The Ultimate Revelations

By Jamshed Akhtar

Concurrent with a freak solar activity, a young scientist begins seeing strange and puzzling dreams of momentous events from the past. He sees an occurrence in the formation of solar system, a day in the Cretaceous period, Prophet Noah's boat being constructed, Buddha giving a sermon to a large multitude, Moses climbing the mountain to keep tryst with the mysterious fire, and child Mary's guardianship being decided in the temple. The mystic night visions end with an episode in Muhammed’s life, leave the young man perturbed and intrigued, and prod him to study and collect data on metaphysical aspect of life.Meanwhile, falling temperatures all over the world, herald the onset of an ice age. The planet in its fight for survival, tries to distribute the heat stored in oceans all over the land. Tornadoes, squalls and high velocity winds sweep the planet and add to the misery of the humanity already suffering from the energy crunch. At this crucial juncture, the young man gets an inspiration and presents before the world, a hypothesis about a Grand Cosmic Design...The Design is aesthetically beautiful, breathtakingly simple, and awesome in its expanse, yet the most remarkable thing about it is its promise of the expected arrival of a ‘Message from stars’ that has all the knowledge of Cosmos hidden in it...The Design, however, does not predict the time of its arrival. Therefore, realizing that a future possibility of such a ‘Transmission from stars’ is difficult to investigate, the young man, begins to probe existing sources of all such knowledge on earth.Identifying the latest scripture as a possible candidate, he examines and presents before the world, arguments from its historical records, its descent, its language, its peculiar time of arrival, characteristics of its recipient nation, its contents, the presence of an interpreting mechanism in it, and its collective effect on the world.Utilizing 'chaos and order' tapestry, the young man outlines the effect of Quran, beginning from the initial seven centuries of development and progress of land under its sway, to the subsequent reign of chaos and then development of another part of the planet via transfer of its infra-structure of information.Lastly, he analyses a mathematical argument, corrects an anomaly in it, and suggests a key to the first coded layer of extra-terrestrial information in this transmission.Published more than a decade ago, ‘The Ultimate Revelations’, is the only science fiction in the world, centred around Quran. It attracted good coverage in several Indian and UAE papers. However, the lack of proper distribution did not let this book reach a bigger audience.The author researcher feels that in the present environment, where Quran lies at the centre of increasing assault of hatred and chaos, the time to present the arguments is now, especially when, he has strengthened the arguments and enlarged their scope, through two more non-fiction books on this topic.At present, a solar crisis may not be immediately visible, but problems exist at a global level that may need a little Help from an Intellect superior to us.To collectively investigate his work, through a panel of linguists, scientists and science historians, the author has initiated a ‘Project Infinite Peace’.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jamshed Akhtar
• Release date: Apr 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370934195

Jamshed Akhtar

Jamshed Akhtar (born 1947) is a writer and researcher from India. A graduate in Electrical Engineering, he is involved in the scientific study of religion for last 34 years, and has written three books on this topic. Through these books, Akhtar has presented hundreds of evidences to support non-human origin of the phenomenon of revelations. Akhtar has also initiated 'Project Infinite Peace', a collective scientific effort to investigate the phenomenon of revealed knowledge. Apart from his interest in science and religion, he is also involved in social and educational causes with various organizations in India.

Book preview

The Ultimate Revelations

By Jamshed Akhtar

________

© Jamshed Akhtar 1996

Updated and Revised Version Published on 19th June 2015

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did Oriole Book Publishers

not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the arduous work of this author.

This book is available in print at most online retailers

_______

Other books by the author

In Search of Our Origins

How Revelations can help in the scientific Research

Origin and Fate of Universe

A Synthesis of Revealed and Scientific Perspectives

--------

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Exalted One

Preface to the updated Edition

Preface

The Dream

John - The Psychologist

The Rotary Crisis

The Tyrannosaurus

Professor Hadden

Solar Anomaly

The Beginning

The Spots

The Boat

The Tragedy in New Zealand

The Fire

The Collector Mechanism

The Preacher

The Tidal Wave

Earth’s Heat Engine

The Child

The Apocrypha

The Diamond Dust

The Weather Machine

SETI

Hurricane Mamba

The Aftermath

The Space Station

The Creator Factor

Fusion Energy

Tele-Conference

The Hypothesis

The Design

The Storm

Tele-Conference ... Day- 2

The Message

The Funnel

Tele-Conference ... Day- 3

Peculiar Timing of The Message

Back-Up Protection of Message

The ‘Nation’ To Whom the Message Initially Came

Language of The Message

How the Message Used This Language

The Mosque and The Tempest

Tele-Conference ... Day - 4

The Words of God

The Extra-Terrestrial Messenger

Contents of Message

Scientific Information in The Message

Frozen Wave

Tele-Conference ... Day - 5

Mysterious Factors in the Mode of Arrival of Message

Effect of Message

The Frogs

Tele-Conference ... Day - 6

Internal Evidence in The Message

Operation Black Dust

First Delegation

Second Delegation

Allegiance Factor Fights Back

Nuh's Children

The Ultimate Cryptogram

The Help

The Miracle

Strange Response of International Community

The Key

The Treasure Gate

An observation

Bibliography and Suggested Readings

________

The Exalted One

At an annual final assembly of the monks before they were to resume their wanderings, the Exalted One looked around over the silent company and said, Well ye disciples, I summon you to say whether you have any fault to find with me, whether in word or deed. And when a favourite pupil exclaimed, Such faith have I Lord that methinks there never was, nor will be, nor is now any other greater or wiser than the Blessed One, the Buddha replied:

"Of course, Sariputta, you have known all the Buddhas of the past."

No, Lord.

Well then, you know those of the future?

No, Lord.

Then at least you know me, and have penetrated my mind thoroughly?

Not even that, Lord.

"Then why, Sariputta, are your words so bold?

______________

Quoted from The Religions of Man by Huston Smith p-97. The italics are mine, and the original source is Digha Nikaya in J.B. Pratt’s The Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage, p-12.

________

PREFACE TO THE UPDATED EDITION

Nineteen years is a long time. The world has changed a lot. The developing technology has brought us unforeseen advantages, better communication and transparency in our dealings. However, it has also strengthened the hands of those who have the ability to manipulate it for their gains.

In the original 1996 edition of this book, I had discussed various global problems, real and speculative, including the increasing confrontational politics. Now, the self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘clash of civilization’ scenario has metamorphosed into an endless global war on terror. It has downgraded the priorities of other problems. Huge areas have been destroyed and millions have been uprooted from their homes, facing endless misery. Countries after countries are facing the immigration problems and the insecurity of terrorist violence.

The massive confrontation taking place all over the planet from remotest corners of Chechnya and Xingjian to the bustling mainland of New York and Florida is truly global in area and extent.

Nineteen years back, I had outlined a hypothetical problem, with similar area and extent, to suggest that we may have a solution for all our problems if we look at a ‘Message’ from our past with a fresh perspective.

In support, I had presented almost 350 arguments from various disciplines including an objective science like mathematics, but no major publishers came out in support.

The Message now lies at the center of all the chaos, forcing the humanity to look at the arguments presented in this book more seriously and intensely.

The Message confirms the presence of a world much more complex than the fictional universe of Star-Trek. It also tells us that the universe is monitoring us and waiting for our maturity.

However, for maturity of the humanity, we need to have conviction in some kind of a final accountability of actions. The Message provides testable arguments for this final accountability and that is why it has now become doubly important to discuss, and understand the insights presented in this book, and verify the arguments.

The Message provides the surest way to resolve the Fermi’s Paradox. The only thing needed is an unbiased approach to study the phenomenon of revelations.

_______

PREFACE

The months of summer, still remind me of our carefree days of childhood, the assemblage of our brothers, sisters and cousins in holidays that passed quickly, the rows of beds covered with white sheets in the courtyard of our ancestral home, and the story sessions under the open skies that extended late into the night. During those days, the star filled sky held great fascination for all of us. A fascination that was further encouraged and fuelled by my father, who was an extremely gifted story teller. A doctor by profession, he had wide ranging interests and talents. And with his powerful imagination, hypnotic voice and absorbing narration, he often transported us to any imaginary realm, which we requested him for. The effect of his stories was so real that if he started describing a hot day in the desert, even in the midst of extreme cold nights of December, not only our teeth did stop chattering with time, but, we also used to find ourselves, gradually, emerging out of our cosy rug cocoons, one by one, wide eyed and oblivious of the temperature. It was this strange ability of his to affect our minds so thoroughly and easily, and the peculiar fascination we had for the imaginary world of ‘star beings’, that brought us at this early stage in contact with two of the most mysterious parts of God’s creation, the complexity of human brain and the intricacy of heavens.

Later, as I grew older and my interest with science fiction continued, not only did the difference between the fantasy and the serious science fiction became clear to me, but I also realised that fascination with the ‘heavens and star beings’ was not our peculiarity alone. Sombre, elderly scientists too believed in the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligence, ‘search for extra-terrestrial life’ was an officially recognised discipline of science, and ‘search for extra-terrestrial intelligence’ or SETI was a serious business. Moreover, I also came to know that several national governments, not just of advanced countries but of developing countries too, were spending quite a reasonable amount of observatory time and money on the remote probability that someday a ‘message’ from stars might get caught by their ‘automatic multi-channel frequency analysers’, which were scanning the skies round the clock, in remote observatories all over the world.

Whether the world at large was interested in these searches or not, was difficult to say, but a section was certainly responsive, as was visible from the popularity of some excellently written, high quality science fiction that had tried to provide answers to different queries related to this subject. Questions like what really would happen if such a ‘radio communication’ is received at an unknown date in the future? How would people react to this new challenge to their perspective? And what would be the new scenario of the world in the post era of such a message, specifically if it contained coded additional messages beneath its primary text?

The only issue that was not discussed or debated in detail was the possibility of arrival of such a ‘Message’ in the past. Probably the reason was that the world knew that it did not have the technological capability in the past to catch such a radio transmission, even if it had bombarded the planet for a long time. But, was the medium of radio waves the only way to communicate with ‘beings’ that may have had a head start over us, on the path of evolution by a few thousand or million years? What about the existence of other alternatives? Was it not possible for ‘beings at extremely high technological levels’ to utilise the organic life itself on this planet, such as ‘trees’ and the humans themselves? A ‘human channel’ specifically had many other advantages too. Through a man, the Sender Intelligence could communicate its thought directly to humanity, and in one of the existing language of the planet, circumventing the problem of introducing and teaching an alien language to the receivers.

For the modern world, the probability for such a happening did exist, as was the probability of the existence of different levels of intelligence in Cosmos. But unfortunately, there were no evidences to support such a conjecture. Why? The reason seemed obvious. For the scientific world, which was mainly the western world, the only ‘important message in the past’ that could have suited the criteria of being an extra-terrestrial message was ‘Bible’. The ‘books of Bible’ did contain genuinely inspired teachings, but no one had yet succeeded in decoding any hidden message or order up till now. Some rabbis of second, third and fourth century were on record as having tried such an exercise, using numerology and the gemmatrical value of the alphabets, and some work along similar lines was also done recently on the Hebrew version of the old testament using computers, but all without success. Besides, the text of ‘Bible’ had many other ‘problems’ also from this angle. It not only had a period of composition stretching over a thousand years, it also had come through multiple sources. And most important of all, the text had been shown by Biblical scholars themselves to contain numerous human introduced ‘errors’, thereby destroying the probability of a coded message forever, if at all it had existed underneath the primary text of any books of the Bible...

BUT, was this ethnocentric view correct, especially with regard to the probability of the arrival of an extra-terrestrial message in the past? Was it not possible that such a message might lie elsewhere on the planet also?

It is to discuss such a probability that I have taken the vehicle of science fiction to present my arguments, like numerous other predecessors of mine. The decade old research regarding one such Message encompasses arguments from a lot of disciplines, including an objective science like mathematics. Besides, the time at which this Message came is well within reach of history. Several original records, contemporary records and records with unbroken links are still available for verification. Moreover, there is no evidence that these records had been ‘doctored’ to conform with the theory of coded information in the primary text, as out of hundreds of millions of comments and writings available, not a single comment suggests such a possibility in this Message. It is an insight never discussed before. And it would depend upon the world’s community of intellectuals to assess, analyse and cross check the arguments with modern as well as ancient records, rationally, objectively and without prejudice, to reveal the real truth. The research has tremendous potential, as with God’s help I have not only outlined the logical probability of the extra-terrestrial origin of this Message, but I have also been able to suggest a probable key for decoding of at least the first hidden layer of Message. The world community has immense resources and I am sure that someone somewhere, either an individual or an organisation, will succeed along the lines suggested in this book, probably opening up the way to a future that surpasses all the imaginable projections of futurologists and science fiction authors.

________

THE DREAM

He was floating in a void full of stars. The light was blinding. The intensely luminous gaseous disk ahead, was whirling very fast in the inky black space. Without a frame of reference, it was difficult to gauge its size, but he knew it was enormous. Gradually he felt the crescendo build up. Against such rotary forces acting on its periphery, he expected the spinning giant fly wheel to burst apart any moment now. His mouth was dry. The suspense became palpable. And suddenly, it happened.

From its periphery, a ring of material tore violently from the disc and started expanding outwards like a giant ripple.

For some time, the central orb and the breakaway ring rotated with the same velocity, as if connected through invisible spokes, but then this connection too, got severed. The moving orb lost its frenzy. The giant ripple started moving outwards in space more freely now. The strange silence accompanying all this drama was menacing.

He saw a part of the expanding ring hurtling towards him and felt the groping tentacles of heat reaching out to him. He desperately wanted to escape from this predicament, but found himself unable even to move. With stark finality, he knew that his fate was sealed. The breakaway material was going to engulf and incinerate him. Each passing moment increased his desperation, and in abject terror he closed his eyes and prayed to God to get him out of this nightmare...

Suddenly, as if in answer to his prayer, he was wrenched away from the scene...

Hamza woke up from the dream, perspiring profusely. He looked at his bedside watch with a thudding heart. It was exactly 3 a.m., the same time, at which he had had the previous dreams. The dryness in his mouth remained with him. He got up from the bed and stumbled into the kitchen. As he groped for a glass of cold water, he touched a luminescent switch. The smoky grey glass walls became transparent and the claustrophobic confines of the kitchen vanished. Outside, the city lay silent. The snow-clad panorama of a twenty first century city contrasted sharply with his dream image. In this world, it was difficult to imagine that moments ago, he had just escaped getting incinerated, literally by the skin of his teeth. The heat had been extremely real and getting progressively intolerable. Hamza had known that he was about to die. Reliving the memory of his dream, he thanked God for saving him from..from... Suddenly the incongruity of it all struck him. The dreams were too real and too bizarre. What exactly was it that he had seen, and why at all had he started having such dreams?

Like all such previous dreams, this one too became a big question mark for him. He was still unable to comprehend the type of celestial phenomenon he had just witnessed? He realised that these dreams were not only following a peculiar pattern now, but had also become too frequent to be taken casually. He decided that he must take a day off and consult his friend John - the Psychologist.

________

JOHN - THE PSYCHOLOGIST

John was studying for a Ph.D. in Psychology. He had a friendly appearance, used thick spectacles and was usually found with his nose buried in thick fat books. Initially, he was hesitant to leave the sanctuary of his books, but when Hamza told him that he wanted to have his ‘professional opinion’ on a matter of great emergency, John agreed readily enough to come with him to the restaurant.

But now Hamza was regretting his decision. In him, John had found a guinea pig. With a sandwich in his mouth and a faraway look in his eyes, he was eagerly opening the vistas of his bookish knowledge on a repentant Hamza. You see Hamza, dreams can only be explained as mental activity of disputed duration, associated with sleep and commonly made up of visual images.

Please for God’s sake John, I am not asking you the definition of dreams, I just want to know why I am having these dreams or nightmares or whatever you call them?

John adjusted his specs which had slid down his nose. The dream interpretation is a very interesting science. Various forms of it were prevalent among ancient, primitive, and superstitious peoples. It was Freud you know, who pioneered the scientific study of dreams. In fact, he was the one, who for the first time distinguished the manifest content from the latent one.

Just a moment, Hamza didn’t want to surrender easily, what do you mean by this manifest content?

The dream image that you experience John was almost surprised.

And the latent content?

The meaning of the dream, of course

Why can’t you speak in an ordinary language, so that we ordinary mortals could also understand what the great Psychologist is talking about? Hamza was allergic to his friend’s habit of using high sounding words.

You see Hamza, John started with a cough, exhibiting uncharacteristic embarrassment, the complexes which we inherit from our childhood, although repressed from consciousness, affect our mental activity and behaviour.

You mean to say that a childhood complex is the reason why you choose such words?

No I was talking about you. John lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "The copia verborum.."

"Copia verborum?"

"Yes. The gift of speech or what you call usus loquendi..."

"Usus loquendi?" Hamza was rapidly losing his patience.

Yes. I mean the gift of the gab ..

Good God! John. Why can’t you just keep to the interpretation of the dreams?

Oh yes! The dreams! Totally unperturbed, John came back to the topic. The images in a dream are in fact symbols. These symbols can be universal, cultural or personal.

I see, and how do we understand these symbols?

Symbols can be translated easily through free association.

Free association? Hamza had by now lost hope of any constructive outcome from this meeting. He was just whiling away the time now.

John raised his hand to stall further questioning. The function of symbolism is to protect the dreamer from recognition of fulfilment of impulses that consciousness forbids... Freud believed that dreams ensure sleep by draining the force of emotional disturbances that would wake up the sleeper...Jung considered them testing ground for possible future steps, but Adler emphasised their compensatory function.

And what does the great man himself suggest? Hamza asked sarcastically.

A faint smile creased John’s face. Well, external stimuli sometimes effect choice of forms and images in a dream but in your case I suggest that the dreams were caused mainly by somatic disturbances.

Hamza wanted to tear out his hair in exasperation but outwardly he remained calm and asked icily. "And what is a somatic disturbance?"

Anything like a toothache or indigestion ... replied John, casually sipping the chocolate.

________

THE ROTARY CRISIS

I don’t know how a good professional psychologist behaves but our friend John is simply useless. Hamza was still smarting from the dose of difficult words that he had received last morning. Richard, the man he was talking to, was not only his colleague but Hamza also relied heavily upon him on account of his earthy intelligence and rational judgement.

Since when have you been having these dreams, Hamza?

For the last three months... at least.

And what exactly do you see? I mean do the dreams repeat themselves?- Richard asked.

No. The dreams never get repeated and I cannot describe what I really see. But I have always found myself on strange landscapes. The suns of these bizarre worlds were either huge fireball of orange red colour or of a deep yellow variety. Once I saw a blue coloured sun and on another occasion two of them on the horizon simultaneously. Once I also saw an isolated fireball in space, gradually becoming small and then vanishing altogether.

And all these dreams ended at 3 a.m.?

Yes.

Quite interesting and unusual. Richard was genuinely perplexed. Tell me, can you make a guess of the size of spinning disc from your dream of last night?

No. Without a frame of reference it is very difficult to guess the actual diameter of the disc.

Richard remained lost in thought for some time and then said. It is difficult to say anything with certainty, but your dream image resembles uncannily an important event in the formation of the solar system.

An event in the formation of our solar system?

Yes. The birth of our solar system is a highly controversial subject and scientists do not agree on a single theoretical model. But one of the theories proposes that our solar system condensed out of a gas cloud, which was originally a spherical blob of gas spinning slowly on its axis at a rate of about one turn in ten million years. A cloud which had a mass of about 1.01 times the mass of our present sun, and a radius of about one tenth of a light year.

How could they estimate these quantities?

These figures are based on the typical density figures of the cores of many molecular clouds, observed in regions where the formation of stars is taking place, throughout the galaxy.

Oh!

As the cloud shrank, it started spinning more and more rapidly thus becoming flattened at its poles and acquiring a disc like shape that perhaps you saw in your dream. Now scientists have estimated that the collapse of such a large fragment down to the size of the present sun, should have meant a million-fold increase in its equatorial speed. But, contrary to our calculations, the sun has been found to revolve, almost a thousand times too slow.

Thousand times slow? But that means either the initial data was wrongly assumed or the cloud lost its momentum during its shrinking stage? Hamza suddenly began to realise the real import of his dream.

Exactly. The proponents of this theory, Sir Fred Hoyle and Vikramasinghe have postulated that at a certain stage, when the disc diameter was approximately thirty times the diameter of the present sun, and the cloud was whirling at a speed too fast for it to remain stable, a rotary crisis occurred. A ring of material was shed along with the missing momentum. And a part of this matter went into the formation of the planets.

And you think I saw this rotary crisis occurring in my dream?

"Yes. And since the subject does not have any connection with your field, I must say this surprises me a lot...

________

THE TYRANNOSAURUS

He could feel the warmth in the air. The first thing that attracted his attention were the highly colourful butterflies that were flitting on strange looking flowers. He edged closer to see them more clearly.

The flowers, he observed, belonged to some unknown variety. He had always felt that it was really difficult to keep track of millions of varieties that were present on earth. Although his interest in flora had made him familiar with a lot of diverse varieties but he never claimed to be an expert of this branch.

The unusual shrill cry of the thing flying above his head, broke his concentration. He looked above, surprised. It was difficult to call ‘it’ a bird. The huge creature was actually not flying but simply gliding. The wing span must have measured more than 25 feet, from tip to tip. It had a huge beak and a long crest extending from the back of its head. The wings were also quite different. They appeared to have a membranous leathery texture and were acting like sails. Before he could see more, the creature vanished on the other side of the hillock.

Hamza ran forward. He wanted to see this unusual creature in detail. But, as he reached the top of the small hill that was blocking his view of the other side, he gasped.

The panorama that lay before him was breathtakingly beautiful. The gentle slope on the other side of the hill was covered with thick lush green vegetation that undulated onto a vast lagoon. Its blue water was shimmering under the bright morning sun. The sky overhead was absolutely clear. In the distance he could see the range of hills that were encircling a part of the lagoon. Towards the left, the ground had started rising again. He could see groves of maples, oaks, walnuts, laurels, magnolias, birches, poplars, and willows, and soaring above them stood sequoia. Flowering plants were to be seen everywhere. But the entire landscape had taken on an unreal quality as it was filled with strange animals that he knew had ceased to exist.

Nearest to Hamza was a herd of curious looking monstrous creatures, four adults and a baby. They resembled the rhinoceros but were much larger. They must have weighed several tons and were a minimum of 50 feet in length. Two adults were browsing and the other two had locked their horns in mock combat, and were busy pushing each other. The horns were another oddity. They possessed three horns, two on the forehead and one on the nose. The creature which was browsing very near to Hamza was clearly visible. Its head was protected by a large neck frill, while its colossal jaws contained an impressive array of closely packed teeth. The teeth of the lower jaw slotted into those of the upper jaw to cut like shears, yet inspite of its ferocious appearance, it seemed a vegetarian. It had a beak which it was using to pluck the plants out of the ground.

About three hundred feet away, a large snake, probably a python, was lying coiled up in the grass. Another strange animal stood waving its tail watching this python. This creature was short and broad, had a small mouth, and its back was literally armour-plated, with rows of spikes along the flanks and sets of plates and spikes stretching on to its club like tail.

On the left, about five hundred feet away, two other different creatures were visible near an oak tree. They had small hands, a waddling gait and must have stood twenty feet high. Hamza wanted to go near them because these creatures seemed to be wearing something which looked like helmets from this distance.

Near the lagoon, besides a grove of palm trees, several bird-like creatures perched on the rocks, while some were gliding over the waters of the lagoon. Suddenly, one of them swooped down on the surface and caught something from the water. What it caught was not visible from this distance. The animal that had first attracted the eyes of Hamza, had also by now gone to that rock and was seemingly resting besides them.

On the right side, the lagoon ended in a small sandy beach. Basking in the morning sun, an animal that resembled a crocodile lay on the sand, while a short distance away, another strange creature was coming out of the sea. It had a short flat body and an extremely long snake like neck, with a tiny head. And as it waddled on the beach with its paddle like legs, a short tail also became visible.

All of a sudden, a peculiar distant cry rang out from somewhere behind Hamza. It brought a perceptible change in the atmosphere. The cacophony of sounds subsided. The helmeted creatures were the first to pause and look over their shoulders straight towards where Hamza was standing sheltered behind a bush. The three horned animals also stopped their activity, and looked towards him. The animal that had just come out of the sea, also twisted its snake like neck and turned its tiny head to peer towards him. Hamza felt his hair rise as he heard the patter of fast running feet approaching behind him.

As he turned, an ostrich like creature ran past him. The size was the same, the beak also resembled the beak of an ostrich, but the body lacked feathers. It looked naked and obscene, and was running so desperately fast that it gave Hamza the impression that death itself was following it.

And yes, death in fact was following him. As Hamza fully turned, he was confronted with a terrifying sight. Bearing down on him was a monstrous two-legged creature, towering twenty feet high, with a huge head, short neck, enormous jaws and rows of gleaming serrated teeth.

Hamza knew that the monster following the ostrich like animal was headed towards the lagoon but he found himself standing directly in his path. Emitting growls of rage and lashing its short tail, the creature lifted its enormous deadly claws to grip him. Hamza tried to escape but he felt as if his legs weighed several tons. He stood rooted to the ground, unable even to move a finger. He tried to shout but only a gurgle came out of his mouth. Hamza prayed to his one and only God, to save him from this nightmare...

He woke up from the dream completely disoriented and it took him several minutes to regain his bearings. But once fully awake, he found himself perspiring profusely. The time was the same. Realisation came that this time he had been taken to the age of the dinosaurs. But what particular species he had seen, or which part of the prehistoric world he had visited in his dream, he was not sure.

--------------

This doesn’t happen to be my field but I know a scientist in the Natural History Museum, who is the most appropriate man to comment on this dream. Richard was as usual counselling him on the best course to adopt, to comprehend these unusual dreamscapes. "Study of dinosaurs constitute this man’s hobby as well as profession. He is not only an authority on dinosaurs, he talks only of dinosaurs, sits among the skeletons and sketches of dinosaurs, composes poems and limericks about them and some say, quite uncharitably, that he has descended too from the stock of dinosaurs. In fact, they have nicknamed him Tyrannosaurus, although his real name is William Hadden.

Hamza laughed. Why Tyrannosaurus?

Richard smiled. He has a curious waddling gait, an unfortunate slight resemblance with these ancient creatures and a tyrannical attitude towards his underlings. Though I dare say it is difficult to tell which of the three reasons is responsible for the nickname.

________

PROFESSOR HADDEN

I played the recordings of your dream, a couple of times this morning. Its vividity and its resemblance to the actual data is intriguing, but the most significant part is some additional information which your dream seems to have provided. Professor Hadden had the curious gait and the reptilian likeness for sure, but there was no sign of any tyrannical or even a rude attitude. On the contrary, he was treating Hamza like a VIP. And Hamza was unable to understand whether this favoured treatment was a result of his friendship with Richard or due to the peculiar subject of his dream.

Additional information?

I will try to explain. In your dream, you have mentioned some creatures that seemed to you as if they were wearing helmets.

Yes. I remember them distinctly. These helmeted creatures were the first to react to the change in environment, even before the ostrich like animal appeared on the scene. Hamza was still haunted by the memory of that dreaded encounter.

They were in fact Corythosaurus belonging to a group called Hadrosaurs. These Corythosaurus did not possess any defensive armour-plating and the simple teeth found on them indicate that they were vegetarians. But the thing which really distinguished them was the peculiar bony growths or crests on their heads, resembling helmets. These crests were either solid or hollow and there have been all kinds of theories regarding the function of these crests. Some say that they merely distinguished a male from a female. Another theory says that these crests were hollow, containing long, winding nasal passages, which were actually air storage chambers, used somewhat like a snorkel when their head was under water. But one of the experts, Professor John Ostrome, has suggested that the tubes and chambers inside the crest might have been responsible for improving the olfactory sense.

I can see now that since they reacted to the intruder first, you feel that Professor Ostrom’s suggestion seems more probable?

Yes. But it is only a personal conviction. A dream image, resulting out of some unknown Para psychic phenomenon, however strange or true to the fact, will never have the credibility to find a reference in any research paper... But that was besides the point. I personally feel that your dream image is so amazing. There is no doubt about it. I have worked on dinosaurs for such a long time, but I have never recalled having heard or read such a vivid image of their period. From your account, it seems that you visited some unknown part of the earth, sometimes during the Cretaceous period. Because of my interest in this subject I was in fact quite eager to meet you in person. Please feel free to ask any questions. I will try to answer all your queries within my capabilities.

Well Professor, my dreams have been so unnerving that I really don’t know what to ask and what to leave out. These dreams are an enigma to me and what I want to know is why I am having them? Any information regarding this point might help me to understand these night visions.

OK I’ll try and give you a backgrounder regarding this particular one. You see, dinosaurs first appeared on earth during the Triassic period which began about 230 million years ago and lasted for 30 million years. At the end of Triassic, the Jurassic period followed, which itself lasted for a total of about 60 million years. This period was remarkable in the sense that it saw a great expansion of animal life both on land and in the water, and by the time it culminated, there had been complete dominance of the dinosaurs over all the other species of this planet. But, the real phenomenon of these reptiles was seen during the Cretaceous period which began at about 140 million years ago and lasted up to 65 million years ago. It was during this period that they reached their peak and then... Professor Hadden paused, ...mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth...

The pause was probably meant to heighten the drama. But Hamza in his present situation did not need such mental stimulation, so intensely curious he was about the whole affair.

Prof. Hadden had had his moment, and was now speaking again. ...But let us start from the beginning. The flying creature you saw must have been a Pteranodon. Your description of its crest and the size identifies it. It had appeared in the Upper Cretaceous period. The crest that extended from the back of its skull acted as a counterweight to the long toothless beak. Its body weight has been estimated to be less than eighteen kg.

Only 18 kg? But I remember the creature as being fairly large. Hamza was surprised.

The low body weight was due to the air spaces in its hollow bones - a feature that all flying birds carry to this day.

Oh! I also remember that its wings were very peculiar. They had no feathers, looked sort of leathery to me.

You’re right. Their wings were made up of membranes that stretched like a sail, forming out of the elongated fourth finger of each hand and a rudder at the tip of the tail. In fact, Pteranodons were somewhat like the modern albatross, and in their time, must have ranged widely over land and sea, gliding and soaring easily. Peculiarly, they had a larger brain than that of a land dinosaur and therefore must have been able to perform all kinds of complicated aerial manoeuvres.

Hamza remembered the one that had swooped down on the surface of the lagoon and had caught something from the water. He could also remember the rock beside the grove of palm trees, on which a lot of them were resting. A cold shiver ran down his spine. He shuddered. But he wanted to know more.

Tell me something about those gigantic three horned animals? he asked.

The advent of the horned dinosaurs is seen in the upper Cretaceous. An early species was called Protoceratops. It had a large frilly shield over the back of its immense head. But, as these creatures grew larger, they acquired more elaborate frills and more spectacular and varied horns. The animals you saw must have been Triceratops. They were about 50 feet long and weighed almost 8.5 tons. And although very fearsome to look at, they were in fact harmless creatures. You know, as they say, looks are deceptive. Professor Hadden tried his hand at humour, and smiled. Although his intention was to lighten the heavy academic atmosphere, his reptilian smile reminded Hamza again of the reality of his dreams. Professor Hadden, unaware of the lack of reaction, continued. Vast herds probably roamed the prairies, like buffaloes of the more modern times. I wish though that instead of Triceratops, you had seen the Pentaceratops.

Pentaceratops? Harmless too, I suppose?

Oh yes. Prof. Hadden smiled again. Hamza wished he would stop doing that. It had five horns. Two frontal ones, a nasal one and two additional cheek horns on either side of the neck frill. It was a truly spectacular creature. Hamza could see that the Professor was thoroughly enjoying the occasion.

I had seen a large snake, and also a short and broad armour plated animal?

The snake was a python. They had arrived by this time. And the armoured creature answers to the description of an ankylosaur. It is difficult to specify the exact species. But these creatures were massive, their skull was low and broad, and the upper surface of their body and the club like tail were covered with close set bony plates or spikes. I will show you some sketches, maybe you can recognise the creature of your dream.

It was difficult to know whether it was Hadden’s genuine scientific curiosity or another attempt at clumsy humour. Hamza started looking at the sketches which Professor Hadden offered. And sure enough one of the creatures staring out of the pages resembled the one which was standing near the python. He pointed it to Hadden.

Yes, it is an Ankylosaur for sure, and it is called Nodosaurus. It was completely toothless.

What was that ostrich like creature?

It was either Ornithomimus or Struthiomimus, depending upon which part of the prehistoric world you had visited, America or Asia. These reptiles were very fast runners. They had hollow bones and a much longer neck than any other carnivores and resembled ostriches in having a horny beak instead of toothed jaws. But most probably they were omnivorous, using their long hands to pluck off fruits and leaves from trees.

I had also seen a creature on the beach that resembled the modern crocodile?

It was a crocodile. By Cretaceous period, crocodiles had come onto the scene.

There was one other creature with a long neck that I had seen on the beach?

Oh yes! That must have been a Plesiosaur. They had a short, flat body, paddle like legs, a short tail and an extremely long neck with a tiny head. These reptiles were exceptionally agile close to the surface of the water, performing quick turns and propelling themselves forwards and backwards. Some of their victims may have been low flying pterosaurs. People have suggested that the legendary Loch Ness monster is a surviving long necked plesiosaur.

And what was that living nightmare that I had seen? Hamza could no longer avoid the query.

"Now that was probably either the Tyrannosaurus or the Tarbosaurus again depending upon the area. These creatures were the largest and the most ferocious predators of all times. They were over 40 feet long, and had jaws measuring 4 feet, with 6-inch-long serrated, blade like teeth. These flesh-eating dinosaurs fulfilled the same role in the food chain as the predatory felines of jungles and savannahs do today. Their victims included anything that moved - smaller carnivores, much larger herbivores, other reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds etc. The claws of the forelimbs and sometimes of the hind feet were often used as weapons,