Subject: Grail: "The Great Brightness" - 'Fright-mare"

<Stardate 47307.30 - 23:50 hrs>

<Ramin's quarters (or must I say Ramin's subconscious?)>

It was clear. The sun spotted right upon everything in the region. Not a single cloud there. Somehow, the green skies looked better than any other day. Nowhere in Thairia could an artist portrait such a landscape.

The Shitanni mountains lied to the west, at some two hundred gilli from there (1) and the Oflode River just a few gilli to the north, crossing eastward the Anaruna valley. Oku had spent a couple of summers here with his grandparents during his childhood, but then he hadn't seen a landscape so beautiful.

Oku found himself in the middle of the town. The descending road (the town was in a hill) connected the ancient highway and the ruins of Anaruna on top of the hill. Well, Oku was in the middle of the road.

Suddenly, he looked up. He found the ruins were not ruins anymore, but it seemed as if that was a fact, as if the Anaruna castle had been erected again, or was never torn down by the Juressians. Oku felt a need to go there.

So, he walked to the castle and entered the 10-fola door (2), which was made of wood, of a variety of wood like Earth's cedar. Then he lloked back, only to see that the town was larger, like a major city, but primitive in architecture and technology.

Oku entered the castle and found himself into a kind of lobby. There, at the center was a wall, with a balcony. From the balcony, to each side, a stairway ran down. In the center, a banner of the Anaruna Kingdom was displayed, hanging from the very balcony. The ceiling was very high, though. The stone-made construction looked so new from the inside...

The windows were too small to let light to get into the lobby, but it was quite illuminated. It seemed it had its natural light. Then a strange sound came from the balcony. A voice, saying "come, Oku, come".

Oku took one of the stairways and went up in a matter of seconds to reach the balcony. From there he tried to follow the voice. Oku stopped a moment to look at himself. He had the Starfleet uniform on. He had a tricorder, but a 22nd-Century one. Big, uncomfortable. He, nevertheless, took it and scanned the place. Curiously, it spoke. "there is one lifesign on the room to the left" Oku just said "Thanks" and obeyed the instructions.

He entered the room. There was a man, some 30 boori old (3). Young and muscular, he was wearing an armor. An Anaruna armor, from an alloy of iron with sand (the first attempts of making steel in Thairia) called Bun-dara (hard iron). The man also had a sword hanging from his waist.

"O visitor, couldst thou tell me the time?" the armored asked, galantly.

Oku looked at his digital watch, which marked 16:00 sharp. "It's noon" Oku replied (4).

The man stared at Oku for a while. Then said:

"Ah, lad, I know thee. You are the Doctor"

"I am the Doctor" Oku replied, but quite unsure of what he was saying.

"Then thou hath to see for the Kerestians in the town. The T'Nek has told me to tell this to thee."

Oku knew that with "Kerestians" he meant "peasants" and with "T'Nek" he meant "King", but in a dream any association can appear.

"May the Elders of Truth be with you, Knight" Oku said

"So be it, Doctor"

Then Oku found himself in a large hospital, like the General Practice Hospital at Io (Sol V-C) and it seemed the intern (senior) medical students were having work to do.

"Dr. Ramin, glad you're back" a voice replied. It was Nurse Aardsen, from Tycho City (Sol III-A), who helped Oku several times in his own internship there. "We have an outbreak on Earth"

Oku looked her with inquiring eyes. She answered:

"The Borg have come and infected the air with something they call K'Pla, but the Borg died in a starship accident. They knew the cure, but we can't ask them."

"What are these patients?" asked Oku

"These are the infected Earthlings. They are to be called Kerestians. We have a hard time because their internal temperature is coming down to freezing, and they have ten years of life left if we don't do something"

"I know" replied Oku "But I don't know what to do"

"You know. Just try. The T'Nek said you can"

Oku understood "Chief Doctor" for T'Nek.

"Well, let's see".

Then Oku grabbed his ancient tricorder and scanned the room. The device spoke "they have the K'Pla you discovered. You go cure them".

Oku went to one of the patients. This one was lying on a bed, and had his face turned to the opposite side of the one Oku was standing. When Oku put his hand in the patient's shoulder, a monstrous, dark, demonic face turned, with a snake tounge shaking and hissing. Oku frightened.

The demonic face spoke "You dare to face me, Ramin? You say you know me, though! I am the K'Pla, and yes, you know me little. I challenge you. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Then he spit a green slime out, which fell on Oku's chest.

Oku just yelled, loud.

---------------

Sitting straight, sweating around, yelling and then breathing fast, adrenaline high up, face red, and blankets to the floor; that's how Oku found himself when he woke up suddenly. He looked around to make sure he was safe, aboard the Grail, and not slimed by a... monster.

He stood up, went to the replicator and asked "Computer, please, Earth whisky, black-label, on the rocks. And tell me the time"

As the replicator shirred and whirled, the computer replied "The current time is: Oh four hundred thirty seven hours"

Oku took the glass and drunk from it steadily. Then he left the glass in the replicator. It dematerialised as Oku went to his bed again. Of course, he fell asleep again.

Alfonso aka Oku Ramin

(1) 1 gilli = 1,28 km

(2) 1 fola = 0,78 m

(3) 1 boori = 1 Thairian year = 302 Earth days

(4) Thairian days have 32 hours: 1 Thairian hour = 70 Earth minutes