop. On the left is the St. Basil Cathedral. To the right is an old building that is named the Arsenal and is now a museum. The square is always full of people viewing the Kremlin or watching the changing of the guard at Lenin's tomb.

The Kremlin is a large Government area with walls around the buildings, about one and a half mles in circumference and the walls are ten to twenty feet thick and sixty five feet high. It is the main Government building in Russia. A person can go inside the Kremlin and see more buildings a Nd churches and also the Czar Cannon, which weighs forty ton and has a calibar of thirty five inces. Many government buildings are closed to tourists. Lenin's Tomb is in front of the Kremlin and they change the guard every hour with many people watching. There are always several thousand people in line to view his tomb.

In the afternoon we had a bus tour of Moscow for three hours and got to see a larger area of the city.

Tonight we have our big dinner at a local restaurant. I had some clothes washed at the hotel for six rubles or $9.00 U.S. money. Prices are high here in Russia.

We took a bus to the restaurant for dinner. It was underground and had several large rooms. Our tble was all ready for us with wine, vodka, cavier, tomatoes, bread, chicken, and other things. It was a very good dinner and the best on this trip. It took us about two hours for dinner and then we rode the bus half way back to the hotel and walked the rest of the way. It was a nice night out to walk the streets of Moscow and see how the local people live. They walk and sit and visit as there isn't much for them to do.

We were to visit a children's scholol and playground but school was closed and there were very few children around. Our guide started a long speech so I left and found two boys and a girl and played Frisbee with the. We were playing on the grass till a policeman told the kids that they couldn' play on the grass so we had to play on the pavement instead. They all spoke English and were nice kids. I gave them each a Frisbee and some decals,k which they really liked.

Several in our group took to the subways for several hours and had a good look at them. Several of the subways have murals and crystal chandeliers and all are very clean and fast.

We went on a tour of the Russian Economic Museum and it was very interesting. We thought it would be a small place and not interesting, but we were so wrong. It has seventy nine buildings and is on over eight hundred acres! There were space ships, airplanes, shiups, mining and everything that is important on the economic side of Russia. The price to sede this Museum was thirty kopecks or about forty five cents in U.S. money.

After dinner we can go to the ballet or do anything we want. I didn't intend to go to the ballet as we leave tomorrow and I had to pack and wanted to buy some last minute items, but the tour guide insisted, as it was by famous Bolshoi Ballet company dancers and this was the biggest event on our tour, he said. I went and saw some oddly dressed dancers, supposed to be wood nymphs and satyrs, which are local fairies I guess, and with Russian names for the dancers no American can pronounce.

It was a waste of time and money, so I left early and walked to the Gum Store, the large department store. The store closed at 9 o'clock and I had some rubles and alot of decals left and did not want to waste them, but was having a hard time giving the decals away. I found a flat part of some stairs and put six or eight decals out and in a minute I had hundreds of hands reaching for them. I gave them all away in about ten minutes, just as the policeman grabbed my arm. All of the people disappeared in a hurry. The policeman took me about four blocks from the store to the police station. There were maybe half a dozen policemen there. They all talked to each other about me but didn't know what to do. After about an hour a captain or some officer said to let me go. On the way out of the police station the policeman that grabbed me asked me for a decal. I gave him a pen and he shook my hand. Action in Russia!!!

August 26th. We went to the airport, and again the checks at the desk and in Customs and Security. They had to check everything, so see that we weren't smuggling out anything and had everything written down for Customs and the duties paid.

The lady whose Russian books were taken by Customs when we first came into the country had them given back to her. One book was marked in, the parts dealing with a prophecy of a Kremlin prophet around the turn of the century had been marked out with a Magic Marker. I asked her about the passage, and she told me it was a special prophecy of a holy man--a Greek Orthodox bishop who was famous in old Russia, just before Czar Nikolaus was thrown out by the Communist revolution--and he said there would be a great revival, starting in Russia and carried to all of Western Europe. I knew this wasn't going to go over with the Soviets, when I heard her say this--and sure enough they didn't let her get that book out of the country with that passage in it! This is not a Christian country, and they don't like prophecies like that being circulated, I guess.

Then this same lady got funny looking, rushed to the counter, said something, and they called a medic, as she had a terrible stomach condition come on her all of a sudden. Must have been something she ate! The guide was all upset, as nobody had gotten sick like this on the tour--and now someone was in bad shape, and would she be able to fly with us or not? This was the worst time for this to happen!

But she didn't get any better, where they had taken her to recovere, so the guide said she was going to be hospitalized, and would have to follow us on another flight when she recovered. Well, we couldn't argue with that--as it was beyond our control, and she wouldn't be anything but sick on the plane the whole flight back, and that would just expose us all to whatever she had.

So, with her gone, it was back to the checking business! And they were checking to see we didn't take any rubles out either--as you can't take the Russian money out of the country and change it somewhere else, for some reason. I had missed spending and giving away all my leftover Russian money, and they found a one rubble note on me and a couple kopecks. I would have gladly given them to anyone, but they treated me as if I were trying to do something illegal. It held us all up, but finally the guide wanted the others to go ahead to the plane which might leave without us, and I was kept back. Our guide said he was sorry, but couldn't do anything more for me, and left to join the others boarding the plane. I was about to say, keep everything, including my luggage, just let me go--but then somebody said to impound the money and let me go without anything else done to me--and I was free! Boy, was I glad! I hurried and got to the plane in time to board and leave with the others. I was in a cold sweat by then. It was a close call, but I made it safe aboard and..."

"Dear Barbara,

Hope you won't mind me writing in Larry's journal, but there were these leftover pages, and I thought why not.

I am so very sorry for you and your family losing Larry so suddenly and tragically like that. What could have made that plane turn back over the water just as it was at Long Island and there was just a few more minutes and it would have landed at JFK? I hear the F.B.I. investigation is still going on, as they are finding more and more pieces. This journal was sent to me by mistake, as they didn't see any reason to keep it as evidence, and thought somehow I was his relative--or maybe someone thought I would know where to send it on to the family if I wasn't his relative? I came in just a week after the flight, and the authorities that me handed me this journal, all wrapped up carefully, and without any more explanation said I would know what to do with it. I opened it and saw their mistake right away as soon as I got to a chair past the gate, but they were gone by then, and I couldn't give it back.

But I need to explain how I was left behind!

When I got so sick in my stomach at the airport (I had stopped in at the airport cafe and eaten a Swiss-style cream pastry the last thing to spend the Russian money I still had, and it didn't taste fresh to me, but I thought some coffee with it would make it all right, but it didn't!!), I missed the Air-France return flight, you may have heard. I feel so terribly guilty! I can't explain it, for how should I be a survivor, when all the rest were lost in that terrible accident?

All that week in that Moscow hospital I had time to think over the tour, and then the horrible news came, and that set me back a few days, but finally I was feeling strong enough and the doctors let me go home.

Now I want to share just a few things I thought about Larry on the tour. He was such a strong, silent, good-looking fellow, I really wanted to meet him, but I never got close enough to him, for some reason, for a chance to talk to him. He was always leaving the group to do more interesting things, and I couldn't blame him for that, as our local guides were so windy, if you know what I mean. They dragged us to alot of places I didn't find very appealing--and that Russian Economic Museum was the worst--I thought it would never end--building after building, dozens of them--all full of scientific equipment and huge space machines and the floors so poorly tiled or just rough cement, I broke the heels on both my shoes before we got out of there.

I really wish I could have gotten to know your brother more, Barbara. He seemed just the type I admire--who has a mind of his own, and doesn't need to depend on others, and doesn't run with the herd, if you know what I mean. The rugged individualist, they call it. I felt the moment I saw him he was a guy I could have connected with, if only...but it wasn't to be, obviously. He was definitely a man who sailed his own ship, and charted his own course in life--and he lived that way to the end, and has "gone fishing," as they say.

If there is anything I can do or say, Barbara, let me know, and call me. My number is enclosed. You lost a wonderful brother, no doubt, with a big heart, and generous to a fault (I saw him giving out things to the poor Russians everywhere we went!), and he loved children too (played Frisbee with them), and so the Russians loved him. He never once complained either, about the things we had to put up with on the tour. Russia is pretty primitive in spots, you know, not like America at all, but he didn't say one word about Russia being so backward. He always managed to find something interesting to do! Our guides were always upset about how he got around them, and didn't go to the Peace Meeting and even left the Russian ballet early, but they didn't know always what we liked or enjoyed. And if Larry was anything, I know he was a fellow who did things his way, just like that wonderful old Frank Sinatra song, "I did it my way."

Well, must end this. My best wishes and condolences to you and your family! I took a few pictures the tour, by the way, which are still being processed, and I will send you the one I have of Larry, wearing those cute shorts he always wore, in a place where he was standing changing some money in the hotel in Mongolia.--Clare Huntington"

PLEASE RETURN FOR MORE OF THIS CHRONICLE OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT LAUNCH FORTH WHEN IT COMES ON-LINE SOON.

You should get the impression by now, that the earth(s) has experienced global catastrophes on a number of occasions, for a variety of reasons. Yet another end of the world occurred in the 22nd century on Earth II, thanks to the power-hungry agenda of Marcus Chillingsworth, a military genius who devised the Ultimate Weapon that won him world peace and a world empire on his own terms. But years before this feat, he reached his majority as a young man of the English aristocracy and was given his first title, the Marquis of Kayne (also variously spelled, in earlier ages, "Kane," "Kaine," and "Cain"). Money went with the title too, which he immediately poured into his research project into military superweaponry based on deviant thought detection. The weapon X-rayed your thought patterns, and if identified as a deviant according to the programmed profile, you were then zapped, terminated, with a brain-cooking laser.

CHRONICLE OF THE QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES

After Jason returned to rule over his kingdom, all was well in heaven and earth? Well, not quite yet. When Elektra heard what had happened in Colchis, that her amusing little pet dragon (which she had planned to use on hostages for entertaining her at royal functions) had been slain by none other than Jason, and the slayer gotten clean away too, she was determined that heads would roll. And heads did roll, literally, around her. Then she set out personally, in pursuit of Jason. He must be stopped, she thought, from spoiling all her plans for Ilios and its goddess-worship. Achaea, with the likes of Jason to make it succeed, was to be smashed, and Ilios was to rule supreme, under her scepter, of course!

Only then could she complete her plan, rebuilding the dynamos of Atlantis that powererd her airships--which had all been destroyed when the mother continent broke up, due to the exploding gas vents under the sea waters. Once again airships by the thousands would fill the air, as her great cities of the realm hummed with life and power supplied by the power crystals bequeathed to her by her forefathers and their great sages and sorcerers who had fashioned them.

Pulling in the enormous powers that energized the stars and the inner workings of the invisible entities that constituted every visible thing, the power crystals were indispensable to her whole civilization and her plan to restart the imperial throne, with her seated upon it, of course!

If only she had known that her plans would materialize, but not in any form she had wanted or imagined--and, moreover, in a far future time, creating a second Atlantis, but not by her power but by an alien entity that would have no regard for her and her ambitions to be the new empress of a restored Atlantis as magnificent as the one she and her people had lost in the long ago.