The Education of a Believer 177tion, we're going to come to this number again, so
remember it, okay?"
"If I understand what you're saying correctly, we're
traveling in the universe next to a star called Tila, with
its own planetary complex. One of its planets, Herco
lubus, is 3,000 times bigger than the earth .... "
"To be exact, 3,200 times bigger."
"Okay, 3,200 times. A cold planet of such magnitude
that takes 6,666 terrestrial years to complete its own
orbit, during which time, at one point, it comes close to
the earth and causes serious cataclysms and things like
that."
"Yes."
"When is it coming back?"
"It should be at its closest point to the earth on the
17th of September in the year 2001."
"Now you're telling me the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, and I take it that science in my
horrible world is going to ridicule this because there's no
scientific explanation for it."
"I doubt you'll have scientific backing, but there are
plenty of people, which you'll discover when you read
this book I told you about, that have predicted things.
These predictions are the result of someone's knowledge
about Hercolubus. I've mentioned this several times."
"Yes, you have, but I still think that's not for you and
me to tell."
"Look at it this way: The moon is only a satellite of the
earth, and it is the source of attractional forces which
create such phenomena as the tides, correct? And that's
only the moon, a little body out there in space. Can you
imagine what a celestial body about 3,200 times bigger
than the earth will do? This happens to your planet
every 6,666 years. It has caused deluges, the separa tion
of the continents, whole bodies of land sinking into the
ocean. During its last close contact with earth, at the