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In our observed reality, there are several hundred billion galaxies, each with several hundred billion stars. What are the statistical chances that we are alone in the universe? Zero.

But as the late great Sagan often said, despite the "billions and billions" of galaxies and stars out there, if we can't figger out how to get there, they obviously can't git HERE. Good thinkin', Carl.

Yup, ol'Carl was prety full of himself, thought he was the smartest man in the universe.

There are reportedly at least 3-4 DIFFERENT ways to 'violate' the supposed speed of light limit.

Who knows if the "Verdant's" explanation Krapf [LA TIMES METRO DESK 25 YEARS] relates on pp 43, 44, 45, 46 of THE CONTACT HAS BEGUN [I encourage all interested to get the paperback. Its' a worthy read and a must for a good UFO library] is at all valid or not, but here are some excerpts:

"The Verdants told me that their home planet is about two and one-half times the size of Earth and is located in a nearby galaxy--at least in astronomical terms--about 14 million light-years from Earth. . . light will travel in a year at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. That's roughly six trillion miles. So 14 light years is in the neighborhood of 84 trillion miles. Multiply that by a million, for 14 million light years, and the distance is 84 million trillion miles. That's an 84 followed by 18 zeroes--84,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Their atmosphere is similar to Earth's, with just a slightly higher oxygen content, and . . .

A year on their planet would equal about three Earth years, or rougly 1,000 Earth days. A day on their planet, however, is equal to about 55 Earth hours. There are 17 planets in their solar system.

They took their first steps into space 229 million years ago--all time frames mentioned here (years, hours, days) are Earth measurements--althrough it took several million years before they achieved their current level of technology.

. . .

. . . the Verdants have complete control over the climate and weather of their home planet. . . . true for other planets that they have colonized, . . .

Obviouisly, they have the capacity to travel many times faster than the speed of light. They said it is a million times quicker in "conventional" travel mode, but my mind boggled at that figure, and I couldn't accept it at first. A million times faster than the speed of light would mean that they could cover the 14 million light-years' distance between their world and ours in 14 years.

. . . They explained that they didn't really travel in the conventional sense of actually moving across a set distance from Point A to Point B. Rather, they just set their course for a specific location in the universe, engage their mechanisms, and simply disappear from their point of origin and instantly reappear at their destination.

Their machines have limits, however, so they cannot traverse an infinite distance in one jump. They do it in stages. Let's say they want to travel a million light-years down the road. That's six million trillion miles. They can cover that distance in one year traveling at a million times faster than the speed of light. So, if they set a course to jump at the maximum capacity of, let's say, six million miles, and they step on the gas, they instantly disappear and reappear six million miles away.

If they put the machine on automatic pilot . . . so that the device automatically activates after each jump and it activates a trillion times in one year, . . . "

Anyway--sounds interesting. Who knows what's true.

Even just as a story, his book is a great read.

As a set of puzzle pieces, it's one of the best. I strongly recommend it.