The Valley of the Blue Misty Sun
By Romana Annette 02/08/2008
EPILOGUE-PART ONEError! Bookmark not defined.
The hyper-void, that generated state of hyperspace, is like
the Dharma. It is the nature of Emptiness, free of any
conceptual logic and all dualities.
H.H. Polira, the Mahakarmin
on Merudhatu. November 3962
Betelgeuse glowed brightly in the distance, but even with that star and countless
numbers of other stars, interstellar space was dark and empty. Abruptly, a vague,
undulating shimmer appeared in a line amongst the stars, punctuated with a thin red
line. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. It was the effect of a warp
field, caused by an unseen starship traversing the hyper-void at many times the velocity
of light. It was the starship Tangent, on course to Mau with a stop-over at Betelgeuse
station.
The Tangent was a medium-sized transport. Though it carried a compliment of
three passengers toward its destination, all the corridors and public chambers on the
ship were empty. There was a special chamber at the center of the ship.
It was
weightless and was filled with wisps of pale blue light and shadows. The light was
emanating from one end of the shrine room. The light shone from behind a table
containing silhouetted figurines. The figurines were the ship's three sacred Buddhas.
Suspended within the room, relaxed in the natural half-bent weightless posture was a
woman wearing a yellow robe. To her right a facsimile of the ship's mainscreen was
displayed on the wall. It was showing many important pieces of information about the
ship's function, but she took no notice.
This was the first opportunity that Jan had had for peaceful meditation in many
months. Here, in the hyper-void, the persistent, intrusive visions did not happen. She
had experienced them to a certain degree all of her life, but recently their frequency of
occurrence had begun to tax her sanity. An unaccustomed degree of relaxation having
set in, her mind began to wander. She noticed that the charm she wore around her neck
had drifted away from her body. The sight of it brought back many memories. It had
been given to her by her husband, Robbert. Thoughts of better times pierced her
meditative state and began to flow back from the past. She had purposely excluded
such memories from her thoughts for years.
Jan had not pursued romance in her youth, and her family had accused her of
being too cerebral. Passion was considered to be the primary vehicle upon the road to
enlightenment, but she was thought to have forsaken it. She had always considered
herself to be more homely than pretty; her sisters were disgustingly gorgeous. She had
mistakenly assumed that the basic passions of life would pass her by. Her brothers and
sisters pursued families and life while she meditated, studied astrophysics, and wrote
about the rise and fall of galactic federations. She had even been head of the board of
the Central Eugenic Registry for five years.
She had visions. Visions were normally considered to be a good omen and a
special gift not to be scoffed at, but her visions were of fanciful, implausible places.
They defied all attempts to account for them or even electronically to scan and to record
them. Then she met Robbert. It had happened because she had journeyed to meditate at
the Great Shrine of Shakyamuni on Pacifica, in their neighboring star system of North
Columbia.
She could not ignore him, nor could he ignore her. Their incipient relationship
was properly self-indulgent and slightly scandalous. After much consultation, and after
years of urging from both families, they had decided to get married. They had both
become thoroughly versed in all the implications: they would exchange many vows
upon sacred ground for a lifetime of maximum passion.
The wedding had not been a minor affair; for it was not every day that the most
eligible daughter of the House of the Yellow Mandala married the most eligible son of
the House of the Red Mandala. By that union they had completed the process of
confederation of twenty-eight worlds. It was a process that had been begun three
centuries earlier when the last war brought the collapse of the Terran Federation.
A Trikaya Council, members of a special society of priests and priestesses, had
examined both of them before the ceremony: they had pronounced that indeed the
marriage of Jannet Franklin to Robbert Deniker would be most auspicious. Despite the
unusual qualities of Jan's visions, they had also pronounced that she had the greater
karma. This had meant that they would adopt the name Deniker-Franklin out of respect
to her and her family.
The marriage ceremony had taken place on Aurora, her home planet, which
circled the gas giant Jupiter IV, of the South Columbia star system. The open-air
temple at the summit of Mount MilaKarma had been chosen as the site. It was named in
honor of the twenty-sixth-century Buddha MilaKarma, who had re-consecrated the
ancient center on the planet Merudhatu. This site overlooked the large equatorial inland
sea that they referred to simply as the Sea of Serenity. A faint edge of Jupiter IV and
two of the other worlds that circled the gas giant had been visible in the sky. The other
worlds seen from above the temple were Owyhee (a very strange name) and Portland.
Like Aurora, they were not natural worlds, but had been manufactured by her ancestors.
Jan had been radiant as she stepped forward in her bright yellow gown, wearing
her favorite diadem of black and white gold on her head. Robbert had worn the simple
red robes of a monk, as was the custom on his world, Pacifica. Of course, Jan's sisters
had been more beautiful than ever, but Jan had resolved to live with the initial looks that
life had given her; she would never opt for the 'improvements' that could be wrought by
devices like biomodification chambers.
The following years had been the happiest of her life. Five children were born.
First their lives had been blessed by the arrival of Robberta, Alexan, and the twins Anne
and Erikka. Then there was Karlen, who was unusual because he was a rare total
synovert, a prestigious omen of enlightenment for their family. At one time, there had
been an unsuccessful radical movement to eliminate all synoverts genetically.
Jan had taken possession of the Tangent as her own ship; Grandmother Franklin
had willed that it be given to her when she married. The Tangent had been the
command ship of the Columbian forces of the Great War. Now it would serve much
more pedestrian purposes. Together, Jan and Robbert explored the universe, and she
continued to write volumes about the history of the Federation.
Then, through
eligibility established by his marriage to Jan, Robbert had been elected President of
Aurora, and her life began to change. She vividly remembered that time: "Jan, darling,
I picked this up for you at a bazaar on Archela," he said as he removed the charm from
its box and put it around her neck. "Something told me that this belonged on you."
"It is sort of me, isn't it," she replied as she was fascinated by the odd shape and
colors of the charm. Though touch revealed that it was stationary, the charm had had
the appearance of spinning in place.
"Did you see that?" he asked suddenly.
"See what?" she asked puzzled.
"Your eyes," Robbert said. "They seemed to light up for a moment. And your
face flushed white."
"Bob, you must be imagining things. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant again. Not
many women in their late sixties get pregnant."
"Maybe so, but it was sure odd that...."
Jan cried out, but she could not hear herself as she spun wildly in place in the
Tangent. For a moment, she actually thought she was back on that landing pad, as the
surrounding features danced around her. But she had never remembered that awful
moment! Her mind had been lost for months inside her personal visions before she had
been brought back to reality. Then they told her what had happened.
She managed to stop spinning. The chamber lights had turned on; she must have
yelled for them. She glanced at her feet and her left forearm and hand. They looked
like hers, and they felt like hers, but they were not originally hers; they were
biosynthetic. One moment she and Robbert and thirty-three associates had been on
board their aircraft that was on landing approach; then a single flash had ended it all.
Someone had smuggled a PREXL weapon past all security. It had had only one charge,
but it had destroyed everything: the vehicle, Robbert, all their friends on the vehicle,
and her feet and forearm. She had lain there naked and bleeding on the landing pad, her
damaged flesh smoldering, with nothing else on her body but her charm. Jan could
have sworn that the charm had emitted a cold but piercing white light for a moment.
She had somehow survived, but fate had been unusually cruel on that day! Three
people had carried out the attack, but they had all committed suicide a few minutes
afterwards. In all the years since, no motives and no other perpetrators had ever been
discovered.
'Now I am being ridiculous. I will be so embarrassed if Rig or Aiu come to see
what is wrong.' She thought.
Jan forced herself to continue reminiscing about events of thirty-eight years ago.
She had to start dealing with all her tragic memories. The Tangent sped on toward
Betelgeuse Station.
After she had awakened and recovered from her wounds suffered during the
assassination, she could not cope and had constant bouts of depression. Her children
could not bear to see her just sit and stare blankly or else tend to newborn baby Victor.
Robberta and Alexan had urged her to go on a pilgrimage to Merudhatu, as she had
always intended. Her Holiness, the first incarnate woman Buddha, had been teaching
on Merudhatu for more than seventy standard years. They had offered to take Victor,
but she would not allow any separation from him. Jan had packed up some of her
belongings and enough supplies to care for Victor. Alone, she nervously left in the
Tangent for Merudhatu. It was that mysterious, ancient planet that had so changed their
lives and had been so instrumental in the collapse of the Federation.
During the early days of star travel, Merudhatu had been visited, mapped,
analyzed, and dismissed as a strange archaeological curiosity. It was a manufactured
world, much larger than Earth. It had been built more than nineteen million years ago,
during the age a great civilization. Then, about seven million years ago, it had been
inexplicably abandoned, and all its great cities had begun to decay back into the ground
from which they had been forged. During the present time, nearly its entire surface was
ravaged by constant tornadoes and hurricanes that made it totally uninhabitable...except
for one small area. The Circle of Harmony had been a center of religious activity, and it
defied time and the elements. It was a shrine, consecrated by eleven million years of
devotion. It was in a state of martial grace; weapons were nonfunctional. And it had
been endowed with enormous elemental generosity by its creators, for those who came
to meditate and worship left with fabulous gifts of knowledge.
The Tangent had reached equatorial orbit in the parking zone around the fifth
planet. Among the many parked ships was the familiar wing-shaped spaceship from
Her Holiness Polira’s home, Urgaya.
Unlike entry into commonwealths and sub-federations, no permission had been
necessary. Merudhatu was the seventh of fourteen planets, located between the fourth
and the fifth asteroid belts. Jan remembered ordering the image of the planet to be
enlarged. Merudhatu had an automatic shield against large meteors and asteroids. She
had noticed there must have been several hits during the recent past, because the planet
had a small, bluish ring around its equator. The Circle of Harmony was not visible, but
was hidden on the night side. Meru Minor, the white dwarf star that orbited near the
larger star, had not been visible from her angle of view.
She remembered sleeping restlessly and getting up an hour before dawn at the
Circle of Harmony. First she had changed and fed Victor; then she had struggled with
the quandary of what to wear. Her mind had wavered in and out of depression while
tears streaked down her cheeks. She had not known what was proper, but she usually
was not fashion-conscious anyway. She had decided to wear the slightly martial outfit
she had worn to Robbert's inauguration: calve-length skirt with boots and a tailored
hip-length jacket. She had carefully stuck her alpha-link for the Tangent in her lapel. It
was a pin in the shape of the insignia of her Buddhist order: the Columbian Shakyamuni
order.
As Jan rested in place in her shrine room, her mind entered a state of such clarity
that all distinctions between past and present vanished.
***
'Shoulder length earrings are in vogue now--or was that a decade ago--I'll try
the long, blue-beaded ones anyway. Do I need a hat? Yes, the one with the wide brim.'
She thought.
As she grabbed her favorite charm, she adjusted the belts on her backpack and
placed Victor in his chest-sling carrier; then she dictated last minute instructions to the
Tangent: where she would be, how to reach her, and what to do in an emergency. Jan
stepped into the transmatter chamber, tossed the hat back into the ship and spoke the
destination code name. There was a pause as protocol signals flashed back and forth
through the hyper-void; then she was standing in the chamber of the reception station.
The door opened and she stepped out into the Circle of Harmony. There was an
information booth, but it was neither attended, nor was it stocked with any literature.
Jan had seen pictures of the Circle of Harmony; she had even written extensively
about its role in the collapse of the Federation, but she had never physically been there.
It was much more than just an experience! The air in the circle was calm, but just a few
kilometers away dust and clouds raced by, driven by the enormous storms that were
raging beyond the perimeter shield.
Inside this shield were five hundred twelve
identical buildings--each in the shape of a long box with rounded corners--laid out over
a circular grid. Jan could only vaguely see the center of the grid and beyond, but she
knew the lay-out from maps she had memorized.
In its center was a giant,
slightly-raised heptagon, on which the Seat of the Buddhas rested. Seven simple arches
curved over the seat and came together at another, much-smaller heptagon, which was
impaled by a protruding spoke of the solid image of a twelve-spoke wheel, the Wheel of
the Law. Each of the other eleven spokes terminated outside the image as small, twisted
cones, and all the spokes were cut by seven concentric circles. It was so much like
similar Buddhist and Hindu chakras that the meaning was inescapable. In the center of
the wheel was a horizontal oval pierced by a vertical wedge. It was a symbol, but it was
not the primordial syllable ahm, as early visitors had believed. The Buddha MilaKarma,
when he re-consecrated this shrine, had revealed it to be merely the number '3', that
Merudhatu was only one of many such worlds, evenly-spaced around the center of the
galaxy. The exact number of such worlds was unknown, but MilaKarma had said the
zeroeth or Mother World was the greatest of them all.
Victor stirred a little. He would be hungry soon. Jan wondered if public breast
feeding violated local customs. It was okay on most worlds, but Merudhatu was not
'most' worlds. Intuition told her that she would have to change Victor momentarily. Jan
somehow managed to find an underground rest facility near the edge of the Circle.
Jan experienced another bout of depression as she walked along the edge of the
Circle; then she bumped into someone and nearly fell down. Suddenly, she realized
how crowded it was; it would take some time of traversing through crowds to reach the
Seat of the Buddhas. Identification flags hung from the slanted flag poles in front of
each of the buildings that surrounded the seat. All the religious denominations from
nearby star systems were well-represented. There were Buddhist, Hindu, Christian,
Moslem, Jewish, and many other flags.
Prophets were so rare in these modern times that her Holiness Polira was claimed
by all, often at the expense of schisms in the various churches. Jan walked under the
banner of New Israel, which contained a large golden Star of David. Nearly straight
across the Circle and scarcely discernable from her perspective, was the banner of Israel
Aleph, a silver star of David with the letter aleph at its center. There were bitter
feelings between these two branches of the Jewish faith. Next to New Israel was the
banner of the Quaker Church, and next to it was the golden image of the angel Moroni
on the banner of the Palmyran Mormon Church; then the Vedanta Hindu Temple, the
Sunni Moslem Mosque, the Lumbini Buddhist Temple, and so on into the distance.
Jan pushed her way at least a kilometer toward the center before she could, at
last, see her Holiness. She was seated in the lotus posture atop the Seat, but she did not
touch the seat. Her body, clad in a white robe with a bright red crossed vajra on the
front, was suspended in midair, and she was surrounded by a faint glowing aura. Her
Holiness, Polira, showed the effects of advancing age, though she was not really old.
Her skin was full of frail-looking wrinkles, and her hair had long ago turned a dullsilver in color.
Surrounding her were her attendants, her children by her many
concurrent husbands. They took care of her and administered to her needs. There were
rainbows everywhere around her, but it never rained within the Circle of Harmony!
Jan got closer. Now she could see the seats of the Disciples, surrounding and
facing away from the central Wheel of the Law. Six had been filled in the order of
arrival of the Disciples, but one was empty. Everyone knew the story: three men and
three women had come on their personal pilgrimages, each having no idea that they
would be chosen. By prophecy there should have been seven, but the seventh Disciple
had never appeared, and so that seat remained vacant. Yet, the full breadth of Polira’s
teachings depended on that seat being filled.
Something was happening.
The crowd cleared a path to the seat.
Representatives of Israel Aleph were carrying a golden object toward the Seat of the
Buddhas. It was carried upon two poles, by a man rabbi in the front and a woman rabbi
in the rear. It was a replica of the Ark, no; something told Jan that it was the actual Ark.
Israel Aleph had successfully penetrated the garbled off-dimensional time barrier to
retrieve the Ark, their most sacred object. Jan concluded that it must have taken many
generations of eugenic manipulation to produce people who could withstand the trip
through time, because reverse temporal travel was incompatible with biological
processes.
'So, the flaw in the Sutter-Grimwald equations actually does allow successful
backwards time travel. Of course, they used genetic changes not approved by the
Central Eugenic Registry. All those who made the trip backwards in time will die in a
few months! That is why the time component of the hyperdrive matrix is set to run
slightly fast.' Jan thought to herself.
All human beings who followed the edicts of the Eugenic Registry were the
product of centuries of eugenic manipulation; life and travel as they knew it would have
been impossible without all the induced changes in humanity. Jan knew that every time
she journeyed through the hyper-void or stepped into a transmatter chamber, she was
doing something that would have killed her distant ancestors.
Besides being an
inheritor of hundreds of generations of coordinated eugenic manipulations and internal
modifications, she was also the fifth generation with the duplex heart, a heart designed
never to stop while continually repairing itself during three centuries of operation.
There was much discussion among the people from New Israel over this latest
development. The group with the Ark approached her Holiness. Apparently, during the
trip through all the intervening centuries, the Ark had been depleted of all its spiritual
energy.
The Ark was placed before the Seat. Her Holiness stepped down. She touched
the golden shell and restored the Ark by her grace. Her presence was overwhelming,
despite her frail demeanor. Through her empathy with the Circle, her voice penetrated
everywhere, far beyond the ability of her own voice.
Though her Holiness was from the star system Urgaya, she spoke in the Terran
National dialect, which Jan understood. Nearly everyone spoke Terran National to
some degree, because they were all born with a rudimentary grasp of the ancient, root
language. "I showed you how to find your Ark, and now it is here. I will keep my
promise and restore its power for you. Do not deceive me; you committed temporal
sacrilege in bringing this to the present. You were not content to just obtain the Ark,
but you kidnapped someone for trial from a later time!"
"But, Madame Buddha," pleaded the woman rabbi. "The man killed millions of
our people in a past age. He went unpunished. It is up to us to right...."
"Do you not listen?
Vengeance is not yours!
Vengeance is not mine!
Vengeance is not even the province of the Lord, as some might preach, for the Lord is
beyond vengeance! None may escape the consequences of karma. How do you expect
to break this endless cycle, if you do not stop to meditate upon the inherent Emptiness
of all phenomenal existence?
So long as you persist in these views of duality:
persecutor and persecuted, accusers and accused, the one and the other...there will be no
hope."
While her Holiness continued her lashing discourse, Jan worked her way through
the crowd, ever closer to the great heptagon. She had reached the edge as the Israelis
were leaving. One of Polira's attendants stopped Jan from going any further. He
motioned that she was not allowed to step onto the great Heptagon while carrying a
child.
A very tall, dark-haired woman stepped forward and yelled at him. She wore a
brown, ethnic-looking dress that had a knee-length skirt. She had on a belt comprised
of numerous small silver disks. All Jan understood was Starkis as the woman scolded
the attendant, which must have been his name. She could not pick out a single phrase
from the rest of the woman's rapid-fire verbiage, although Jan was fluent in more than
sixty languages and dialects. They argued briefly; then the man left in an angry mood.
"Excuse my half-brother," she said in Terran National, her voice moved like the
wind. "He's from my mother's husband number one, Hector. There's not much good
karma in him, and he is an oaf. My father is Ozel, her husband number three. There's
not much to me in the way of the special stuff, but my brother, Rigdzin, he has the gift!
Hello, my name is Gianna."
"I am Jannet Deniker-Franklin," replied Jan at her much slower pace. "I am
happy to meet you sister Gianna." She held her hands to her chest in front of Victor in
the standard cupped posture and bowed slightly; Gianna returned the courtesy.
"You are from Columbia, yes? You must tell me about it. I hear all these
wonderful tales about the Commonwealth of Columbia. How did you come here? Did
a liner dock?"
"No, I came in my own ship."
"Oh, which hyperdrive harmonic matrix does it have?"
"Number twenty-nine. Do you understand...?"
"I can take one apart and put it back together. Have you come to see my
mother?"
'And she says she has no special gift.' thought Jan to herself.
She touched Jan and started to cry, "Your husband was recently
murdered...terrible!" she said with genuine sadness. She was embarrassed over her
unintended intrusion.
'And she is an empath. This woman is amazing!' Thought Jan.
"I came to watch today. Sometime soon I hope to have an audience with your
mother, when I feel up to it."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"I was going to stay on my ship."
"Please, you must stay with my husband Tendzin and I. We have three children.
Some of these people have never seen a baby. You're very brave to bring your baby
with you. You have a good sense for the natural."
"I don't want to impose. "
"No trouble. We would love to have a sangha member from Columbia as a guest.
No trouble at all," she declared. "In any event, you must come to dinner. Feel free to
observe my mother from the top of the heptagon. She won't mind."
"Okay, but how will I find you?"
"Easy, ask for the way to Gianna. If you get lost, practically anyone you might
meet knows where I live."
Jan climbed the three steps toward the top of the heptagon, hoping all the while
that Victor would be content to be quiet a while longer. A natural, calming resonance
pervaded the entire Circle of Harmony, but eventually even subdued babies would wake
up and want food and attention.
Small, engraved pillars marked the entry onto the
heptagon. Suddenly, Jan could not walk any farther; she held up her favorite charm and
just stood in shock as she stared at an image like the charm engraved on the pillar.
EPILOGUE-PART TWO
The many cultures in the galaxy have grown too comfortable
with life because of physical marvels derived on Merudhatu.
Although modern people are more dharmic than their forebears,
they are still mortal and pursue the created toys of Mind,
rather than the Nature of Mind, and so the real treasures of
this shrine have yet to be realized.
H.H. Polira, the Mahakarmin
on Merudhatu. December 3962
All Jan had to do was walk up the steps, past the two pillars that marked the entry
way onto the heptagon. However, one of the engravings on the pillar to her right
matched her charm. She tried to pass that portal, but a gripping fear held her back.
Then one of her graphic visions struck. She closed her eyes and fell to her knees as she
unsuccessfully fought the vision; then she collapsed.
***
Upon return to consciousness, Jan opened her eyes, but she did not recognize any
of her surroundings. The light was dim, but from the sides of her eyes she noticed
blurred figures. She was lying down. She jerked to an upright position and yelled,
"Where is Victor?"
"He's safe, Jannet," replied Gianna with a reassuring tone as she pointed with her
head. "He's asleep over there...changed and fed. He is a very cooperative baby. We
were worried about you; people don't usually faint on the heptagon. Do your visions
always make you faint?”
"No, I've never fainted from one before," replied Jan as she paused to look
around. The room was small and simply laid-out. She was on a one-person futon, while
Victor was comfortably sleeping in a deep wood-like box near her feet. In the center of
the room was a table which contained nothing but a small silver cup that held a glowing
cordless candle.
"How did you know I had a vision? Did you see it too?" Jan asked anxiously.
"I saw something when I touched you, but I'm not exactly sure; it's not proper to
eavesdrop on another person's thoughts."
"Please, you must tell me what you saw!" demanded Jan excitedly.
"Well, I will try.
It was expansive: an overwhelming vista of immense
proportions. There was a chasm that looked like a crack in the world. It was deep. A
towering, cascading waterfall fell into those depths.
The surrounding land curved
upwards, as if into the sky. And in the sky was a wondrous pale blue star. It was
surrounded by a blue-green cloud. And, as if all this was not enough, a proud animal
stood upon a bluff that overlooked the great waterfall. It was like a bright red horse,
with a long, brown mane and a long, spiraling horn protruding from the top of its
head...no, there was not one horn, but two. The second horn was slightly smaller than
the first and was directly behind the first one on the top of the head. Near the animal
was a tall, older man, with golden skin, dressed in white. He held his arms above his
head, reaching outwards."
"You did see it!" smiled Jan joyfully. She stood up, grabbed Gianna and gave her
a sturdy hug. "You just cannot imagine how wonderful this makes me feel. I'm
somewhat sane after all!"
"Insanity is not contagious," Gianna confirmed to Jan.
"Exactly. Maybe you can even help me figure out what it meant," Jan suggested.
"It is obviously important, but it is beyond my understanding. That is a task
better-suited for my mother. By the way, she is anxious to meet you. She has granted
you a private audience; few people have visions on the steps of the heptagon. Oh,
Jannet, I am so happy for you. Not since the arrival of the sixth disciple has she granted
anyone a private audience!"
"Please call me Jan," urged Jan, "but I don't understand why I should merit a
private audience. Who am I? I am certainly not the seventh disciple!"
"No," began Gianna sadly, as her voice slowed down to a more solemn speed.
"The seventh disciple was to have been Suzuki Anagarika, of the Commonwealth of
Nippon. He was killed more than two decades ago, along with hundreds of others, on
his way here, when his starliner collided with another. He has gone to serve the Lord
Amitayus in the Western Paradise. It was an unforeseen calamity, a reminder that the
winds of karma can be very fickle. The rainbows that surrounded my mother on the
Seat of the Buddhas have been diminishing ever since."
"I never knew that," said Jan in surprise as her voice trailed off.
"How could we tell all these people that the key person needed by my mother to
complete her teachings would never come? There has to be some hope even in this
fragile, short existence. My mother has meditated for a solution each day for twenty
years. Now you have come."
"I came here to meditate and recover from a personal tragedy. I'm no saint. How
can I possibly help you?"
"We don't know if you can, but last night, my mother had a great dream. In it,
she stood at the base of the Copper-colored Mountain.
PadmaKara and the Lord MilaKarma, side-by-side.
Atop it, stood the Lord
They spoke in unison in a
thunderous voice:"
'Rejoice, Polira, you have not been forsaken. For Vajrasattva, the Lord of the
Crystal Paradise, the most eminent of the primordial Buddhas, the mother-father of
compassion, has been deeply moved by your prayers and is sending one of special
karma to help you!'
***
Dinner in the evening was a simple affair. The table was pentagonally shaped.
Jan sat on one side, at a corner next to Gianna on her right. Victor was in a box on the
floor to Jan's left. Beside Gianna sat her husband, Tendzin. Though he was much
stronger and somewhat heavier than Gianna, he was not as tall as she was. On Urgaya,
as on all the other worlds that implemented the conservative eugenic changes
recommended by the Central Eugenic Registry, men had long ago accepted a slightly
lesser average height in exchange for corrections to many sex-linked genetic problems
that had plagued men for centuries.
Across the table from Gianna and Tendzin sat their two older children, Yeshia
and Dorjea. The girls constantly whispered to each other; then they would giggle.
Strangers were very rare at dinners in their household.
Gianna and Tendzin also had an infant son, Temarpa, who was not much older
than Victor.
To the right of the girls, across from Jan, sat Gianna's brother, Rigdzin. He was
almost as tall as Jan and was also very handsome. His olive complexion was contrasted
by the light, loose-fitting T-top that he wore, which was a washed-out red with black
etchings. His pants were of a similar material, but were black with red etchings. He
had a very lean but strong-looking muscular frame. He would glance at Jan and then
turn his head slightly, while she nervously did the same. He was Polira's most-gifted
child, and his presence was almost as overwhelming as Polira's.
Tendzin gave the blessing,
"By the Buddha, our precious teacher.
By the Dharma, our precious protector.
By the Sangha, our precious leader.
By the precious three jewels, I make this offering."
The first dish was passed to Jan. She looked at it carefully. It was a variation of
the synthetic gene-spliced-vegetable protein, produced by an organigenner, that she was
used to eating at home.
A few minutes into the meal, Tendzin asked, "Tell us of your other children."
"I have six, including Victor. Robberta is my oldest: she is a biogeneticist on
Aurora. She's married to Devon Chambers, a starship engineer. He is different...he's an
androgyne--more specifically a bioandrogyne. He looks just like, well, to be honest,
very much like Robberta herself. Remember, all my children and their spouses are
strong-willed. They make a point of declaring exactly what they are. Oh, and they're
expecting my first grandchild very soon!
"Alexan got his father's looks and my intellect. He's a planetary engineer, but he
is presently studying for the priesthood on Pacifica.
Once, he takes his vows of
ordination, his vow of celibacy will expire. He has women friends waiting in line.
"But I really shouldn't monopolize the conversation," said Jan as she paused to
eat. "As a mother, I could talk for days about my children." She caught herself staring
at Rigdzin again. She turned her head toward Gianna.
"Jan, relax, we really enjoy hearing about them. We never hear anything about
what's happening elsewhere in the galaxy. It is a problem having a mother, who's a
prophet, isn't it Rig?"
"People come to see our mother.
They want to receive ordination, to get
blessings, to see the wonder of her visualizations. They never come to see us. Mother
is growing old because of the wait; she was young and beautiful not so long ago. Our
mother's teachings are not for enlightenment alone: they have a purpose, which cannot
be fully determined without the seventh Disciple.
We are running out of time;
dangerous forces are at work around us!" Replied Rigdzin very solemnly.
"Rig!" snapped Gianna in an uncharacteristically hostile manner. "You know we
can't talk about that!"
Jan ate some more while she wondered what they were talking about.
'Dangerous Forces? The galaxy is at peace and had been that way for almost three
centuries. New worlds are being created at an accelerated pace. Life has never been
better, especially considering that practically everyone who has ever lived is alive
today. Nations are fairly polarized, but the vast distances between them and the
constant expansion help to keep the peace. What is wrong?'
Jan touched her alpha-link and mentally replied, 'Message received, thank you.'
"Excuse me, that was my ship, the Tangent.
You can't hear it; I can hear the
alpha-link in my brain. I have to go up to my ship. How do I reach the transmatter
station from here? "
"I'll show you the way," Rigdzin volunteered.
"Thank you, Rigdzin," Jan responded, followed by a nervous laugh.
"But please call me Rig, Jannet," he urged. "'Rigdzin' is really too formal!"
"I am happy to know you, Rig. You may call me Jan," she responded in turn.
'Stop it, Jan; this is nothing! You are too old to titter. Sure he's a handsome
man, but just control yourself, and there will be no problem.' Jan thought to herself.
The walk to the transmatter station was uneventful. Jan and Rig talked about
nothing more than superficial pleasantries. Rig refused to elaborate on the warning he
had given at dinner, and Jan kept him a distance with an incisive bite in her voice. Yet,
she could not keep from glancing at him every moment that she thought he was not
watching. Rig had many of the same attractive features as Robbert, but he also
possessed a sense of poise that she had never sensed in any man.
***
Once she was back on the Tangent, Jan discovered that she was now a
grandmother.
Thorran Chambers-Franklin had been born.
She sent a note of
congratulations back to South Columbia. The note would reach home in less than two
days, as a microwave laser packet traversing the hyper-void by way of networked
reception-retransmission stations.
She had already decided to accept Gianna's offer to spend the night. Before she
transmattered back down to Merudhatu, she quickly showered, dressed again, and
packed a change of clothing and her nightgown. Though Gianna had equally good
facilities at her place, Jan was very uncomfortable about imposing on strangers.
Jan was ready to return to Merudhatu, but there was something left to do. She sat
down in a learning booth and searched through the catalog for a memory trace that
corresponded most closely to introductory Urgayan. She found it; then impatiently tried
to sit as still as possible while the computer performed a ten-minute memory trace to
mind transfer.
***
Later, back on Merudhatu, everyone was much quieter for the rest of the evening,
but the night was not peaceful for Jan, as she restlessly pondered the unknown,
underlying anxiety. When she finally fell asleep, she dreamt of circling the heptagon,
seeking answers that were obvious but hidden.
She kept passing Rig, but they
pretended to ignore each other. Her intuition kept telling her that they would be lovers
by month's end, despite the inappropriateness of such an affair.
***
Gianna roused Jan before the dawn of the long day on Merudhatu. She assured
Jan that her girls would take good care of Victor, so Jan dressed quickly and followed
her. They walked into a corridor that curved downwards in a spiral. There were many
symbols and signs on the walls. Once again Jan paused, as she saw a copy of her
favorite charm.
'I should know what all these letters and symbols mean. Why do I think I should
know that?' thought Jan.
"If we could read this, it could tell us much about the Lords of Creation...that's
what we call them. Except for geologic dates, there is nothing we know about their
culture or their fate.
Here is the last set of symbols.
It tells of some fantastic
achievement that they were about to make; then they vanished.
"Hurry, mother is waiting," urged Gianna.
The corridor terminated at the entrance of a huge, hemispherical chamber that
was brilliantly illuminated on the inside by perimeter lighting. It was a shrine room,
and it was located directly under the heptagon that held the Seat of the Buddhas. The
floor was comprised of six concentric rings that enclosed a central circle, each
functionally different. The second and the fifth rings were narrow gardens. In the
center circle was another Wheel of the Law, on top of a cylindrical pillar. Surrounding
the pillar was an inwards-facing circular bench. Breaks in the bench at each of four
quadrants served as the entrances to the Circle.
Jan nervously followed Gianna. She could see her Holiness seated on the bench,
opposite one side of the wheel. "I am not...prepared for this," she lamented in a
subdued voice. "I even forgot to bring a gift!"
"Do not worry. My mother is easy to talk to...after you get her away from a lot of
the nonsensical ceremony that goes on above."
Gianna spoke to her mother in Urgayan. This time, Jan had some understanding,
so she had already begun to move toward the bench, as Gianna motioned to Jan to sit
next to her mother. Gianna sat next to Jan. Jan did not like the way they had her
confined in place. Shakily, she turned to her Holiness, cupped her hands, and bowed.
"I'm sorry, but this makes me nervous. I did not even bring a gift. All I have to
offer is this." Said Jan, as she removed her favorite charm and handed it to her
Holiness.
Polira examined the charm carefully; then she put then cord back over Jan's head
as she spoke, this time in Columbian, "This a precious gift; in fact, I have never been
offered anything so valuable. It belongs to you; it has always belonged to you."
"I don't understand. I've hardly had this charm for two years. My husband gave
it to me," Jan said, then she thought 'The rainbows don't appear for her down here.'
"Your ownership of this charm extends far into the past, into past existences
linked to your psycho-kinetic stream. Your karma is intertwined with this object...most
interesting. Please, do not be alarmed; I must explore this more fully," Polira said as
she placed her right hand on Jan's forehead.
Jan relaxed; in fact, she felt as if her mind entered a transcendental meditative
state. The empathic touch of her Holiness was uplifting. No, it was healing. Jan had
not felt like this since before Robbert had been murdered. The feeling persisted, even
after she had retracted her hand. Jan felt ecstatic.
'But why does she have this look of consternation?' Jan asked herself.
"Mother, what is wrong?" asked Gianna impatiently. She also realized there was
some problem.
"I must reflect on this...unexpected development. This is most disturbing," said
Polira in a distant tone.
"Please don't tell me I'm to replace the missing disciple," urged Jan. "I am not up
to that."
"You are not. Your karma is different; it is strangely fragmented. There is a gap,
but not like the meditative gap in one's thoughts. It is a reminder than even a seer
cannot know everything. You, your charm, this planet: all are separate but are also
inextricably linked. Treeshia!" she exclaimed. "I can talk no more. You must leave
me to my thoughts!"
Gianna questioned her mother's decision, arguing in Urgayan, but her mother was
adamant. Gianna was forced to relent and to lead Jan from the chamber.
"What was that word your mother spoke?" asked Jan as they reentered the spiral
corridor. "And why did your mother keep talking about some Great Legend?"
Gianna looked back; then she took two steps forward and looked back again in
bewilderment. "It is an Urgayan word, treeshia' It means roughly: one outside the
ordinary frame of karma, or, more simply, the outsider. There are many legends about
the coming of a karmic outsider, but that is a contradiction of terms. How can such a
person exist?
I'm sorry, but I can't explain my mother's reaction. Jan, you speak
Urgayan!" Gianna cried as she burst into her native language and praised Jan.
"Really, it was just a little mental transfer that I did on my ship yesterday. I
barely understand what you are saying, and I certainly don't have any gift for speaking
or even understanding your language."
***
Gianna led Jan to the start her first real tour of the Merudhatu shrine. Jan was
shown numerous subterranean chambers that few visitors had ever seen. The rest of the
day was a relaxing for Jan; she and Gianna were both light-hearted, and they did not
discuss one serious subject. Between talk of their children and current fashions, Gianna
showed Jan the wonders of the planet, and in turn, Jan told Gianna stories about her
home and about many nearby star systems. Gianna longed to see some of those places,
so Jan offered to take her and Tendzin to Aurora to attend the blessing of her grandson,
Thorran, which would take place when he was eighteen months of age. Gianna was so
excited that she would have been ready to leave at that very moment.
Her Holiness did not speak to Jan for more than a week following their initial
meeting. Jan hoped that Polira's silence meant that she had solved the mystery of Jan's
karma and had judged it to be strange, but inconsequential after all.
Jan watched many discourses given by her Holiness. Sometimes she went with
Gianna, and sometimes with Rig. Gianna's reaction was one of spirit, while Rig's
reaction to his mother's teaching was one of intellect. Many of the discourses were
exciting to Jan, and one, in particular, the first visualization that Jan had ever seen, was
so spell-binding that she suddenly realized that she was leaning her head against Rig's
shoulder, while he had his arm around her waist. Remembering her dream, she resolved
that there would not be an affair, but her body refused to cooperate.
The visualization was the image of a pilgrim's past karmic events, which
appeared on both faces of the Wheel of the Law, as her Holiness placed her hand on the
woman's head. The images formed and faded in rapid succession. Some were distinct;
others were blurry and confused. The woman was a warrior in a stone-age battle; later
she was a princess in a medieval court. There was a lengthy, suffering-filled term in
one of the murky, hot hells. The images ended with a scene of vow-taking before the
Buddha MilaKarma on Merudhatu. After the visualization was over, Jan very gradually
separated herself from Rig. She was uneasy about the reaction of her family and of
Robbert's family to the developing passions of this new relationship.
***
Once again, Gianna led Jan into the underground shrine room, but this time
Gianna left as soon as they reached the circular bench. Her Holiness sat, no she floated
above the bench in the lotus posture, eyes turned downward, with her hands resting on
her navel in the form of a circle, fingers to fingers and thumb to thumb.
"Please sit opposite me," Polira said softly as she turned her body sideways above
the bench. It was a command.
Jan tried hard to make her body emulate the posture of Polira's body. She could
not do it very well; then she finally stopped and tried to relax. It was impossible to
duplicate her posture.
Several minutes of silence passed; then she spoke, "When did you take your
Refuge Vows?"
Jan was not sure what her purpose was, but she knew that she was going to be
vigorously questioned. Though she did not know the reason for the encounter, she
resolved to give precise, honest replies. "Twice: once when I was eight, at the shrine of
MilaKarma, on Aurora, and once when I had first met my husband, at the shrine of
Shakyamuni, on Pacifica."
"Who is your patron deity?"
"The Lady Tara in her yellow manifestation watches over me."
"So she does."
There was another long pause. Jan kept going over the basic teachings in her
mind. She was sure that she would be asked to elaborate on many intricate spiritual
concepts. Married life had caused her to neglect her studies in recent years.
"You need to work on your studies of the basic teachings," Polira said suddenly.
Her voice startled Jan. "No, I cannot read your mind, but I can sense a few thoughts.
Instead of what you are prepared for, give me a brief history of this planet."
'Strange, that she should ask for information that is my specialty. I should be
able to condense it all into just a few minutes.' thought Jan.
Jan retold the historic events that she had written about many times, "The first
exploration ships of the young Terran Federation reached this world early in the
twenty-fourth century.
They came in primitive, slow starships.
They marked
Merudhatu as interesting, but not worth much more investigation. Earth-like worlds
were the object of all the search, and they were found to be very rare; most star systems
consisted of gas giants and asteroid belts, or just still-born asteroid belts in most cases.
"When word of Merudhatu reached the home world, many people were intrigued.
A true investigative expedition arrived late in the twenty-fourth century. Some of my
ancestors were part of that expedition.
Many on the expedition understood the
devotional aspects of the planet, and they used it for that purpose. Those persons
practiced the rituals of their faith in the Merudhatu shrine. After a stay of over four
years, they went home.
"Once home, the members of the expedition began to talk about and design all
the hardware that we now take for granted. Their contemporaries scoffed at them, until
they saw the first manmade operational non-pulsed hyper-drives, warp generators,
transmatters, hyper-communications technology, large scale energy storage and power
and force generation, the plans for eugenic modifications to make life compatible with
all this technology, and, of course, planet-making. But they had not brought back
enough details, so more expeditions were sent out, and an entire generation eventually
grew up on Merudhatu.
"In the spirit of the Dharma, all that was learned on Merudhatu was given freely
to everyone. People began to colonize and build new worlds in formerly useless star
systems. It was the largest exodus of humanity in history, as billions of people left
Earth and its then meager interstellar colonies to seek new homes in the distant stars. It
was amazing that they could manage the logistics, considering how new all this
technology was at the time. The Terran Federation panicked: they sent a fleet, which
took over Merudhatu in an attempt to control its resources, but it was too late. There
were already more than sixty new worlds in outlying star systems, which was far more
than the sixteen that comprised the Federation. War was eminent, but then MilaKarma
arrived at that axial moment. He was the Buddha of Peace; a thousand years of peace
followed.
"During the period of peace, multi-world communities were created in two
hundred fifty more star systems. The Terran Federation tried the same tact, but its
bureaucracy only allowed fifty more worlds to be built. The balance of power had
shifted away from any central government to independent planetary systems of five to
twenty habitable worlds. Unrest spread to the Federation's own worlds, and the Great
War began.
"The war lasted less than a year. The Federation was overextended; then it lost
nearly all of its fleet in remote skirmishes. In September 3684, the Terran Federation
collapsed. Today's galactic community grew out of that collapse. All the battle fleets
were scrapped, because it is impossible to police the huge expanses of space beyond
star system boundaries. All starships are now unarmed, because no one will allow
anyone else's armed ships to enter their star systems. The post-Federation philosophy
that we have all agreed to seems to be working." Jan held her hands apart to indicate
that she had finished.
"You tell the story well," began her Holiness, after another silence. "Now I see
more connections.
Do not be dismayed when I tell you that, despite their best
intentions, the participants in the saga made some serious errors; they were blinded by
the scope of their dreams."
"I...I don't understand," Jan said as she stumbled on her words.
"You are part of the dream, which has an underlying nightmare. Your ancestors
failed to see many fundamental facts. Other wars were fought in this area thousand of
millennia ago for unknown stakes.”
“I have visited all five of the known debris fields,” nodded Jan in reply.
Polira continued, “During the expansion into the galaxy, your ancestors improved
mankind and your pet animals--and this was good, because it had alleviated a lot of
suffering--but it was not without its errors, which are lurking in the shadows to haunt
you. There are beings that have always been excluded from this shrine. They covet the
secrets of this shrine, secrets which have eluded them, until now. Your people were not
excluded from this shrine, so they came and made the secrets public. There is a new
crisis, and we have all come together for yet another axial moment in time!"
"It is hard to reply to that," began Jan shakily. "I guess we were fools to think the
galaxy was all ours; it all appeared to be unclaimed. How do we deal with these
aliens?"
"Even the Lords of Creation could not win against them. In the end, the Lords
left the Six Universes of Creation entirely. They created a Seventh Universe, free of the
flaws that the enemy can exploit.”
“How come we can’t see them? asked Jan.
“Even I can do no more than basically sense their presence, but the Felimorphs and
Canimorphs have long battled them. They take great pains to shield themselves even
from a seer. They are the agents of Mara, and they have formed an unholy alliance with
mankind's aberrant genetic mistakes, the unsupervised result of illegal and accidental
modifications. If the seventh Disciple had come, then I would have learned more, but
you can help, Jannet Deniker-Franklin."
"How can I help? It all sounds overwhelming? How can we deal with them?
Surely not violence? Will we have to rebuild our fleets of star-destroyers?"
"Violence is not the way; for they are the nature of Ego: they love violence,
killing, destruction, death, and even defeat. However, there are other ways, and you can
help. Stay with us, reaffirm your vows in the font of ancient oil, and advance your
dharmic training. Improve those aspects of your meditation practice that you have been
neglecting. Only through the most diligent effort will you be able to overcome your
own impediments. Then and only then, perhaps, your developing insight will awaken
and you will see and understand. It will not be easy, and I promise to guide you most
unmercifully."
"It does not sound possible. I will certainly have to think about it first: I may
have to go home and discuss it with my Trikaya council. I do not really think I have or
will ever have any special knowledge," Jan said glumly.
"It is well that you should think about it," urged her Holiness reassuringly.
"Meditate all of tomorrow; then, with the following dawn, you shall be the subject of
my next visualization. This visualization will accomplish two tasks: it will put you in
touch with your karmic past, and it will show scenes that many Christian pilgrims have
been waiting half a century to see. But you must be resolute, because it will be quite
painful."
"Painful? The one last week was not...." Jan stammered.
"The woman's karmic past was not very intense, but your karmic past is intense.
Many visualizations have been painful, but believe: yours will be extremely painful!"
EPILOGUE-PART THREE
The dissolution of galactic super-states is always inevitable,
but the many resultant cultures are not without problems.
They tend to deny the essential Oneness of all things and to
forget that they too are subject to the forces of Impermanence
and Frustration, death and decay. Not even the Universe itself
is exempt from this process.
H.H. Polira, the Mahakarmin
on Merudhatu. December 3962
The point of light that was Meru Minor came first; then, after first lighting an arc
of the ring around Merudhatu, Meru Major lifted above the horizon to begin a new day.
As usual, the air was still in the Circle of Harmony, but dust thrown up by storms
beyond the perimeter created scintillating beams of light. To Jan the display was
ominous. She nervously measured her steps toward the Seat of the Buddhas, where her
karma-linked visualization would soon begin.
Jan slid onto the Seat of the Buddhas. This was where the emanations for the
visualization emanated.
“We are about to see an auspicious visualization,” began Polira. “I must remind
this audience to take care how they will interpret what they are about to see. No one
owns reality.
"This visualization contains a strong emanation from Aksobhya, Lord of the
Eastern Paradise, and his reflection, the Lord Vajrapani," continued her Holiness, as she
removed her slippers and touched her naked feet to the heptagon. Polira placed her
right hand on Jan’s forehead. Even before an image started to appear in front of the
Wheel of the Law, Jan could feel unseen forces moving around her. It was a flickering
swirl of energy, and it stung as Jan plunged violently into it.
‘She was right; it hurts. Oh, does this ever hurt! My whole body feels like it’s
suffering hundreds of electrical shocks.’ Jan thought as she formed tight fists with her
hands and concentrated to keep from biting her tongue.
The pain vanished and was replaced by relief. The air felt dry and warm, and she
was in motion.
The first image appeared about two centimeters in front of the wheel. To the
people around Jan, the visualization was silent, but she could hear fragmented,
incomprehensible voices. The clarity of the images on the wheel was continuously
changing, but the dream-like sensations that Jan was experiencing were more constant.
Jan realized that she was walking. She also realized that she had a different body. It
was a man’s body.
‘This is just like when I was little, when we used to exchange memory traces
between the boys and the girls.’ Remembered Jan to herself fondly.
There was something familiar about the man, for hanging from his neck was her
favorite charm.
‘Her Holiness is right: the charm does seem to follow my psycho-kinetic stream.’
Jan noted to herself.
The terrain was rugged and somewhat barren. The man was walking along with
many other people and animals. People were riding some of the animals. Everyone
wore simple, light-colored clothing to protect themselves from the heat. Jan recognized
two of the type of animals from courses she had taken in comparative religion: they
were burros and camels.
The man was walking next to another man, who walked while he led his burro.
They did not know each other, but the man with the burro knew he was being watched.
He was about to question the stranger about his identity, but the stranger spoke first and
asked if he was the great prophet Issa, whom he sought. Without a look of surprise, the
man with the burro replied that it was one of many names that people called him. The
stranger said that his name was Kranmuk, and that he had been watching Issa in his
travels for many years. Issa had noticed Kranmuk ever since the caravan had left Kabul.
The stranger was not a Persian, not an Indian, nor an Israelite. Kranmuk was not like
anyone he had ever met before.
Kranmuk asked Issa where he was going. Issa replied that he was going home to
Israel. He said that, when he had visited the grave of Moses at Mount Nebu last week, a
letter from his mother awaited him. In it she urged him to the land of his birth
immediately. He had learned much during the years of his absence, but he was sadly
afraid that his native people would not be happy to hear of his new philosophy.
Kranmuk told Issa that he had come to help him and to protect him from the many sly
enemies that he would meet. Issa conceded that Kranmuk looked very strong and very
confident, but he urged the stranger to commit no violence on his behalf. Kranmuk
warned of a painful death upon crossed planks of wood, and Issa replied that he had
foreseen that possibility and that Kranmuk was unusually knowledgeable. He asked
Kranmuk of the place he called home, and Kranmuk replied.
The image faded for a moment.
‘I missed where he was from! The information is being kept from me.’ Thought
Jan angrily.
Issa replied that he had heard of Kranmuk’s home and that few had ever traveled
so far. Kranmuk then realized that he was indeed, Issa, the prophet whom he sought, as
they stood and embraced for a moment.
Jan looked around. ‘All the Christian Pilgrims are kneeling; of course they are
kneeling. Issa is Jesus, the Christ, their prophet, exactly as the Buddha Shakyamuni is
my prophet!’
Several days of the events in the visualization passed within a few seconds; then
something happened. Bandits were pacing the caravan, waiting for the right moment to
attack. Kranmuk chose to stay behind and wait for the bandits. He would not listen to
Issa, who said that he would meet with them and soften their hostile intentions. The
caravan continued westward, while Kranmuk, unarmed, confronted the bandits and
ordered them to stop and return to where they had come. One of them came forward to
test Kranmuk. Kranmuk knocked him down with one blow; then the others attacked.
‘All these men are so violent and barbaric! They can’t all have a hormonal
problem, so it must be natural for the time.’ Thought Jan with a note of displeasure.
Kranmuk defended himself against ten to twenty men at a time—all armed with
swords, spears, and other weapons—without weapons, but just his extraordinary
strength and speed. More bandits joined the fray, but Kranmuk was able to handle any
number of attackers quite easily. Someone grabbed him around the neck, but Kranmuk
tossed him over his shoulder without any strain.
‘Hey! Idiot, he grabbed the charm! You’ve lost ‘our’ charm.’
Kranmuk fought on and on for several minutes, but it was obvious that he was
tiring. Without the potent, inherent karma of the charm, he could not keep up the pace.
Jan felt a stabbing pain, followed closely by another; Kranmuk had been struck by two
arrows. The pain was intense, yet Kranmuk pressed on against his attackers. Light
reflected off a sword as it flashed by; then there was darkness and the visualization
ended.
The image was gone, but there was still pain for Jan. Her whole body felt
battered and bruised, and her clothing was soaked with sweat. A stream of water
trickled down her left side. She wiped her side and then held up her left hand.
‘Blood! Impossible! Kranmuk foolishly died four millennia ago. Am I to suffer
for him?’ she thought as she emitted a startled scream that she did not even hear,
because she had collapsed from exhaustion.
***
“You’re going to have to quit fainting on the heptagon,” Gianna chided lightly.
“How many hours was I out?” asked Jan as she tried to shake the effects of her
sleep.
“Not hours, but days,” replied Gianna. “You were in a deep sleep for three days.”
Jan noticed that she had on a change of clothing. She felt her left side, expecting
to find a bump or similar problem, but everything felt normal. “That visualization was
an experience...that I do not intend to repeat! Was I dreaming? Was there really
blood?”
“There was blood; it often happens during visualizations, but there were no
wounds of any kind,” Gianna explained. “There is often such intensity that a lot of
people become temporary stigmatics. It’s a sympathetic response.”
“Kranmuk was an odd man, but what a very stupid death! After all that, how can
I refuse your mother’s offer of guidance, difficult as she may be.” Jan realized, “ Victor
is due for his blessing, but I can delay that until I go home for Thorran’s blessing. Can
you arrange another audience so I can work out the details?”
“It is not necessary; she has already given me instructions. I wrote them here,”
said Gianna as she handed a piece of paper to Jan.
Jan quickly glanced over the paper. It was an outline of the desired daily routine
that she was to follow. It was rigorous but not too demanding. It included several types
of meditation, chanting the mantra of Tara, and special discourses that she was to attend
with the Disciples. Jan scanned the list again, but she could not find the expected
restrictions. “Where are the special covenants and vows?”
“Mother did not see the need for them. You will take vows as required during
your meditation practice. Like the Disciples, you are to be beyond ordinary vows.”
‘I don’t believe this. What is my relation to this whole scheme?’ Jan asked
herself seriously.
***
A new year began. Jan adapted to the routine prescribed by her Holiness. Victor
began to both walk and talk, but Jan did not have enough time during the day to tend to
his needs. To her surprise, Rig stepped in and began to care for her child. In fact,
despite the lack of any prerequisite experience on his part, he was especially
accomplished at child-rearing. This was an additional surprise for Jan, because she had
always been told that most people outside of Columbia were usually lacking in basic
parenting skills.
On the first of May, the routine was broken to celebrate Vaishakha, the birthday
of Shakyamuni, the buddha of their age. A special Abhishekha was held during the last
two hours of daylight. It was a time of initiation. Jan wore a special white robe as she
stepped into the font of ancient oil. Two attendants pushed her under; then she stood
up, dripping oil. She recited her refuge vows, as her Holiness poured oil from a special
cup and spoke special Urgayan words. Then Polira proclaimed that, from that moment
on, Jan would always be known as Treeshia within their community.
Months passed. Jan had ceased to think of all the ritual, meditation and studies
that filled her days as being unusual. She started to look forward to each new day and
began to overcome her tragic losses back on Aurora. Her friendship with Gianna grew,
as well as her special, but undefinable relationship to her Holiness. And then there was
Rig. He was so helpful that Jan felt a little guilty about taking advantage of him. He
was always there when she needed him: to answer some question in her studies, to take
care of Victor, and to comfort her at night. Then, as the day of Thorran's blessing fast
approached, it was time for Jan to take a break and go home to attend the ceremony.
"It's something you have to get used to," explained Jan after the Tangent had just
out-warped from the hyper-void. "When we in-warp, the view ahead is bent away from
us in such a manner that we are apparently going backwards. Conversely, when we
out-warp, the forward view is bent back to us in a way that makes us suddenly appear to
lurch forward."
Gianna, Tendzin, and even Rig had given up comprehending Jan's explanation
and just stared at the mainscreen display; the Tangent could scarcely contain the gaze of
the three of them as the ship re-entered the star system of South Columbia. After being
cloistered on Merudhatu all their adult lives, the expanses of interstellar space were
overwhelming. The Tangent was slowly entering the equatorial plane, where it would
dock with Perimeter Station II.
The many null-detection fields of the ship were shut off, and the flashing warning
beacons were activated. They gave the ship an odd appearance as they intermittently lit
the tops of the many pylons that were installed in the cavities that were created by the
complex curvature of the hull, whose slope alternated between positive and negative in
varying patterns. The pylons held field generators and telemeters that performed and
measured the many complex external functions.
First it was a single bright light; then it grew into an ellipsoidal array of lights
laid out in countless complex patterns. The Tangent was soon dwarfed by Perimeter
Station II. The starship dock--almost a hundred kilometers in diameter at its larger
axis--was the largest single man-made metal structure the others had ever seen or even
envisioned.
Jan pointed to three objects in the distance on the mainscreen. They were all
huge, cylindrical Genesis planet-makers, named Goliath-5, Goliath-12, and Goliath-29.
Jan assured the others that any one of those machines would easily dwarf Perimeter
Station II, and that, in fact, they were so large that they could not generate a hyperdrive
field harmonic index higher than eleven. One of the machines was scheduled to begin
work in the new star system of West Columbia. West Columbia was a star two and a
half light-years distant. It was beyond convenient transmatter range, but there were
plans to build two bridging transfer stations to link West Columbia into the network
with North and South Columbia. The other two Genesis machines had been sold and
were awaiting shipment: one to Israel Aleph, and the other to New Britannia.
After having paused for a moment at a giant field-generated force lock, the
Tangent switched on and adjusted the entry field. The outer skin of the ship shimmered
as it passed through the force lock. Once completely inside, the Tangent was guided
towards an internal dock. There, after they had disembarked, the Tangent would have a
long conversation with one of the station's analyzing computers. They would discuss
the Tangent's current health and any necessary repairs that were not convenient for the
vessel's numerous self-repair systems.
As the connector tube extended, Jan carried Victor and led the others into the
main airlock. She was more than a little nervous; many members of her family would
be there, and they were not always open to strangers. She had been living a life of
relative isolation for a year and a half, away from all the petty family protocol. She also
had a troubling secret...she would have to find someone with whom to share and discuss
it.
Then there had been a strange message from her son, Karlen. He had proclaimed
that he had some momentous announcement to tell her.
Jan shifted Victor to Rig, as she held his hand and led him and the others through
the entry gate onto the concourse. She tried to be as gracious as possible as she faced
the crowd. Her father met her first and gave her one of his firm hugs, but her mother
stayed farther back; Jan caught a definite glance of disapproval from her mother out of
the corner of her eye. Jan thought she had sighted all her children except Karlen. There
was Robberta with Devon: they both wore coordinated dresses, and Devon carried little
Thorran. Beside them were Alexan and his new fiancee, Julianna. Behind them were
the twins, Anne and Erikka, and their spouses, James Fletcher and Bryson Korning.
There were also strangers, but Karlen was no where to be seen among them.
"I want you all to meet three of my favorite people, my friends from Merudhatu,"
Jan asserted. "This is Gianna and her husband, Tendzin. And this is Rig. Rig and
Gianna are children of her Holiness, Polira, the Mahakarmin."
'There, that should be forceful enough to impress my mother!' thought Jan
sternly.
Everyone cupped their hands in a quick courtesy; then Jan and her friends were
surrounded by a huddle of Jan's relations. The twins were most intrigued with Gianna
and Tendzin and had them quickly pulled aside. A young woman whom Jan did not
recognized touched and stared at Rig.
"You look great, mom," said Robberta as she embraced her and gave her a kiss.
"And different," added Alexan as he gave her a quick hug. Their gaze met for a
moment. It was if he understood all that had happened to her.
'He is my most dharmic child. Maybe he does sense me. I'll have to be careful.'
Jan warned herself.
"And this is Julianna," he added as he hugged his fiancee.
"I am happy to meet you, Julianna: happy for both you and Alexan.
"Mom, mom!" yelled the unknown young woman, who left Rig's side and ran to
fetch a young man. Jan stared with a puzzled look; she did not have another daughter.
"It's me , mom! Karlen, only I go by the name Karla now! And this is my friend
Benjamin. Don't look so puzzled; Devon is feminized, so why can't I be too?"
"The voice," gasped Jan in bewilderment. "Androgynes never have the voice
changed. You've got a woman's voice too. Isn't that a little confusing? Your letter
about a few hinted 'changes' did not even begin to explain your new look!"
"It's all very logical. Society is built for you antoverts; we synoverts are so rare
that people just stop and stare. Now we fit in visually, and I like my new persona. Ben
and I want to get married, have children, and raise a family."
'I suppose there's logical sense there somewhere. At least, synoverts can have
children via an artificial womb. What is Karla wearing?' Jan thought.
"What in the name of...what kind of shoes are you wearing?"
"These?" questioned Karla as he took one off and showed it to his mother.
"These are high-heeled sandals. They were in fashion thousands of years ago, and they
are again with androgynes. They make us men as tall as the ladies."
"They look very uncomfortable," Jan accessed.
Devon nodded agreement; he was not wearing a pair of them.
"But what we really want is for you to marry us, along with Alexan and
Julianna," Karla urged.
"But I'm not empowered...."
"Yes, you are, mother; you took ordination from her Holiness, and that empowers
you to marry us."
Alexan nodded agreement, as he stopped a conversation with Rig for a moment.
* * *
Everyone else had transmattered back to Aurora, while Jan took her friends over
to the local Foreign Affairs office to get visas for them. The procedure only took a half
hour. She spent the rest of the day giving them a tour of her home planet. They had
been away from Urgaya since their early youth, so walking about on an open world like
Aurora was a marked contrast to the narrow confines of Merudhatu.
* * *
Alexan took Rig, Gianna, and Tendzin on a tour of the shrine of Shakyamuni on
Pacifica, while Jan took an important break. After she had completed the first part of a
rigorous physical examination, she waited her physician, Dr. Nina Bradford, to return
with the results. She was nervously anticipating those results.
"Good news," explained Dr. Bradford. "I have never seen your charts looking
better. Your trip to Merudhatu has been good for your body. There are absolutely no
problems."
Jan stared at her for a moment in an unconvinced mood. "There are no problems
whatsoever?"
"You're in touch with your body, but you know that.
You know you are
pregnant, and you've properly arrested the development of the fetus. It's in first day
stasis, which is the right procedure."
"Dr. Bradford, it can't possibly be proper for me to be pregnant. I'm not married,
and women in their seventies do not have babies."
"It's become more common in this century than in the last. I can see that it might
create problems for you, but I'm not the one with whom to discuss the implications;
there is no medical problem. The embryo is that of a girl with a healthy genetic pattern.
"Centuries ago, we women had rhythmic periods of time and other unconscious
mechanisms that controlled when we were fertile, but our ancestors changed that when
they gave us our much more complex deterministic control. As women, we now hold
ultimate power over creation, and you can, of course, abort the pregnancy by will."
"That is not something that...I could bring myself to do. I was hoping that my
instincts were wrong. I guess I'll have to go to a Trikaya Council for answers. My
mother won't like this at all."
"Would you like to have the modifications administered now?" asked
Dr.Bradford. Jan agreed. The procedure only took ten minutes. A hyper-entry probe
was used to access the embryo via the fifth dimension. The genetic-modifications were
introduced by way of a pseudo-virus.
Everything was painless; the embryo now
possessed new desired traits that Jan and Rig could not have passed onto it.
Jan went before her local Trikaya council the day after Victor and Thorran had
been blessed. She did not have much time. In the morning, she was to perform a
double wedding for Karla and Benjamin and for Alexan and Julianna; then she would
return to Merudhatu two days later.
The Council deliberated for five hours after Jan stated the circumstances of her
problem. Their decision was neither unanimous nor clarifying. By majority opinion,
Jan's unborn child was determined to be of extreme karmic importance, but also
enigmatic. They all recommended that Jan discuss the problem with her Holiness on
Merudhatu for a more definitive answer.
* * *
The days passed quickly; then it was time to return to Merudhatu. Jan had a final
meeting with her children just before departure. She explained her situation in detail,
and she emphasized that Merudhatu held all the answers. There were last moment
farewells and embraces; then Jan reluctantly turned Victor over to the care of her
daughter Robberta and son-in-law Devon as she led Rig, Gianna, and Tendzin back
onto the Tangent.
* * *
Four months had passed since Jan had returned to Merudhatu, but she still had
not spoken to her Holiness. Jan was not even sure what good another audience would
do, because she was not known for precise, definitive answers anyway.
In the
meantime, Jan's days had become dreary experiences filled with anxiety and frustration.
She could not reestablish the effective routine that she had developed before she had
gone home to Aurora. If she tried to concentrate, despair filled her mind. She often
thought of Robbert...how he and her happy lifestyle had been brutally torn from her.
She was plagued by guilt: the misplaced passion and unplanned child might bring
dishonor to her family and to her husband's memory.
Another morning came, and once again Jan looked expectantly at Gianna,
waiting for another rejection. This time Gianna did not sadly shake her head; instead,
she took Jan by the hand and led her back down the spiral corridor to the underground
shrine room. Without a word, Gianna left Jan with her mother.
This time there was a difference. Jan was very excited as usual, but her awe of
the occasion was gone. She spent several silent minutes trying to get her mind in order,
as she once again floated in the air opposite to Polira.
"I need answers, good answers; I've been here in ignorance far too long! I need
to know how I fit in. I'm pregnant, and I do not know how to deal with it!" Jan asserted,
when she thought the moment was finally right.
Polira did not answer Jan's plea.
meditative posture, eyes turned downward.
She just continued to float there in her
EPILOGUE-CHAPTER FOUR
One's birth rank does not make one great. Neither does one's
physical prowess or the sum of one's deeds. The vagaries of
karma and Rebirth conspire to create a chaotic, paradoxical
situation. Out of this confusion will arise those, who through
insight, intuition, and the grace of the Buddhas, will travel
the Dharmic path that will lead them and others to Liberation.
H.H. Polira, the Mahakarmin
on Merudhatu. September 3963
Minutes passed, but the interval seemed much longer. Her Holiness lifted her
head and smiled. It was the first time Jan had ever seen her smile.
"Do not be discouraged; you will play an important part in events that have yet to
transpire, but even I cannot foresee those events.
"I did foresee your current circumstances; a most auspicious child has been
conceived. Misfortune has been averted; Merudhatu has been blessed by the Lord
Vajrasattva."
"I do not understand. Are you telling me that you knew that Rig and I...."
"I saw that you were fated to become lovers, and much more."
"Now I know why you did not ask any vow of celibacy, but you could have told
me," sighed Jan.
"I cannot interfere in such a manner; you have free will. Even fated events do not
come to pass unless they happen naturally."
"I see, I think," began Jan slowly with a tone of annoyed disbelief. "And Rig: am
I to marry him?"
"To do so would dishonor your family. No, you will not marry, but you will take
him as your life-long consort. He will watch out after you and comfort you in the dark
hours that are yet to come. Do not underestimate him."
"And my daughter, who is yet to be born, whom I hold in a state of arrest within
my womb?"
"Ten months after you reinitiate her development, she will be born here on
Merudhatu. You will raise her as you have raised all your other children. Your parents
will disinherit her, but your other children will treat her like one of them."
"And what will become of my new child," asked Jan nervously, as she already
suspected what the answer would be.
"She will be gifted like all your other children, but she will not appear to possess
any really unusual or supernormal abilities, but do not let that deceive you; for
sometime between her eighth and twelve years, she will suddenly receive spontaneous
enlightenment.
At that moment, she will casually take her place with the other
Disciples."
'As I had feared, she will be the Seventh Disciple!' thought Jan. The words
echoed in her mind repeatedly.
***
Jan was in her seventh month of pregnancy when a most bizarre event took place.
A starship of alien design had entered orbit around Merudhatu, and several of its
passengers were demanding an audience with her Holiness. They had just transmattered
down to the Circle of Harmony. At first, Jan could not see these aliens, because the
crowds of people blocked her view. Suddenly, the crowd panicked at the sight of the
oncoming delegation and parted to create a path all the way across the circle from the
transmatter chamber to the Seat of the Buddhas.
The alien delegation carried standards high on poles as they approached the
heptagon. Now Jan could clearly see the aliens themselves: they were not quite alien in
nature; rather, they were a well-known but seldom-seen product of genetic
manipulation.
They were eight Felimorphs and six Canimorphs. They were the
product of highly illegal genetic experiments, which had occurred more than a
millennium ago, when a group of scientists had sought a way to save declining
populations of wild animals through a process of anthropomorphization. They had
never succeeded in the development of wild animals with human characteristics and
intelligence, and the whole project had been brought to an end by the Terran Federation.
A new planet called Pangaea--devoid of any human beings--had been constructed near
Earth, as time was about to run out for those remaining species of wild animals that had
not yet become extinct.
However, the genetic experiments had not been invalid; no one could deny that
as they watched the delegation proceed across the circle. The scientists had first tested
their hypothesis of anthropomorphization on common domestic cats and dogs, without
knowing that they would establish to entirely new races of beings. As if driven by both
fear and guilt, the nations of humanity staked out two of the most distant star systems of
the time. Planets were hurriedly constructed and the new classes of beings were
escorted there without any choice. The Felimorphs were to live on Mau in the Bast star
system, and the Canimorphs were to live on Liroo, in the neighboring Kosh star system.
Felimorphs and Canimorphs shared many common attributes. They walked fairly
upright at half the average height of a human being. They were partially furred and
wore clothing of an odd design. They had very short tails protruding from their clothing
in back. Their body features, while somewhat human in general appearance, bore the
unmistakable looks of their not-so-distant animal ancestry.
The delegation was led by a young female Felimorph. Her face contained all the
classical feline features: almond-shaped yellow eyes with vertical pupils, large pointed
ears punctuated by soft tufts, and long, soft whiskers protruding from beneath her nose.
Her many breasts shaped the front of the bright red, leathery dress that she wore. The
upper two breasts were similar to those of a human female, while her other breasts
rapidly diminished in size until the two lowest breasts were barely noticeable.
Jan did not share the apprehension of the crowd; curiosity drove her to within
meters of the delegation.
She walked parallel with them toward the Seat of the
Buddhas. She wondered what circumstance had prompted them to come to Merudhatu;
they were shunned by most of humanity. Jan did not sense any evil purpose, so she was
sure that these were not the vile creatures of the shadows that her Holiness had warned
about; besides, the beings that Polira had spoken of were emphatically denied any
access to Merudhatu. Jan had heard that Felimorphs possessed unparalleled levels of
intuition.
The delegation stopped at the steps to the heptagon while the female Felimorph
continued up the steps toward her Holiness. Jan could not just stand and watch, so she
followed five paces behind the alien. Jan had never realized how quiet the circle could
be without the chatter of thousands of voices; she could even hear the whine of the wind
that constantly blew against the perimeter force shield.
The Felimorph stood silent in front of her Holiness for several seconds; then she
cupped her hands and bowed in the traditional manner. "I am Aiu, sovereign queen of
the Mau-Basti," she said in a crackling, broken form of Terran National. "It took us
many generations to build our first starships. Now we have come a long way...to claim
those rights which are ours by birth and have been denied to us by manipulative
humans. We have also come humbly to request the blessings of the High Human
Priestess, that she may help to alleviate the sufferings of our people. But we are not
without gifts; we have uncovered some of the hidden knowledge that you seek."
Her Holiness received Aiu, who bowed before her. When she placed her right
hand on Aiu's forehead, Polira spoke, "I see your home world, with it great mountain
passes and green valleys. I see the stone cities, surrounded by the farms where rodents
are grown for slaughter. I see suffering: disease, disabilities of old age, and a plague of
genetic defects. Your society is in turmoil because of unresolved discrepancies between
your social present and your animal past. You feel that the bigotry and neglect of
mankind cannot be allowed to continue!
"I also see the dim images of demonic creatures. They disgust you. They are the
allomorphic, mutagenetic enemy, amorphous parasitic beings who transform randomly,
or copy or steal the forms of others to survive. Your people have encountered them
near your star system. They despise you for your ability to reveal their true nature. An
image of one is about to form before the wheel...."
An indistinct picture of four enemy aliens appeared in front of the wheel. They
all had a grotesque, slimy humanoid appearance, but each was also somewhat different
from the others. One was covered by what looked like sharp spines, another had
multiple arms, and another had tentacles. The fourth one was continually changing its
appearance.
A bolt of lightning arced above the Circle of Harmony and splintered against the
overhead force shield, sending out fragments of electricity that outlined the
hemispherical shield. Everywhere, the air was charged with sparks of static electricity
and twisting feelers of force that could be felt but not seen. Many people tried to run,
but there was no place of haven within the circle.
Something grazed Jan's left arm, but she worriedly held her place. Then Rig
appeared and embraced her from behind. He placed his hands over their growing child.
Somehow, his presence made the ground upon which they stood safe, and so the fear
lifted from Jan; she no longer felt any of the exterior forces that were in motion around
them.
Her Holiness removed her hand from Aiu's forehead; momentarily, the air within
the circle calmed.
'The circle went into spasms at the sight of those things. Definitely a negative
reaction.' thought Jan as she tilted her head back and gave Rig a kiss.
"All is as it was," spoke her Holiness, as her voice tranquilized all within its
range. "There will be no more visualizations today. Tonight, I will meditate upon your
plight," Polira confided to Aiu.
Aiu stood up in a very alert posture and deftly turned a full circle, while her eyes
darted in every direction. "There is another here, who can also help; she has the
influence to ease our pain and the gift of vision!" said Aiu as she pointed at Jan.
"It
is she, the one pregnant with the chosen child."
"She is, Treeshia.
And you are correct," added her Holiness; "she is an
uncommon woman on this sacred world. Be patient; you shall meet her tomorrow!"
"It is amazing--no matter how they twist and turn--that these events always
involve you,” whispered Rig to Jan.
"Not half as amazing to you as to me," she whispered back as she raised her
eyebrows high and then fought to erase the expression from her face that she thought to
be embarrassing; she was visibly stunned by the casualness with which Aiu spoke about
her.
***
In the morning, Jan sat beside Rig and Gianna, as the three of them had a more
relaxed conversation with Aiu and her delegation of Felimorphs and Canimorphs.
They had picked the site of the first human encampment, which had been constructed at
the place where the first explorers had breached the perimeter wall by tunneling under
it. Jan believed that, as an honorary board member of the Central Eugenics Registry,
she could influence the other board members to widen the scope of their jurisdiction to
include Mau and Liroo.
"We have brought many genetic profiles, genealogy charts, and population maps
with us!" added Aiu, as she handed Jan the first large roll of papers.
After she unrolled the bundle, Jan spotted some photographs and pulled them
from the middle of some documents. It was indeed like looking upon some exotic, alien
landscape for the first time. It was a city, but it was not like a human city. Structures in
the form of grey blocks were the only type of architecture, varying only in size and how
they intersected each other.
Jan found the Felimorph genetic maps. They were very crude, but she did not
phrase it that way.
"Probably not accurate enough," asserted Jan; "the Registry at Betelgeuse Station
has much better equipment than you are likely to have on your home world. They will
have to examine at least ten thousand from each of your worlds to get a representative
defect profile. However, corrections are possible, even mandatory in your case, because
of the scope of the original defects!"
It was early in the morning. Jan had just dozed off, after a day of sleeplessness;
then the water broke. The first contractions begin within minutes. She summoned Rig.
He would administer to the birth; not only was he a trained physician, but it was a
tradition, on Urgaya, that the fathers help deliver their own children. Just in case there
were any complications that Rig could not handle, Robberta and Alexan had brought
Dr. Bradford and some of her equipment from Aurora.
There were no complications. The birth was the most painless one for Jan.
During the early morning of the fourteenth day of the seventh month of the year on the
seventh planet, Jan's seventh child (and the seventh disciple to her Holiness) was born.
She was named Karenna.
Rig proudly held Karenna aloft as Gianna came rushing into the room. She
carried a portable viewer. Gianna turned it on, as she spoke at a more-rapid-than-usual
pace, "Look! Look at what is happening outside."
A shimmering green and yellow ring-like aurora hung above the Circle of
Harmony. However, that was not what Gianna was so excited about. A bluish haze
surrounded the perimeter shield, and the first few rays of the pre-dawn light penetrated
the haze to reveal that the area was in motion.
"A new ring of buildings is rising from the ground just beyond the old perimeter
shield," began Gianna excitedly. "The Circle of Harmony is organically expanding
outwards in a symbiotic action to the birth. It's simply miraculous!"
As they watched the events on the surface, Jan embraced Karenna and gave her a
first meal. Someone remarked that the child was unusually quiet; for she had not yet
cried. Moments later, Jan was astonished to realize that Karenna was not just babbling,
but was trying to speak. Of course, without correctly developed vocal chords, she could
not form any recognizable words.
Months passed.
complete
and
natural
Karenna finally spoke.
conversation
in
It was not idle baby chatter, but
Terran
National.
Karenna
asked
questions...endless questions about where she came from, why she was there, details
about Merudhatu and other planets. And she often asked complex questions about
human reality, both in practical and transcendental aspects.
When she was eighteen months old, Jan and Rig took her to Pacifica, where she
was blessed at the Shrine of Shakyamuni. A Trikaya Council overrode the objections of
Jan's family and conferred upon Karenna the blessings of full Columbian citizenship.
Then they went to Urgaya, where Karenna was likewise blessed at Polira's family
shrine.
Upon returning to Merudhatu, they were surprised to find a delegation from the
Commonwealth of Nippon waiting for them.
Three priests had brought gifts for
Karenna. Karenna sorted through these gifts with an apparent child's joy. In an
arbitrary fashion, she kept some items while she tossed others aside. Each time she kept
something, the priests excitedly conferred with each other.
Then they announced that Karenna had passed the test; for the items were not
really gifts, but rather the ones which Karenna had kept had been the prized possessions
of the great twenty-third century prophetess, Miyamoto Akemi. They proclaimed
Karenna to be a karmic incarnation of Miyamoto Akemi. She had come as the late
Suzuki Anagarika had predicted; however, he had not foreseen that she would come in
his place after his death. The winds of karma were exceedingly difficult to read.
* * *
Seven and a half years passed. Victor now lived on Merudhatu, as did Alexan
and Julianna. They already had a daughter, and Julianna was expecting their second
child. Karenna was now nine years old. Although she was exceeding brilliant and
precocious, she had yet to undergo the spontaneous enlightenment that would turn her
into the seventh disciple. Jan was beginning to doubt her Holiness prophecy; however,
everything happened as Polira had foretold. It was in the night. Just after Meru Major
had set, it became apparent that an unprecedented celestial event was taking place.
There was a bright new star in the sky, a supernova. Two hours later, another distant
supernova was discovered.
Karenna looked at the first one, and then at the second, as she walked alongside
her mother. Karenna nearly tripped, but she grabbed her mother's charm, as Jan grasped
her daughter's arm in order to steady her. Karenna paused for a moment, apparently
staring blankly into the sky; then she puzzledly asked whether she had been gone long.
Jan did not understand the question, and it soon became apparent that her daughter was
now different, as if the event had lifted the veil of ignorance from her mind.
"I was with her, mom, but I guess you did not see her."
"Who did you see, dear?" 'I'm almost afraid to ask!'
"The Lady Tara. She was just here a moment ago. I say her and I touched her.
She was radiantly beautiful. She was all-powerful and omniscient. She took my hand
and led me up a celestial staircase that overlooked a great chasm between heaven and
hell. Then we passed through a simple gate into Paradise. The light was intensely
white. It should have blinded me, but I saw many things."
'
"I fear I may have lost my little girl; she is no longer a child. Why don't I ever
see the Lady Tara, rather than those useless visions?' "Please tell me about your
experience, Karenna."
"I see, but I do not entirely understand, mom," began Karenna. "The threads that
bind and create all things, the origination of karma, the arising and dissolution of
conditioned existences, life, death, and rebirth. All is emptiness, yet filled with a
radiant, unborn luminosity. All beings are one, yet we are not the same! The difference
between Man and God is unknown, even unknowable. We exist, and we are bound to
these existences, yet nothing whatsoever has actually ever happened."
"It is magic," said Jan as she tried to contain her astonishment.
"Yes, mother, precisely. It is magic, but there is more. I see part of my future!"
"And...." began Jan nervously.
"I shall join the others beneath the Seat of the Buddhas. But you already knew
this, but could not tell me.
"I will complete the seven, and the awaited teachings of her Holiness will unfold.
Such a time will not come again for almost another two thousand years. When I am
twenty, I will marry Temarpa, and we shall have six enchanted children.
"And I see much about you, mom. You are different, but you never told me this.
You have a difficult path ahead...filled with pain, and death. Oh, mom, I don't want you
to die; I've hardly begun to know you," cried Karenna as she clung to Jan.
"We all must eventually face death.
Without it, birth, existence, rebirth,
and...enlightenment... would not, could not happen." sighed Jan.
"It is necessary, but not before its time! I do not see a lot of time left for you,
mom!"
"It's disturbing, but it's something I can face; besides, I have this feeling that I
will return!" But she thought 'Am I crazy? I can't believe that I actually said that.'
* * *
In a simple initiation before dawn the next day, Karenna was installed as the
seventh disciple. Jan stood far back with Rig, in anticipation that there would also be
an accompanying physical event. But nothing happened...until the first rays of dawn
touched the Seat of the Buddhas. The Wheel of the Law glowed as if it were white-hot.
In their minds, everyone heard the same enigmatic message, emanating from
everywhere but nowhere (at the same time), as if spoken by God.
"At the end of the one-hundred-twenty-eighth dynasty, during the age of
Remella, Kraito the Great, the Prophet, led our people out of karmic bondage to the
promised land, Shambol. Not since then has so important an event occurred here. It is
impossible to cleanse the Universe of Chaos of its inherent evil. Now that evil is
festering again, so Dharmic warriors must be trained to combat it. The Holy One shall
chose these warriors."
'The rainbows! They're back, thick as insects around her Holiness.' observed Jan
to herself.
* * *
Years passed. More pilgrims than ever came to Merudhatu. So many came, that
Jan had sent home for a pair of navigation beacons that would schedule and control all
the traffic. Jan's family and all her personal duties kept her very busy. Throughout this
time, Jan kept trying to establish a rapport with her patron, the Lady Tara.
It was the eve of Karenna and Temarpa's wedding. Jan had been meditating more
intensely than usual, but still without any success. She threw up her hands again and
gave up. 'That which is second nature to Karenna will always elude me.'
"Do not lose faith; your power's are far greater than those of your daughter!"
came a feminine voice into Jan's mind.
Jan looked up to gaze upon a most-beautiful woman whose very being glowed
with a transcendent radiance. Upon her head was placed a silver tiara, the front of
which was graced with a large, fiery diamond. It was as if the entire planet shuddered
when she clasped Jan's hand and plucked her right out of ordinary existence.
'At last, it is actually happening. But what is happening? Is this a dream or a
delusion?' asked Jan, not being sure whether she was communicating by speech or by
thought.
"Your hand: it is so gentle and warm. I have never touched anything so peaceful
and soothing."
"I am neither a dream nor a delusion!" came the response to the question which
Jan had not yet uttered.
As the two of them ascended an ethereal staircase, Jan looked about and
wondered, "And I am really here! Do you exist, Tara? You are the Lady Tara, are you
not? This must be the greatest moment of my life!" Jan said nervously.
"I am known by many names...Tara is one of them. This entire realm is a
visualization of the path upon which your psycho-kinetic stream travels. It has no
inherent reality, and each step is gone the moment that you touch it. Nothing actually
exists here, but nothing has any inherent existence anyway. You do not exist here.
Your mind, your thoughts are reflected here in the instant between beats of your heart.
"And you are merely a manifestation of my own mind, in response to years of
meditation. Am I merely talking to myself?" asked Jan.
"I am such a manifestation, but though we are one, I am not you and you are not
I. I am beyond existence and delusions of self and ego, but I am and I have free will.
Explanations are impossible, but for the sake of simplicity, let's say I am the servant of
the Lord Vajrasattva, who is the nature of the diamond realm beyond mind and thought.
"This realm...I have never heard of it."
"Yes you have. All beings know it by its two and only two non-dualistic
characteristics: unconditional love and compassion."
"This place: it's like the hyper-void. There are no reference points, not even
paradise or hell. Where are we?" asked Jan.
"I already showed it to be your path, and I am here to guide you. Your path is
different from that of most humankind."
"Yes! They call me Treeshia, the karmic outsider. Why do I have to be the one
apart from the mainstream? Why can't I ever just fit in naturally?"
"You are not alone; none of us are ever alone. You have just lost your way. You
have strong bonding with your children and with Rig. Always look to your own. You
will face violence, even death?"
"I know; Karenna has warned me. I am disturbed by her revelations?" Jan
admitted.
"The greatest moment of your life is yet to come. Do not fear death. Death is not
defeat, and it is certainly not the end. But you already know this...that you will return."
"Now I know this isn't real. It's just another delusion. My visions have become
warped!" cried Jan loudly. There was not even a hint of an echo.
"It is time for you to return. In your mind, I will leave two mantras. You will
need these in the dark times ahead.
The first mantra will invoke the grace of
Vajrasattva, to absolve you of the use of violence. You must use this to counteract the
anger and the hatred, which will lead to negative karma and possible rebirth in hell."
"I will refuse to resort to violence!" Jan pleaded.
"The second mantra may only be invoked once. Use it when all is lost. It will
distort all of time and space to grant you a reprieve. However, never forget that the use
of this mantra has a price, and repayment could be severe.
"Lastly, as Rig guards you, you must guard him; in death you must not part. He
must not leave this life without the charm which you are wearing."
Jan was back on Merudhatu. She had returned the instant that Tara had released
her hand. Tears streaked down her cheeks. There was nothing to prove that she had
actually met and talked to Tara.
imagination?' Jan asked herself.
'I do know two new mantras, but are they my
* * *
The marriage of Karenna to her cousin Temarpa was a simple ceremony with farreaching implications. A delegation of Jan's family and a delegation of her Holiness'
family had been sent to Merudhatu. The rift between Jan and her family had been
repaired as if it had never happened, as her mother and father stood beside Jan and Rig
at the ceremony.
Afterwards, Jan was called to the underground shrine room for her last audience
with her Holiness. Jan once again floated in the air facing Polira, held aloft by the
weightless field generated by her Holiness.
"It is time for you to leave this planet," Polira told her solemnly.
"I don't understand," she said tearfully. "This has been like my home. Have I
done something wrong?"
"No! It is the time for departure. You must go forth to prepare for the day of
reckoning. As a warrior of the Dharma, you will seek and study the enemy. Soon we
will begin a new millennium. Not long after that, the confrontation will happen. The
event will not be kind to us," she related sadly.
"Will I die?" asked Jan nervously, remembering Karenna's prediction and her talk
with the Lady Tara.
"Possibly, but I do not know. It will most assuredly consume me, but I have
always known that; for evil has already been whittling away at me like a curse for half a
century. Look at me," She added sadly, "not so long ago, I was so beautiful that suitors
came from far and wide to court me! Whether you live or die, Treeshia, you will also
lose something most precious."
"What is more precious than life?" asked Jan.
"Innocence! You will be tempted by hatred and anger, and you will be forced to
engage in violence. It is a difficult path. You will become an instrument of destruction,
but you must not be consumed by all the passions of anger and hatred."
"I see," replied Jan nervously. "Your Holiness, I do not know whether it actually
happened, but I would swear I had a long talk with the Lady Tara. She warned me of
such things."
"I am not privy to your visions, but there is a way to tell. Did she give you two
mantras: the Mantra of Absolution and the Mantra of Reprieve?"
"Yes...I think."
"Then you, more than any of the others, can walk the path that lies ahead. Not
even I can do such a thing. Once you are at the end of this path, all the mysteries that
puzzle you will be resolved."
Jan repeated the parting moments in her mind again and again. It was in the
evening of August 22, 3985. She and Rig and Aiu had said their farewells and left
Merudhatu to begin their quest. They had not returned since, nor had they had much
success unmasking the enemy or warning nations of the impending crisis. They had
sought to mobilize billions of people. Yet, save for a large cadre in Israel Aleph, they
had only recruited a few hundred thousand to their cause....
* * *
A wailing alarm pulled Jan's thoughts back to the present. All the room lights
returned to medium intensity. Something was wrong. She glanced over at the facsimile
screen. It displayed one short paragraph!
TEMPORAL ANOMALY, CAUSE UNKNOWN
MASSIVE DISTORTION OF TIME AND SPACE
TANGENT WAY OFF COURSE
INTERREGULATOR DAMAGED, REPAIR INITIATED
CURRENT POSITION AND VELOCITY BEING EVALUATED
'I think it has finally happened. Only eighteen days into the new millennium, and
they have made the first move!' sighed Jan.
GLOSSARY
. abhisheka - Anointment; specifically, initiation where the teacher empowers the
student with the transmission of a great teaching.
. ahm - aum; an invocation with multiple symbolic meanings and ritual uses; amen.
. Aiu - Sixth High Queen of the Felimorphs on Basti. She had resolved to lead her
people out of genetic chaos.
. Akshobya - An aspect of the Dhyani (meditation) Buddha of the formless realm;
Primordial Buddha of mirror-like wisdom; overseer of the Eastern Paradise in the Form
Realm; Samantabhadra is his reflexive agent.
. Alexan Franklin - Jan's second child. A planetary engineer and a noted Buddhist
priest.
. allomorphic - Able to exist in more than one form.
. alpha-link - A device that communicates directly with the brain, through proximity to
any nerve, by inducing an alpha-state in a set of sympathetic, genetically-altered brain
cells.
. Amitayous - Amitabha; Amida; an aspect of the Dhyani (meditation) Buddha of the
Formless Realm; Primordial Buddha of discriminating wisdom; overseer of the Western
Paradise (the pure land) in the Form Realm; Ratnapani is his reflexive agent.
. androgyne - A person with hormone-induced and/or machine-induced characteristics
of the opposite sex; a transgendered person, who looks like a member of the opposite
sex, but who usually has not undergone voice transformation or genital re-assignment.
. Andromeda - A constellation of the Earth sky; a common name used to refer to the
galaxy NGC 224 in that constellation, a spiral galaxy over two million light-years from
the milky way galaxy.
. Anne Franklin - Jan's fourth child. Identical twin to Erikka Franklin.
. anthropomorphization - assigning human characteristics to another species; creating a
new species by genetically introducing human characteristics.
. antovert - Heterosexual; showing natural attraction and sexual interest toward
members of the opposite sex. However, the chosen gender of the individual may not be
opposite. See synovert.
. Archela - A non-manufactured world. Sixth and only habitable planet of the star
Urania, noted for its tiny asteroid belts and mineral-rich planets. The inhabitants of
Archela thrive as interstellar merchants.
. Aurora - A manufactured world in South Columbia. Second of eight planets circling
the gas giant Jupiter IV. The birthplace and home of Jannet Franklin.
. axial moment - A moment in history when several independent important events are
conveniently coincident; a moment when (prophesied) past karmic actions are resolved.
. ballast image - A false image of a spaceship, used to fool the telemetry of other
spaceships. It can be generated by a device called a ballast, which responds to telemetry
with false return signals, or it can be generated by powerful field generators such as
those found on Vulture battlecruisers.
. Basti - The main world of the felimorphs. It circles the star Mau.
. battlecruiser - A warship which is much larger and more powerful than a transport.
After the Great War, all such spaceships were destroyed or deactivated. They are not
allowed to enter foreign ports.
. beacon star - A star which has two omni-directional transmitters: one in equatorial
orbit and one in polar orbit. These stations emit digitally encoded signals that contain
the station ID, date, time of the current transmission. Starships which receive these
signals can decode them and compare them to current position, date, and time to get an
accurate fix on their current location. See interregulator.
. Benjamin Dorring - Karlen Franklin's synovert mate.
. Betelgeuse - A moderately luminous red supergiant star 520 light-years from Earth and
572 light-years from Columbia. The location of Betelgeuse Station.
. Betelgeuse Station - The repository of all current and proposed human genetic
information. The home of the Eugenic Registry, the only central body of all the worlds
of mankind.
. bioandrogyne - An androgyne with many machine-induced changes; an androgyne
regardless of origin.
. biogenetecist - A person who designs new genetic changes for the next generation.
These changes are introduced as a pseudo-virus using a hyper-entry probe.
. biomodification - Machine-induced physiological changes to a person's appearance
and bone-structure. These changes are usually permanent, but they are not genetic.
. biosynthetic - Machine-induced replacement to a missing body part or organ. A
computer uses a kind of a DNA-short cut to map the induced growth of a compatible
part that is not genetically identical to the original.
. Brandon retriever special - A deadly weapon invented shortly before the Great War. A
PREXL energy weapon that links into a special set of goggles and is mentally fired
based on an extensive telemetry system. It is self-aiming, and it can fired forward and
aft. It is matched to one user's hands-signature, and will not fire for anyone else. A
torpedo cylinder clips to the underside, and it can fire small torpedoes that are triggered
by the Brandon's PREXL beam. If lost, the weapon will return to its owner upon
command.
. Brewster's planet - A small asteroid in South Columbia onto which the Columbian
fleet of the Great War was smashed.
. Bryson Korning-Franklin - Erikka Franklin's husband.
. Buddha - Any sentient being; an enlightened being; an important being who arrives at
an axial moment to lead mankind; a specific messiah, a very important enlightened
being whose arrival marks an age in the Fortunate Aeon.
. Canimorphs - Anthropomorphized domestic dog, a product of illegal genetic
experiments in the early 29th century.
. Central Eugenic Registry - The agency that oversees the current and proposed genetic
records of mankind. After the collapse of the Terran Federation, the only central
authority left. Not all nations subscribe to the services of this agency, but most do not
want other nations to have better genetic traits.
. chakra - Special circular symbols or symbols in a circle that relate to meditation or
other Buddhist activity, especially as in the Wheel of the Law.
. Columbia - Originally two stars: North Columbia and South Columbia. First reached
during the 25th century. The first manufactured worlds were settled in the 26th century.
The Commonwealth union was finalized during the 40th century, after all planetmaking activity had ceased. Planet-making activity was gradually moved to a
neighboring star, West Columbia, starting during the 38th century
. Commonwealth of Nippon - A group of planets circling the Star Nihon that was settled
by immigrants from Japan.
. conditioned existence - a universe; an underlying (karmic) causal matrix composed of
physical laws, dependent origination of animate life, psychological affinities,
synchronous events, and time-based transformations.
. copper-colored mountain - The home of PadmaKara, in Jambuling, the left satellite
realm of our world.
. Crystal Paradise - The Diamond heaven of Vajrasattva, a place beyond mind and body.
. Darter station - A star system defense vehicle. Darter stations employ a modified
hyperdrive that is best described as a synchronous transmatter network, where each
network node is a darter station. Darter stations are heavily armed, and they move in a
random fashion that effectively creates an invisible defensive shell around a star system.
This type of defense is extremely sophisticated, so only the wealthier commonwealths
and sub-federations can afford them.
. dependent origination - dependent rising; the relativity of all created phenomena; the
(karmic) links which condition the formation and the dissolution all existence in the
Desire Realm.
. Devon Chambers - Jan's son-in-law, married to her daughter Robberta. A starship
engineer. He's an androgyne, who looks exactly like a woman when dressed.
. dharma - That which is; natural, universal truth or law; the teachings or the doctrine of
the Buddha; the second of the Three Jewels, closely linked with the second realm of the
Trikaya; [plural] brief impulses of energy that constitute the universe.
. dimensional stabilization - A necessary feature of starship hyperdrive control
mechanisms. As an object approaches the velocity of light, it's relative dimensions
increase. Faster than the speed of light, relative dimensional size can become erratic,
which could cause a spacecraft to break up.
. Dorjea - Gianna and Tendzin's second child, their second daughter.
. Dr. Edward Warner - A very old scientist, who is a associate of Robberta Franklin.
. Dr. Nina Bradford - Jan's personal physician.
. Dr. Daniel Kyle - An associate of Dr. Bradford.
. Eastern paradise - A Buddhist heaven in the Form Realm, overseen by the Buddha
Akshobya.
. EEUVL - See electron-enhanced ultra-violet laser.
. Ego - The non-existent self that, denying the nondualistic tenets of emptiness and the
essential oneness of all things, seeks to solidify it's own existence. A paradoxical trick
of one's own buddha-nature that, while giving lip service to materialistic existence,
leads one to discover this nature. This process involves many states: (1) form: the
denial of the true egoless state, (2) feeling: a karmic chain of events is set up to divert
attention from the true state, (3) perception: strategies are initiated to prove oneself, (4)
intellect: existence is categorized and built-upon, and (5) consciousness: a fantasized
existence is initiated.
. electron-enhanced ultra-violet laser - Energy tube of a standard, medium power
weapon that exists throughout all the worlds populated by mankind.
. Elenna - the wife of Robberta and Devon's son Thorran.
. emptiness - voidness; one of the four foundations of Buddhism; shunyata; Buddhist
doctrine: the ultimate nature of mind, that all things are without essence, without any
absolute nature of their own. The other foundations are: everything is transitory
(karma), everything is frustrating (suffering), and Nirvana (the natural state) is bliss.
. enlightenment - A technically non-existent state, attainable by but few beings; the
opposite of solidified existence; at-one-ment with the true, unabiding nature of all
things.
. Erikka Franklin - Jan's third child, twin sister of Anne.
. Eugenic Registry - A central council that stores past and current genetic information
for human beings from participating star systems. It also approves future genetic
changes to the next generation. This council was initially formed to make human
beings more universally compatible with hyperdrive and new environments as they
migrated from Earth to inhabit the galaxy.
. Felimorph - Anthropomorphized domestic cat, a product of illegal genetic experiments
early in the 29th century.
. first day stasis - A planned human genetic alteration: a woman has the conscious
ability to sense conception and to stop any further development of the fetus. This
facilitates the introduction of the next approved set of genetic changes.
. General Chensig - Commander of the Urgayan Defense Forces.
. Genesis planet-maker - The largest class of starship ever built. They are so large, that
they must use a low-number hyperdrive harmonic to build a warp field around their
bulk. Once they reach a star system, they are designed to move planets, to create new
planets from debris, to rapidly age new planets, and to seed new planets to get them
ready for habitation. Though these machines have regeneration capability, they are still
worn out after making four to five new worlds.
. Gianna Kushkana - Her holiness' third child. First child from husband number three,
Osel. Gianna is an extremely brilliant, gifted empath. She has a younger brother,
Kronyn. Her husband is Tendzin Wangyal, who was a pilgrim from Epika.
. Great War - During the first two weeks of November 3683, the Terran Federation sent
out all its fleets as a show of force to all its distant colonies. During the next two weeks,
a series of incidents led to outright rebellion. The violence escalated until
September 3684, when most of the fleet had either been disabled or destroyed. On
September 20, 3684 the Terran Federation collapsed, and the war ended.
. harmonic matrix - The solution of the hyperspace equations for a given harmonic
index; the electronics and field generators that create the hyperdrive warp field; the fifth
dimensional symbolic graphic diagram that defines the hyperdrive control interface.
. Harold Carnes - Chief of Security at Perimeter Station II. An androgyne.
. hazard suit - An all hazard suit; a pressure suit that contains an integral life-support,
telemetry, and propulsion system, plus it is covered with a self-repairing web-like force
shield generator.
. heavens - The numerous Buddhist paradises, all of which are in the Form Realm and
higher, beyond the Desire Realm of human existence.
. hells - In Buddhist teachings, there are eight hot hells, eight cold hells, and numerous
miscellaneous hells or purgatories. These are the lowest states of existence, created as a
result of the excesses of evil or unwholesome karmic action.
. heptagon - A seven-sided geometric figure; the shape of the platforms on which the
Lords of Creation built their shrines.
. Her holiness (H.H.) - An honorary title for a female Buddha.
. HLE - See Hyper Light Energy.
. Hyper Light Energy - The faster-than-light energy beam employed in the ultimate
weapon. It has a range of almost one light-year. At that distance, accuracy should be
almost impossible, but circumstances of extended relativistic physics make the weapon
extremely accurate.
. hyper-entry probe - A device that is used to enter almost any local object via the fifth
dimension, without any damage to the surface of the object. Dimensional enhancement
is used to enlarge the view. As a medical instrument, it is used to attach the pseudovirus containing new genetic information to an embryo in stasis.
. hyper-void - The name applied to simulated hyperspace, as that entered by a starship
during hyperdrive. True hyperspace resists entry by physical objects and therefore
cannot actually be entered. The hyper-void is a velocity envelope that is generated as a
result of a harmonic solution to the Sutter-Grimwald equations. The warp field maps
the physical coordinates of a starship into this envelope.
. hyperdrive - The drive system consisting of the harmonic matrix, the warp field, and
the generated velocity envelope. For a given harmonic index, the ratio of envelope
velocity to the velocity of light is a constant. Hyperdrive velocities are therefore
quantized by index. Starship impeller engines are not used during hyperdrive; they are
only used for sublight motion. The self-regenerating interregulator penetrates the
hyperdrive velocity envelope, enabling a starship to translate its location in the hypervoid to its position in real space.
. hyperspace - The fifth dimension; the instantaneous, binding dimension of the
universe; a non-existent place that can only be entered mathematically.
. IHD - See induced harmonic disruption.
. in-warp - The transition from sublight to hyperdrive. The universe appears to warp
away from the direction of travel.
. induced harmonic disruption - The beam of a disrupter weapon, which causes
whatever it hits to destructively oscillate.
. interregulator - A forward projection of a starship that is used for guidance. It is a selfregenerating telemeter that interfaces with real space while a starship is in the hypervoid. It reads beacon signals and monitors spatial density.
. Israel Aleph - Israel Alpha; the technological Commonwealth of Israel, as opposed to
New Israel, a somewhat less-advanced religious state.
. Issa - One of the many names given to Jesus outside of Israel.
. James Fletcher-Franklin - Anne Franklin's husband.
. Jannet Franklin - The heroine of the story. She is an astrophysicist, galactic historian,
honorary member of the Eugenics Board, and prominent Buddhist visionary. A karmic
interloper in our universe.
. Julianna Restin-Franklin - Alexan Franklin's wife.
. Jupiter IV - A gas giant planet in South Columbia. It had been moved closer to the
star, as a stable platform for the eight earth-like planets that circle it.
. Kabul - A town in Afghanistan.
. Karenna - The daughter of Jan and Kronyn; the seventh disciple of her holiness, the
Mahakarmin.
. Karlen Franklin - Jan's fifth child, her synovert son. He is also an androgyne, who has
undergone voice transformation.
. karma - Action; action and the result of the action; all of one's deeds and their
unresolved consequences; the hidden universal energy behind all existence, a cyclical
process of creation and destruction followed by creation, where every link is bound to
numberless past links, and the whole is governed by associations of cause and effect;
the law of cause and effect that leads to rebirth; actions leading to rebirth may be
wholesome or unwholesome, meritorious or non-meritorious, or ineffectual; egoless
action leads to liberation.
. Kosh - The home star system of the Canimorphs.
. Kraito - A great prophet late in the history of the Lords of Creation.
. Kranmuk - Son of Taramuk; an interloper in our universe, who came to meet Jesus.
. Liroo - The main world of the Canimorphs, in the star system of Kosh.
. Lords of Creation - The creators of a vast galactic civilization that flourished from
eighteen million years ago to about seven million years ago. After embarking upon
their greatest achievement, they vanished without any trace except for their shrine
worlds. Most of their technology is undecipherable, and nothing else is known of them
except for a few names.
. Louise Martin - Captain of the Columbian starliner Amber Star.
. Lumbini - The birthplace of the Buddha Shakyamuni in Nepal; the name of a Buddhist
sect from Urgaya.
. luminousity - A non-empty aspect of emptiness, where things are seen directly, as they
actually are, but the seer is reflexively totally, clearly visible also.
. Mahakarmin - The person of great karma, the honorary name given to Polira, the first
woman Buddha.
. Maitreya - The bringer of loving kindness; the coming Buddha of the next age; the
fifth Buddha of the Fortunate Aeon; Maitreya's current residence if the Paradise of Joy.
. mandala - A structure that unifies many diverse elements into one, through the
experience of meditation. A magic circle around a diagram that symbolizes the
universe; a circled diagram used in Buddhist services; a symbolic diagram of a deity's
realm of existence.
. mantra - A magical series of words recited in Buddhist chants; a way of transmuting
energy using sound.
. Mara - The personification of evil; the tempter; over-evaluated ideas.
. Mau - The Egyptian word for Cat; the star system of the Felimorphs.
. memory trace - A recording of a person's current thought patterns transferred to a
crystal cartridge. Although the recording is usually made of active conscious thought
patterns, unconscious thought patterns during sleep can also be recorded.
. Meru - In Buddhist teachings, the center of the universe; a star system in which the
Lords of Creation built a shrine world.
. Merudhatu - In the realm of Meru; the third shrine world of the Lords of Creation;
seventh planet encircling the star Meru.
. Milakarma - The first Buddha to come to Merudhatu after human beings first
discovered it. The Buddha of peace, who came to Merudhatu late in the twenty-fifth
century.
. Miyamoto Akemi - A twenty-third century prophetess in the Commonwealth of
Nippon.
. mutagenetic - Able to increase the frequency of occurrence of mutagens; able to
induce a self-mutating state.
. Nebu - Nebo; a sacred mountain in Kashmir.
. New Israel - The other Israel, as opposed to Israel Aleph; a competing star system
founded by orthodox Jews.
. New Britannia - The star system built by immigrants from the British Isles.
. non-dualistic - Doctrine that Samsara (cyclical phenomenal existence) and Nirvana
(the natural state) are an essential unity, differentiated only in our minds.
. North Columbia - One of the primary stars composing the Commonwealth of
Columbia. Sixteen manufactured worlds circle North Columbia.
. null-detection field - A cloaking field that renders a starship difficult to see or detect;
however, the intense telemetry of a battlecruiser can see though such a field.
. organigenner - A device which can, using a special DNA schematic, approximate
many organic substances (including food) by converting carbon-based organic debris.
it cannot create living organisms.
. Orion wasteland - A vast, dark debris field of gas and dust near Belelgeuse that was
very hazardous to early space travelers.
. out-warp - The process of leaving the hyper-void. As the warp field collapses, the
view of the universe seems to rush at a starship.
. Owyhee - Planet number five circling Jupiter IV in South Columbia.
. Pacifica - A planet in North Columbia.
. PadmaKara - Padmasambhava; Eighth century buddhist who brought the teachings
from Northern India to Tibet; the patron saint of Tibetan Buddhism, considered to be a
second incarnation of the Buddha Shakyamuni.
. Palmyra - A star system settled by Mormon pioneers early in the twenty-seven century.
. Pangaea - A manufactured world near Earth, the only place where the remaining nonextinct animals of Earth can live in a world almost devoid of human beings.
. paradise - A Buddhist heaven, in the Form or Formless Realms, where existent is more
sublime and enlightened in the Realm of Desire, the realm of phenomenal existence.
. Paradise of Joy - The Tushita heaven, in the Form Realm. The abode of the coming
Buddha, Maitreya.
. Perimeter Station II - A large starship docking station circling South Columbia.
. phenomenal existence - Ordinary human existence. Existence viewed as a series of
(physical) events, which seem random and over which one has no apparent control, that
seem to drive one's destiny. These events are puncutated by birth, life, suffering, death,
and rebirth. Because of karmic conditioning, these events have the force of reality,
though they have no absolute self-nature of their own.
. Polira Kushkana - The given name of her holiness, the Mahakarmin.
. PREXL - See proton-enhanced X-ray laser.
. Princess Salima - One of the children Aiu; sister of Rhubar.
. Princess Draget - A member of the royal family of the Canimorphs.
. proton-enhanced X-ray laser - A very compact and powerful hand weapon energy
projector tube.
. pseudo-virus - A chemical means of carrying genetic changes to be applied to a fetus
in stasis.
. psycho-kinetic stream - The uncreated, non-existent nature of living existence; a
stream of action that has identity and can be reborn, but has no absolute self-nature;
when viewed as a particle, it is seen as a number of different beings, but when viewed
as a wave-form, it is seen as a karmic flow that is constantly splitting and transforming.
. pulsed hyperdrive - The drive mechanism of early starships. It was always slower than
the ninth harmonic, and it was pulsed in order to reduce interference with passengers'
metabolism and as an aid in navigation.
. Quelk - A species of allomorphic, mutagenic beings in which individual variances can
be marked and some of which are always in a state of transformation. Some carry many
types of genetic plague, and none of them have any respect for any other species.
. rad organ - A genetically added organ that is located in the right side of the body next
to and towards the rear of the stomach. It senses many types of radiation and induces a
type of nausea in the presence of lethal radiation fields.
. rebirth - The opposite of death; the re-establishment of the links of the psycho-kinetic
stream with a body; a sequence of temporary states followed by a more stable state of
existence; an ongoing but nonobvious process whereby the links to the body are
reestablished from moment to moment by the psycho-kinetic stream.
. refuge vows - Vows made in the presence of a Buddhist master or teacher to become a
Buddhist or to reaffirm one as a Buddhist. These vows include: I take refuge in the
Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha, plus other vows that
my be a prerequisite of a particular Buddhist master.
. remote probe - A small robot probe that collects telemetry information for its nearby
parent spacecraft. If the parent is in null-detection mode, the probe can be used and
sacrificed without revealing the location of that spacecraft.
. repliscanner - A device that can produce an exact duplicate of a non-organic object in
two steps. First, it scans the object to produce a schematic; then it uses that principle of
self-repair circuitry to make a duplicate from the raw materials.
. Rhubar - Son of Aiu; crown prince of the Felimorphs.
. Rigdzin (Rig) Kuskana - Her holiness' fourth child; second child from husband
number three, Osel; younger brother of Gianna; the most-gifted of all her holiness'
children; consort to Jan and father of her seventh child; master of the yoga of power.
. Robbert Deniker - Jan's husband. While president of Aurora, he and his entire party
were assassinated. Jan was the only survivor.
. Robberta Franklin - Jan's first child, a biogenetecist. Husband of Devon Chambers.
. sangha - The third of the three jewels; the community of Buddhist practitioners.
. Seat of the Buddhas - A throne in the circle of harmony on Merudhatu. The throne is
located in the shadow of the giant wheel of the law,
. servotug - A type of subtransport that has several multi-functional servo arms at its
forward and aft sections.
. Shakyamuni - Sage of the Sakya tribe; the Buddha of our age; Prince Siddhartha, the
Buddha, who was born in Lumbini in 563 B.C.;
having been enlightened about the age of 40, he symbolically turned the wheel three
times, dispensing three levels of teaching about the nature of truth, morality, and
existence.
. sheared neutron field - A type of energy projector that created and fires high speed
neutron.
. shield buster - An intrusive energy device that is designed to burn out a force shield.
. SHNEF - See sheared neutron field.
. shrine - A Buddhist altar, dedicated to all beings, around which services and
meditation is performed. It usually contains an image of Shakyamuni Buddha or one of
the primordial Buddhas, sacred ornaments or vessels, and pictures of one or more
Buddhist teachers or masters. On Merudhatu, as constructed by the Lords of Creation,
the shrine consists of a throne and image of the Wheel of the Law atop a hexagonally
shaped platform.
. shrine room - A room containing a shrine.
. SLE - See sub-light energy.
. South Columbia - Sister star system to North Columbia, pat of the Commonwealth of
Columbia. Fourteen manufactured worlds circle the star.
. starliner - A passenger starship, small transport class.
. Sub-light energy - A sublight energy projector, as class of powerful weapons found on
starships, planetary ground defenses, and on Darter stations.
. subtransport - A class of small service spacecraft that do not have hyperdrive.
. Sunni - The largest branch of the Islamic faith.
. Sutter-Grimwald equations - The pivotal set of over-defined equations that describe
the hyper-void version of hyperspace (through many harmonic indices) and make
hyperdrives, transmatters, hyper-messaging, and HLE weapons possible.
. Suzuki Anagarika - The Buddhist master from the Commonwealth of Nippon who was
supposed to become the seventh disciple to her holiness, but he was killed when two
starliners collided on approach to Merudhatu.
Sync-ship – A spaceship that can create a quantum defensive shell around a star. It is
invisible to normal telemeters, and it can nearly instantaneously defend against hostile
intruders anywhere within the shell.
. synovert - Homosexual; A person whose sexual attraction is to members of the same
sex. However, the chosen gender of the person may not be the same. See antovert.
. Tactical chamber - The large hemispherical command chamber of a Vulture
battlecruiser. The captain's location is half-way between the floor and the zenith up the
curving overhead arc. In tactical mode, the floor vanished and all of space can be seen,
also duty stations are only visible when one is standing close to a duty station.
. Tangent - The former Columbian command ship of the Great War, willed to Jan by her
maternal ancestor known respectfully as Grandmother Franklin.
. Tara - An aspect of the Dhyani (meditation) Buddha of the Formless Realm;
Primordial Buddha of all-accomplishing wisdom; the goddess of mercy; overseer of the
Northern Paradise in the Form Realm; her reflexive agent is Visvapani.
. Temarpa - The third child of Gianna and Tendzin, who eventually marries his cousin
Karenna.
. temporal stabilization - An aspect of hyperdrive that forces time to mark off slightly
fast in order to prevent the biological conflicts of time reversal.
. Tendzin Wangyal - The husband of Gianna. He came to Merudhatu as a young
pilgrim and decided to stay.
. Teressa Lindsay - Commander of the Columbian Defense Forces.
. Terran National - A synthesized galactic language created from several Earth
languages. A portion of it was later genetically preprogrammed into human beings.
. Terran Federation - The original name for the nation that Earth created during the early
exodus to the stars. Once humanity had spread out over vast distances and created
many new worlds (size and composition replicas of Earth), the central organization
become unwieldy. The Terran Federation collapsed during the Great War.
. Thorran Chambers-Franklin - Jan's first grandchild; the son of Robberta and Devon.
. Three Jewels - A variance of the Buddhist trinity: the Buddha, the dharma, and the
sangha as an integral unit.
. Time Twister - A weapon created when an aimed hyperdrive warp field is not properly
closed and there is no temporal stabilization, because time is purposely and forcibly
driven backwards. It creates a most agonizing way to die and was banned by mutual
agreement, especially since it was found that interaction with another, specially
balanced warp field would cause a temporal collision in the warp field generator,
leading to an explosion.
. time travel - The Sutter-Grimwald equations once and for all proved that backwards
time travel was not possible without disastrous biological consequences. These were
not caused so much by paradoxes but by collisions with like forward moving processes.
However, it was later shown that there was a sequence that would avoid such problems
if a time vehicle were constructed that could travel in a dimensional offset. But such a
time vehicle created new problems, because it was found out that it could go back no
more than about ten thousand years. The further back such a vehicle would go, the
more garbled the universe outside the vehicle would become. Complex telemetry
equipment would be required to reconstruct the view and for extra-vehicular activity of
a backwards trip of just a few hours.
. transmatter - A machine that allows travel from one place to another without any
apparent motion taking place. A transmatter works via hyperspace, with a maximum
range of about one half light-year. The non-entrant feature of hyperspace is used as an
advantage. A sending chamber and a receiving chamber are both required.
. transport - A standard class of starship that has hyperdrive. A transport is large
enough to house all the necessary mechanical parts, but not so large as to make it
difficult to generate a warp field.
. treeshia - An Urgayan word meaning the outside'. An honorary name given to Jan by
the Mahakarmin.
. Trikaya Council - A Columbian organization composed of priests and lay Buddhists
that makes non-binding decisions on matters outside the realm of the physical sciences
and the written law.
. trikaya - The Buddhist trinity; relating to the three basic realms of existence: (1) the
Desire Realm (Nirmanakaya) of cyclical phenomenal existence, featuring the lowest
hell as the most solidified state of existence, (2) the Form Realm (the dream realm,
Sambhogakaya), featuring countless Buddhist paradises, and (3) the Formless Realm
(Dharmakaya), featuring the most sublime kinds of existence. Closely linked to the
three jewels.
. Urgaya - A star system comprised of seven manufactured worlds; home world of her
holiness, the Mahakarmin.
. Vaishaka - The day of the birthday celebration of the Buddha Shakymuni.
. vajra - A diamond; a scepter that has a symbolic image of a diamond at one or both
ends; a thunderbolt symbol which represents the force of adamantine truth. Two vajras
are often crossed to form a double vajra.
. Vajrasattva - The diamond being; primordial wisdom; the essence that is personified
by the Dhyani Buddhas.
. Vedanta - The sixth and largest of the orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, founded
by the great eight century teacher, Shankara.
. Victor Franklin - Jan's sixth child, born just before her husband was assassinated.
. visualization - A (karmic) sympathetic image of past events associated with a person's
psycho-kinetic stream that can be induced to appear on the image of the Wheel of Law
on Merudhatu.
. Vulture tandem battlecruiser - A deadly class of starship, which is so large that it relies
of its conglomeration of special geometric shapes in order to generate a warp field
around its bulk. These battlecruisers are designed to operate in tandem, in a cluster of
six. When properly positioned, linked fields make the six ships act as one. While
linked, the ships are invisible and a non-existent virtual ship is created at the center of
the cluster.
. warp generator - A mechanism inside a starship that, through devices mounted on
short pylons around a starship, generates the warp field that creates the hyper-void.
. West Columbia - A new colony of the Commonwealth of Columbia, around a star over
one and a half light-years from North Columbia and South Columbia.
. Western Paradise - The buddhist heaven overseen by the primordial Buddha
Amitayous. It features the elimination of impediments to attaining enlightenment.
. Wheel of the Law - A symbol of Buddhist teachings, the wheel is (symbolically)
turned each time a major set of teachings are given.
. Yeshia - A daughter of Gianna and Tendzin.