EPILOGUE-CHAPTER 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, spiralling 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. Atop it, stood the Lord PadmaKara and the Lord MilaKarma, side-by-side. They spoke in unison in a thunderous voice:"

* * *

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 me 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 of 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 afterall.

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 on, 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 hyperdrives, 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 hundreds of millions 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, possibly unknowable, stakes. 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. Worst of all, there are beings who 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. Who are these aliens? How do we deal with them."

"Even I can do no more than basically sense their presence. 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 those of 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 stardestroyers?"

"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, 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!"