M. E. Barb Light from a Distant Fire

Annotation

This story starts with the death of an old man, Alexander (Alex) Sykes, and his afterlife life. Upon his return from a trip to the astral plane, he discovers that police have been called to his apartment. He quickly finds out why: he was dead. Alex was looking at his own corpse! There was nothing that he can do now, so he left. Alex looked into the night sky and said, I want to go there, and he was off. He couldnt explain it, so he just went with it. He discovered several inhabited planets, some with what are probably animal life, but as to whether they were sentient, Alex didnt know. After a few more planets, Alex found the Qythedefinitely intelligent on a planet that was more urban than not. After his first contact with the Qythe, Alex discovers that they have an advanced mental ability that our earthly computers cant match. Yet despite their great intellects and history, they are doomed, and unless Alex and his growing circle of friends and allies can help, the Qythe will die. So Alex, with his own mental ability, discovered by accident, does what it takes to convince others of the need to work together to save his new friends: Dr. Philips, physicist of JPL; Dr. Bernstein, director of Physics, JPL; Dr. Colin Andres, psychiatrist/parapsychologist, JPL; Dr. Dawn Runningdeer, quantum physics, West Coast Institute of Technology; and Rosa Seville, former NASA astronaut. These and others will be responsible for the salvation of the Qythe, but even with the help of advanced science from the Qythe, can Alex and his human friends pull it off and still deal with the threat of destruction from one of his own?