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 that 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 unparalled 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 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 tunnelling 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 always helped 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 her 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.  Karenna finally spoke.  It was not idle baby chatter, but complete and natural conversation in 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 again 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 direct 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 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 will chose these warriors."

      'The rainbows!  They're back, thick as insects around her Holiness,' observed Jan.

                          *  *  *

      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.  Explanation is 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.  'I do know two new mantras, but are they my imagination?' Jan asked herself.

                       *  *  *

      The marriage of Karenna to her cousin Temarpa was a simple ceremony with far-reaching 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.

      Afterward, Jan was called to the underground shrine room for her last audience with her Holiness.  Jan 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.