Communion

by Whitley Strieber

My actual condition almost seems to suggest that there was an attempt to render me as helpless as possible, by placing me in a state where each experience was perceived in and of itself, without reference to past encounters. Thus each time the surprise was total. Running through my memories there is a consistent flavor of intense terror. But is it only my terror, the terror of the body, biological terror? There may be things about contact between beings formed in different biospheres that we do not understand at all. Perhaps they feel some instinctive emotion, too. I have the impression that these experiences are very intense for them, if not actually frightening. If the terror is an unavoidable side effect of our biology, then the amnesia can be seen not only as an act of self-protection but as one of kindness also. Assuming the correctness of my perceptions, this book then becomes a chronicle not only of my discovery of a visitor’s presence in the world but also one of how I have learned to fear them less.