| abstract
| - Megan opened the door, revealing what looked like a small, dimly lit auditorium. Sybil could hear music playing. She entered the room and walked down the steep carpeted isle that led down towards a small stage and passed between two sets of seats. There were enough seats for an audience of about fifty people. Sybil reached the bottom of the steps and turned around. Portia, Set and Leone were slowly coming down the steps. Leone had paused near the top of the steps and he still stood near Megan. He was gazing intently at the back wall of the room which was decorated with a mural showing a view of an ancient stone amphitheater as seen from the performer's perspective. From where Sybil stood, she could see that the color of the 50 modern theater seats had been selected to match the colors of the mural on the back wall. The side walls of the auditorium were decorated to look like a dark forest on one side and a twilight view across a valley on the other side. Sybil turned around again and looked at the stage, most of which was hidden behind a curtain. At one end of the stage was an odd looking podium or lectern. Portia said, "Stars." Sybil turned around and saw Portia standing at the center of the room and looking up. Sybil's eyes had now adjusted to the dim lighting and she could see what looked like a night sky on the ceiling. Set had reached the edge of the stage and he now reached across the front of the stage and grabbed hold of the curtain. He pulled open a gap between the two sides of the curtain to reveal a blank wall on the other side. The "stage" was just a fancy cover for a standard display screen. Megan spoke to Leone, "Take a seat." She said to the others, "If you sit down the show will start." Portia asked, "What show?" Megan explained, "It is a short history of the Haldus Order. I watched it when I first got here and I found it interesting, but then, I've always been curious about the history of Earth and the origins of our species." Leone moved to a seat, "I'm also interested in Earth history." Sybil went up the steps and sat next to Leone. Set and Portia sat in the front row, near the stage. Megan sat in a seat near the back. The lights dimmed further and the music changed. The stage curtain was pulled aside and the display screen at the back of the stage came alive. A splash screen showed in large block letters of Galactic Standard text: The History of Telepathy, then images of ancient Earth came onto the screen. A narrator had come out on the stage and stood at the podium. The robot spoke: The earliest known visitations to Earth from Haldus are reflected in The Dreaming mythos of the Sahul, however it is likely that there were far earlier contacts, at least back to the time when the teleguide array was installed on Earth. The Dreaming is believed to have resulted in a population of human telepaths who were taken away from Earth about 20,000 years ago. The Haldus Order grew out of another phase of intervention from Haldus, believed to have started about 10,000 years ago. These arrivals from Haldus appeared on Earth at the position of the land bridge between Africa and Asia. By 5,000 years ago, the teleguide site at Zenima was submerged by the rising ocean level and the Haldus Order Temple had been relocated to Saqqara. The Zenima intervention involved descendants of the telepathic humans who had been taken off Earth at the end of The Dreaming. This was confirmed by DNA sequencing of the Dahšūr mummy. They may have come to Earth for no reason other than a desire to visit their planet of biological origin, but they interacted with Earth residents and there was cultural transmission. In addition, Haldus Order priestesses gave birth to several children fathered by the visiting humans from Haldus. The Zenima intervention seems to have ended about 4,000 years ago, but the Haldus Order priestesses were able to carry on their program of artificial selection for telepathic ability by making use of the Sun and the Eye of Haldus for identification of their descendants who carried genes for telepathic signal production. The first known telepathy technology on Earth was thus the twitino observatory at the core of the Haldus Order Temple. The most recent known phase of intervention from Haldus seems to have started shortly after end of the Zenima visitations. Stricter controls seem to have been in effect for these more recent visits and there is no evidence of genetic transmission via the teleguide node in America. However, there was significant cultural contamination which seems to have continued until about 1,000 years ago. The teleguide node in the South Atlantic ocean was used at least once as shown by the Lynch Icewoman, who was shown to be genetically similar to the Dahšūr mummy. Real progress by the Haldus Order towards the development of telepathic communication was not possible until the dawn of the Space Age when it was discovered that the program of selecting for high levels of telepathic signal production was itself preventing telepathic communication of language-like information. This was understood after the Haldus Order members with high levels of telepathic signal production were all moved to Shackleton Base on the Moon. At that time, it became possible for telepathic sensitives on Earth to understand the significance of the Eye of Haldus. After exploration of the Haldus star system, the Haldus Order's program of telepathy technology research and development began. The Haldus Order thanks you for joining our telepathy research program. We hope this short description of the special role of Earth in the history of telepathy was informative. If you have additional questions about the history of the Haldus Order, please consult the detailed sources that are available in the ship's digital library. The display screen went black and the stage curtains closed. When room lights came up, the robotic narrator was gone. Sybil turned to Leone and saw a look of perplexity on his face. He asked Sybil, "Did that make sense to you?" Sybil shrugged. "Not really, but I have heard of the Haldus star system. I've never understood the relationship between the Haldus Order and the star called 'Haldus'." Portia and Set were coming up the steps towards Leone and Sybil. Set asked, "Where did Megan go?" Leone stood up and looked to the back of the room where he had last seen Megan. "She must have slipped out during the 'show'." Portia went to the door and pushed it open. She looked into the corridor but saw nobody. "It looks like we have been abandoned." Set was stunned by the implications of what was said during the "show". He said, "Telepaths on Earth for thousands of years! It seems strange that the Haldus Order is being so open about their secrets." Sybil observed, "This was apparently an orientation program for researchers who come to work here on this ship. It sounds like the Haldus Order has been researching telepathy for centuries. That research project is now just a routine operation." Leone nodded, "And they have been able to keep their work secret for all this time. Amazing!" Set wondered, "Does that mean we will not be able to take this secret information away from here?" Portia asked Set, "Do you mean that we now know too many secrets and will not be allowed to leave this place?" Sybil came up the steps and put her arm around Portia, "Before speculation runs wild, I suggest that we find Megan and ask some questions." Leone said, "I agree. I'm baffled by this 'Eye of Haldus' mumbo jumbo." Set also wanted answers, but he had not been impressed by Megan. If this was a Haldus Order base for the study of telepathy then where were all the Haldus Order telepaths? He cautioned, "I'm not sure that Megan will be able to explain much. She might be as much in the dark about these matters as we are." Portia led them out into the corridor. She looked in both directions down the corridor and said, "I wonder who is in charge here." Set pointed up the corridor, "I think I know where the main control room should be in a ship of this design. Follow me."
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