Subject: Grail: "Unexplored Spaces" - "Am I dead?"

(continued from "Poor Taralak")

Oku Ramin lay there, unconscious at SickBay's bright floor. At least his

body. His soul was somewhere else.

Oku found himself walking through an aisle, bright as sunlight, white

walls separated each other enough to keep three men lined shoulder to

shoulder. The walls were also white, bright; and tall, tall as a small

tree. No ceiling was covering the aisle, but some bright sunlight with

no star emitting it. Smooth, perfectly smooth at touch. Oku touched the

wall to his right. Smooth enough for rubber to slip down.

At the end of the corridor there was a door. A bright door, also white.

But the door had nothing to open it, nor any proximity mechanism. That

was true because Oku was close enough for doors to open but it seemed it

was only a one-flap door. Oku felt some need to touch the door. He did.

Immediately, the door vanished, revealing a garden. Guess who was in the

middle of that garden. Yes, the man in the white dress and

white-bearded.

Oku stared at the man. He returned his eyes to Oku, emanating some kind

of peaceful sensation. Oku felt peace. The man opened his arms in a

gesture of "Look around". Oku couldn=B4t just leave the old guy's eyes,

but after a while he did. And he saw.

He saw a garden, as I said. But no garden even in Risa or Beta Gotara

III could ever be compared to this one. It was huge, just as if it never

ended, or occupied a whole planetary region, so the horizon was not

enough limit for the size. To the four winds, endless. It seemed as if

the corridor he was just a few moments ago were never there, but the

door, rematerialized after Oku trespassed.

Flowers were colorful, varied, and trees were beautiful. Birds sang

undescriptable melodies, just as if they spoke each of them one of the

languages in the Universe. Some quadruped mammals ran happily through

the endless Eden. A river crossed the garden from side to side (to Oku's

reference), and the old guy was just at the other side. The river was

narrow, some 3 meters. The water was clear as Orionii glass, and small

fish swam through its running waters. The spectacle itself was

overwhelming. But Oku returned his sight to the old man.

"Why?" asked Oku, shyly.

"You are just visiting, my dear Oku" replied the man, with a smile in

his face. It seemed the old guy had pleasure in answering Oku's doubts.

"It's not your time, little one. Not yet. You still have a mission to

fulfill."

Oku stared at the white-bearded man. He felt he was in the Gundara, the

Holy House for the dead, according to Thairian religion, but the man had

just told him it wasn't his "time". He just couldn't get it. He believed

in the "call" Dosha makes to those who reached their "time" in life. But

he was at the Gundara without being called, or that's what he thought.

The old man perceived Oku's thoughts. Then he replied:

"Oku, you ARE inside the Holy Gundara, or Nirvana, Eden, Olympus... the

name doesn't matter. The thing you must know is that you are not here by

chance. I've brought you just to tell you something from your father."

His father? Oku has had a father almost twenty years ago, but he died in

a Horusian revolution serving as a Starfleet Medical Officer by that

time. If his father was here, he woudn't be surprised. But.. a message?

"But let's make him say..." continued the old man "...what he has to say

to you."

Then a spark of light appeared next to the old man. It grew and started

to take shape. Then it got bigger and more humanoid. Then the face

became familiar. It WAS Oku's father, just as he remembered him. The new

man, black-bearded, tall, red-eyed, and sweet as no Thairian could have

been to Oku ever, smiled and spoke:

"Hello, my son. I am glad to see you."

Oku couldn=B4t believe it. He couldn't speak.

Oku's father started to walk towards Oku. He crossed the river just by

walking over it. His clothes were also white. Oku knew that white

clothes in the Gundara meant excelence of life and purity of soul during

the past life, so he was glad, at least...

Oku's father spoke then, being a meter away from Oku:

"My dear son, why are you ruining your life? Hatred has woven its web

around your heart, and you are trying to get it out the wrong way. You

don't need to torture yourself with those thoughts."

"But" Oku replied " You were killed by Horusians, those..."

"Not their fault. Not every Horusian. Just a few. Three in fact. They

are now reincarnated as Romulans and are imprisoned in a Klingon camp.

They are learning their lesson. As for me, don't worry. If I haven't

hated those three, why do you hate three billion?"

Oku had no words. Just cried. Like a baby.

His father approached and hugged him. He felt as peace in its purest

meaning flooded his soul.=20

"Crying heals the soul, son. Release the guilt." replied Oku's father.

Then he released Oku, just to turn around and point somewhere in the

front horizon.

"See those people? Do you recognize them?"

Oku looked and feared the worst. A mass, a big crowd of white souls,

men, women, elders, children, all white, smiling to Oku. He knew who

they were. Some two million souls, killed by his negligence.

The oldest (or wisest, because in Gundara a white, long beard meant

wisdom) came to Oku and said to him:

"We forgive you. We love you. It's not your fault. We understand you"

Oku fell down to his knees, crying loudly. He felt how the two million

souls projected the Universal Love itself to him, forgiving his past

deeds. Oku cried. He realized how his tears made a little hole in the

ground, getting deeper and deeper as he cried. Then, as he stopped

crying, the hole closed itself.

"Your tears carried your chains" Oku's father said, "now you're free"

"Free?"

then everyone began to fade and turn into sparks. A voice, the older

man's one, said "We will be with you to protect you and guide you until

you return here. Love to you"

Then everyone went into sparks, which gathered and flashed out like a

falling star. Only the old man who was there at the first place remained

there, pointing the door. It was shining. Oku got the message: go back.

Oku cleaned his tears and started to walk through the garden to the

door. But when he was there he turned around and said "thanks Dosha".

"Thank you for letting you own Dosha heal your heart, Oku, my little

one" replied.=20

Oku touched the white door. This time the door vanished and Oku was

vacuumed inside, to some sort of whirlwind or wormhole or sort of.

The next thing he felt was a hypospray in his shoulder and a voice,

male, some fifty years, saying "We got him! We got him back!", a female

voice saying "systems at 53 percent and stabilizing", some "pupillar

reflex gaining intensity" as a gentle hand pulled up his eye lash. That

maneuver made Oku see he was at old SickBay again. He tried to speak:

"D... Doctor"

The female voice replied "Doctor Ramius! He's trying to say something"

Oku heard steps toward him. The male voice said "Dr. Ramin, what

happened?"

"K... Kerestians have the... cure to... Dosha told me..."

The last thing he remembered was a hypospray in his left shoulder and

the voice speaking "Rest now, speak later".

Alfonso aka Oku Ramin