{ "apiVersion": "v1", "kind": "Chapter", "metadata": { "generated": "2026-08-22T14:14:13Z", "language": "en", "book": "the-book-which-tells-the-truth", "chapter": 1 }, "data": { "n": 1, "bookSlug": "the-book-which-tells-the-truth", "bookCode": "TBWTT", "refId": "TBWTT-1", "title": "The Meeting", "translation": {"method":"ai-assisted","model":"claude-opus-4-7","modelLabel":"Claude Opus 4.7","date":"2026-05-16"}, "segments": [], "lines": [], "paragraphs": [{ "n": 1, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:1", "text": "Since the age of nine, I have had only one passion: motor racing. If I created a magazine devoted to this field three years ago, it was so I could live in that thrilling milieu where a person seeks to surpass himself by surpassing others. From my earliest childhood I dreamed of being a racing driver one day, following in Fangio’s footsteps. Thanks to the contacts my magazine brought me, I was able to race myself—and generally with some success; a dozen trophies now adorn my apartment." },{ "n": 2, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:2", "text": "On the morning of December 13, 1973, when I headed into the volcanoes overlooking Clermont-Ferrand, it was more to breathe some fresh air than to drive. And after a year spent following races, from circuit to circuit, living almost all the time on four wheels, my legs were itching." },{ "n": 3, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:3", "text": "The air was crisp and the sky rather gray, with a base of mist. I walked and did a bit of jogging. I had left the path where I had parked my car and set myself the goal of reaching the center of the crater of the Puy de Lassolas, where I often went in summer to picnic with my family. What a magnificent and exhilarating place. To think that a few thousand years ago, right where my feet touched the ground, lava was gushing at incredibly high temperatures… Among the scoria you can still find very decorative volcanic bombs. The stunted vegetation is a little reminiscent of Provence—minus the sun… I was about to leave and took one last look at the summit of the circular mountain made by heaps of scoria. How many times I had amused myself by sliding, as if on skis, down those steep slopes." },{ "n": 4, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:4", "text": "Suddenly, through the mist, I noticed a flashing red light, then a sort of helicopter descending toward me. But a helicopter makes noise—and here I could hear absolutely nothing, not even the faintest whistle. A balloon? The craft was now about twenty meters up, and I realized it was flattened in shape. A flying saucer! I had believed in them firmly for a long time, but I had never hoped to see one myself. It was about seven meters in diameter, flat below and conical above, about two and a half meters high. At its base a violent red light flashed, and at its top an intermittent white light recalled a camera flash. That white light was so intense I couldn’t look at it without blinking." },{ "n": 5, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:5", "text": "The craft continued to descend without a sound and came to a stop two meters above the ground. I was petrified and remained absolutely motionless. I wasn’t afraid, but filled with joy to be living such a moment. I bitterly regretted not having a camera. Then the incredible happened: a hatch opened beneath the craft and a kind of stairway unfolded to the ground. I understood that a being was about to emerge, and I wondered what it would look like." },{ "n": 6, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:6", "text": "Two feet appeared, then two legs, which reassured me a little, for it seemed I was about to deal with a man. What I first took for a child finally appeared completely, came down the steps, and walked straight toward me. I then saw that it was not a child, despite a height of around one meter twenty. He had slightly slanted eyes, long black hair, and a small black beard. He stopped about ten meters from me. I still hadn’t moved. He wore a green one-piece suit covering his whole body, and though his head seemed bare, a strange halo surrounded it—not exactly a halo, more as if the air around his face shone faintly and vibrated. It was like an invisible diving helmet, a bubble so thin you could hardly see it. His skin was white with a slight greenish tinge, like a man with a bad liver. He smiled faintly at me. I thought the best thing was to answer his smile. I was not at ease. I smiled back and inclined my head slightly in greeting. He replied with the same gesture. Thinking I should see if he could hear me, I asked him:" },{ "n": 7, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:7", "text": "Where do you come from?" },{ "n": 8, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:8", "text": "He answered in a powerful voice, very clearly articulated but slightly nasal:" },{ "n": 9, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:9", "text": "From very far away…" },{ "n": 10, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:10", "text": "Do you speak French?" },{ "n": 11, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:11", "text": "I speak all the languages of the world." },{ "n": 12, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:12", "text": "Do you come from another planet?" },{ "n": 13, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:13", "text": "Yes." },{ "n": 14, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:14", "text": "As he spoke, he had moved to within about two meters of me." },{ "n": 15, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:15", "text": "Is this the first time you have come to Earth?" },{ "n": 16, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:16", "text": "Oh no!" },{ "n": 17, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:17", "text": "Have you come here very often?" },{ "n": 18, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:18", "text": "Very often… to say the least." },{ "n": 19, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:19", "text": "What do you come here to do?" },{ "n": 20, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:20", "text": "Today, to speak to you." },{ "n": 21, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:21", "text": "To me?" },{ "n": 22, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:22", "text": "Yes. To you, Claude Vorilhon, editor of a small motor-sport magazine, married, father of two children." },{ "n": 23, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:23", "text": "How do you know all that?" },{ "n": 24, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:24", "text": "We have been observing you for a long time." },{ "n": 25, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:25", "text": "Why me?" },{ "n": 26, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:26", "text": "That is exactly what I want to tell you. Why did you come here on this cold winter morning?" },{ "n": 27, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:27", "text": "I don’t know… I felt like taking a little walk in the open air…" },{ "n": 28, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:28", "text": "Do you come here often?" },{ "n": 29, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:29", "text": "In summer, yes, but at this time of year hardly ever." },{ "n": 30, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:30", "text": "Then why today? Had you planned this walk long in advance?" },{ "n": 31, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:31", "text": "No. I don’t know. This morning when I woke up I suddenly felt like coming here." },{ "n": 32, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:32", "text": "You came because I wanted to see you. Do you believe in telepathy?" },{ "n": 33, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:33", "text": "Yes, of course. It has always interested me, as has everything connected with what men call ‘flying saucers’. I never thought I would see one myself." },{ "n": 34, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:34", "text": "Well then, I used telepathy to make you come here. I have many things to tell you. Have you read the Bible?" },{ "n": 35, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:35", "text": "Yes. Why do you ask me that?" },{ "n": 36, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:36", "text": "Did you read it a long time ago?" },{ "n": 37, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:37", "text": "No, I bought it only a few days ago." },{ "n": 38, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:38", "text": "Why?" },{ "n": 39, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:39", "text": "I don’t know—suddenly I felt like reading it…" },{ "n": 40, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:40", "text": "Again by telepathy I made you buy it. I have many things to tell you, and I have chosen you for a difficult mission. Come into my craft; we will be more comfortable there for a little chat." },{ "n": 41, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:41", "text": "I followed him and climbed the small staircase underneath the craft. Seen closer, it looked somewhat like a flattened bell with a solid, domed underside. Inside there were two armchairs facing each other, and the temperature was mild even though the door was open. There was no lamp, but a natural light that seemed to come from everywhere. There were no instruments suggesting a cockpit. The floor was made of a sparkling, slightly bluish alloy. Once I had sat down in the larger but lower armchair, made of a single slightly transparent, colorless, and very comfortable material, the little man sat facing me in a similar seat, smaller but higher so that his face was level with mine. He then touched part of the wall, and the whole craft became transparent, except for its base and its top. We were as if in the open air, but in a gentle warmth. He suggested I take off my coat, which I did, and he spoke." },{ "n": 42, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:42", "text": "You very much regret not having a camera to tell all men about our meeting, with proof to back it up, don’t you?" },{ "n": 43, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:43", "text": "Of course…" },{ "n": 44, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:44", "text": "Listen to me. You will tell them—but you will tell them the truth about what they are and what we are. Depending on their reactions, we shall see whether we can show ourselves to them freely and officially. Wait until you know everything before speaking to them, so that you can defend yourself properly against those who will not believe you, and so that you can bring them indisputable evidence. You will write down everything I tell you and have the book containing these writings published." },{ "n": 45, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:45", "text": "Why did you choose me?" },{ "n": 46, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:46", "text": "For many reasons. First, we needed someone in a country where new ideas are well received and it is possible to express them. France is the country where democracy was born, and its image throughout the world is that of the land of liberty. Next, we needed someone intelligent and open to everything. Finally—and above all—we needed someone who is a free-thinker without being anti-religious. With a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, you happen to be the ideal link between two peoples very important in the history of the world. Moreover, your occupation does not predispose you in any way to revelations that most would find unbelievable, which will make your words more credible. Not being a scientist, you will not complicate matters and will explain them simply. Not being a literary man, you will not write convoluted sentences that are hard for most people to read." },{ "n": 47, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:47", "text": "Lastly, we decided to choose someone after the first atomic explosion, which took place in 1945, and you were born in 1946. We have been watching you since your birth—and even before. That is why we have chosen you. Do you have any other questions to ask me?" },{ "n": 48, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:48", "text": "Where do you come from?" },{ "n": 49, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:49", "text": "From a distant planet about which I will tell you nothing, for fear that, if the people of Earth were not wise, they might disturb our tranquility." },{ "n": 50, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:50", "text": "Is it very far away?" },{ "n": 51, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:51", "text": "Very far; when I tell you the distance, you will understand that you cannot go there with your current technical and scientific knowledge." },{ "n": 52, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:52", "text": "What is your name?" },{ "n": 53, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:53", "text": "We are men like you, and we live on a planet quite similar to Earth." },{ "n": 54, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:54", "text": "How long does it take you to come to Earth?" },{ "n": 55, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:55", "text": "As long as it takes to think of it." },{ "n": 56, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:56", "text": "Why do you come to Earth?" },{ "n": 57, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:57", "text": "To see how men are getting on and to watch over them. They are the future; we are the past." },{ "n": 58, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:58", "text": "Are there many of you?" },{ "n": 59, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:59", "text": "More than you." },{ "n": 60, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:60", "text": "I would like to go to your planet—could I?" },{ "n": 61, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:61", "text": "No. First, you could not live there. The atmosphere is very different from yours, and you are not sufficiently trained to withstand the journey." },{ "n": 62, "speaker": "Raël", "refId": "TBWTT-1:62", "text": "Why meet here?" },{ "n": 63, "speaker": "Yahweh", "refId": "TBWTT-1:63", "text": "Because a volcano’s crater is an ideal place to be safe from prying eyes. Now I am going to leave. Come back tomorrow with the Bible, at the same time, and bring something to take notes with. Bring nothing metallic with you, and speak to no one about our meetings, otherwise we shall not see each other again." },{ "n": 64, "speaker": "Narrator", "refId": "TBWTT-1:64", "text": "He let me go back down the little stairway, handed me my coat, and waved goodbye. The stairway folded up, the hatch closed without the slightest sound, and, still without a murmur or even the faintest whistle, the craft rose gently to about four hundred meters, then disappeared into the mist." } ] }, "links": { "self": "/v1/library/books/the-book-which-tells-the-truth/chapters/1", "book": "/v1/library/books/the-book-which-tells-the-truth/", "chapters": "/v1/library/books/the-book-which-tells-the-truth/chapters/", "library": "/v1/library/", "schema": "/v1/schema/book/" } }