20/9/1993
WAR
FAIR ?
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"H |
elen,
where are you ? Will you
come here ?" shouted
mum . Helen abandoned her reading
and went upstairs
to her mother . She was
asked to help
her unload the
shopping from the car.
When that
was done Helen
went back to
the basement where she
was housed. It gave
her some privacy
in that chaotic house
where five children
and five adults lived .
Back downstairs
she put away
her book and
set the room up in a
fashion ready for her
daily meditation. She
drew the blinds , lit some candles
and incense sticks and put
on relaxing music . It
would help her
forget about
the horrible news
they had received
the previous day. One of her cousins had been seriously injured in
a recent battle on
the war front .
Half way
through her meditation
the music stopped after a
bang. Helen opened her eyes
to search for
the cause , subconsciously
expecting Emma , her youngest sister. Instead she saw herself in her room , but looking different. There was
light pouring in
from above and all her furniture
had disappeared. She even
found herself
floating above the
floor.
Knowing her meditation
normally put her
in a
She ascended
to where she
expected the source
to be. She rose
up to where
the ceiling was
meant to be . There was
nothing . Further up , where the
rooms above on the
ground , first and second
floor were meant
to be, that did
not change .
About four
hundred yards up
from ground she
saw something . A
dark figure stood
on a cloud . It
resembled a human form
dressed in a
cloak . It was
around a hundred yards
from Helen .
She floated forward . The
figure became clearer . It was truly
a human form , with
long red hair
hanging from its back . It turned
as Helen got
nearer . Helen could see a
tall woman fairly
beautiful standing in
front of her wearing
a brown cloak .
As Helen
approached the woman
put out her
arms and went forward
to greet her . "Welcome , my dear . I've
been waiting
for you . Will you
come with me ?" she offered, taking
Helen's hand and
leading her still
further up .
*
|
A |
s they
rose Helen could
see nothing but
the brilliant
light
increasing gradually .
After what seemed like just one moment
the woman stopped
outside a door .
She knocked on the
door and pushed it open
propelling Helen
forward . Helen
hesitated and looked
back to find the woman had vanished
like a puff of smoke . Helen went through .
She entered a vast room . There were many people , each occupied
with their own
work . Some were swimming
in the pool ,
some others were flying in
and out of
the other doors .
She could not see the
other end of
the room .
Moving through numbers
of happy people Helen was
stopped by a
young man . "Helen
?..I thought so . This way ." he said
grabbing her hand .
He flew
her through the
masses skilfully and
got her to the
other end of
the room . There he
guided her to a
lady sitting on
some sort of
a throne . The lady
waved her hand and Helen's
guide left .
In
a deep , masterful voice
the lady said "Helen , I
welcome you on
behalf of my
people . I
trust your
journey here was quite pleasant ?"
"Yes
, it was quite . But
could you kindly
tell me where I am
?"
"Certainly
, my dear . This is
the land of
happiness , Contentia ."
"Oh
! And what do I get
to do here ?"
"Everything
, my dear . Everything you
were denied a chance to do . Please yourself
here."
"I'm not
sure , but I think
I understand . So this
is me escape from
real life . That's great ."
"Well
, I think that's a good
way to put it . I like it ."
"Can I
ask a few more questions ?"
"Please yourself , as long as it
does not disturb
the others pleasing themselves . I imagine I have
some time before I get my next
new member ."
"Are you
the queen of
this place then ? What
if it pleases me
to be queen ? Where is the
line drawn for
my pleasure not disturbing
others ?"
"I am
not a conventional queen . I
volunteered to
help out with administrations ,
since this land is mainly my idea . You and many
others can call
themselves rulers and monarchs
if you so wish , but know
that here nobody rules another . You
simply won't have
the ability to displease another . You'll see for
yourself what I
mean , soon
enough . It's
not too easy
to explain this quickly.
"How long
do I remain here ? Do I
just return when I next meditate ?"
"Well
, I can safely say you're
about to spend
quite sometime here
. Most do ." said the
lady all dressed
in blue to compliment
her blue eyes . She
brushed aside her brown hair as she
put her head
forward to hear
what an aide approached
her to say .
"My dear Helen , I'm afraid
I can't carry
on our
conversation any longer . I
have to attend
to a newcomer who
is somewhat overwhelmed . I hope
this does not displease you . Come
back to see
me later ."
The queen
raised from her
throne and flew
out through a nearby
door , following her aide .
*
|
H |
elen stood
where she was , with
uncertainty .
Her guide
in the room
came forward and
spoke to her .
"What do you most wish
to do right now ? Think about it , and I
don't mean anything
unselfish . It won't
work otherwise ."
After a
brief pause Helen
knew exactly what
she wanted . She
began to tell
the man "I guess
I most want to be going
through the vastness
of the universe ...."
She did
not finish her
sentence , because just as
she said the words
out loud she found
herself amongst the stars .
She could
feel vastness and
how most of
it stood empty
. "Oh , wow !" she
exclaimed "I wish I
was at a distance to a star
so I wouldn't be destroyed , but I could
observe it satisfactorily ."
Helen found
herself at a
distance from a
white disc . She
thought it must
be what is
known as a
white dwarf star
. It however was
quite unusual . It was
a
massive woven
volume and not
just a globe . Helen thought
about that for a while
and decided that
it was probably because she was
not an observer in the
normal space and time
dimensions , which
also possibly explained
why her body had
not exploded in
space . That could also
mean that she could
safely go much
nearer and maybe
even through the star .
That thought was
simply overwhelming
. Helen could
hardly contain her
excitement . She trembled and
screamed . Her body went
wild with the
shakes momentarily , but she finally recovered .
She wished
she could be
in normal passing
of time , but not
of space , so that
her body would
not explode .
Remaining where she
was the white
dwarf appeared to Helen in normal passing
of time dimension . Deciding to return to that time
dimension later , Helen went
for an experiment
she had in
mind .
Straight away
the star in
front of her
appeared as a solid
band in all
kinds of colour
ranging from red to orange to yellow
to white to
brown and then
black . The
star put on
show all of
its positions about
the centre of its
galaxy along with
the colours of
its evolution . That
event was an
awesome one . Helen held
her breath while she
travelled around the
star . Then
she remembered her other
adventurous idea .
Helen suddenly found herself observing
a white dwarf moving through
space and time
normally while she
only entered its time
domain . She neared the
star , orbited it a little
and then went
for it .
Going through the first stages
there was just
the corona , then just
like other stars
the outer and
inner cores
started to form
and Helen began
moving through those , too .
The sensation
was very extraordinary . Helen would
have fainted if she
was not in
a trance . Seeing herself
go through
fluids
and then solids of
extremely high temperatures
compared to those
her body was
used to without any
trace of harm
to it , she reached
out . Her hands
did not pick
anything out , they simply moved through
it as if there was
nothing but air
or vacuum . She spent
quite a while
floating around .
When that
was over Helen
just rested to
be able to catch her breath ,
so to
speak . Physically however she did not need to
do that .
She then
wished to see
a solar system
and that was just what she got
to see . She saw
the only solar system her mind had
ever known . There was
a bright yellow star
at the centre of orbit
of nine planets
and their moons plus
a number of
comets .
"Some I've
never seen before . That's what I want
to see ."
And once
more there was
her wish .
There was a bright orange star and
six planets orbiting
it . There were
also a number of comets
as before .
Helen moved
through the planets . Some were just large pieces of rock , some just
ice , some contained both . The number of
their moons varied . They ranged from none
to ten .
On the
fifth planet Helen
found what she
sought after . It
was a fairly massive body
with mainly rocks on its surface . She observed
a civilisation . Just as
she expected things were
all very different
to earth , but
somehow familiar .
Before passing out from the
shock of the
existence of another people , she managed to make
herself see their shapes . The tall figures seemed
to move on
three feet , looking at
their world through
two eyes however , but
sporting bald heads , either through fashion or
nature , which , it
was not clear .
It would
take her longer
than a life time to
get to know those
people , so Helen moved
on through space . She went through galaxies , floated along nebulae and neutron stars . She fulfilled many
of her fantasies .
Interstellar travel
was made very
easy for her ,
she would have to
tell everyone else
about it . She decided to enjoy it fully
herself first .
*
|
H |
elen flew
through dust clouds
rolling in them
like children
do in sand
or on grass . It all
felt wonderful . She saw red giant
stars that had
engulfed their orbiting planets and were in
the process of "digesting" their
"food" . There were some
neutron stars about in
different
galaxies so far
removed form our solar system that nobody
had observed them
yet . Various fast-moving ice
balls orbited some
stars ,
producing beautiful scenes when
melting at their
perihelion . She also
encountered some nebulae . They were so enormous
that the explosions due
to bombings and
missile attacks on their city resembled burning
paper compared to
fireworks . The awesome event overwhelmed her , but in
reality preparing
her for the
shocks to come , the
next one of which was just around
the corner .
Flying through a gas cloud Helen was
doing somersaults
that she stumbled
into a barrier . It was so hard and
solid she would
have a crushed skull if she
was in her
normal dimensions . Totally surprised
at that she stood
put , having not bounced
off the barrier due to
her not being
solid . She investigated the
barrier . There
was nothing visible that could have
had that effect
, the gas cloud
was no problem for her . Moving toward where
she had been
barred , slowly , she
noticed some gas and
dust particles were
circling around a
"plug hole" . Helen
went forward and
reached out her
hand to the "plug hole" and
found the solid
barrier .
Entirely amazed , she tried to put
her hand through again with
no gain . Looking and
trying at all
angles did not achieve much for Helen , so
she decided her
conclusion was probably true . Because
she was not material unlike
her surroundings , the black hole
would not be open
to her passage .
"But
I wish to inspect
the black hole effectively." she thought almost out loud . In
response to her
wish Helen found herself
within the limits
of the black hole ,
somehow feeling its solidity resisting
her wishes and trying to keep her
at bay . However , she felt
as if the 'hole' was not
disclosing all its
secrets to her . She saw what
she could only
describe as nothingness , which made her
think of how
the faithful on
her world thought of
things before their
god and creation .
Was that nothingness also
engulfed by a
black hole in another universe ? Many similar thoughts
went through Helen's mind . She did
not pursue her
thoughts for much
longer and simply observed
nothing for a
while longer and
then went to search
for more civilisations .
*
|
O |
n the
following quests ,
Helen met many
different peoples . Some
were very similar
to earth's humans , some were as
different to them
as a pin is to
an elephant .
Worlds as
large as the
earth existed inhabited by simple
lives like amoeba , and had six moons , or they had
few occupants very
intelligent and one
moon. There were also worlds
as cold as
Pluto overwhelmed with
lives not produced of
carbon , but of things
such as gold . There were
simply so many
wonders that Helen
just did not want
to go back to her
life , but felt a
nagging inside her urging
her to do so .
Helen decided finally to go
back to Contentia and find out if
she could return
there during meditations
to come .
This time
she wished to
float along to
where Contentia
lay in spatial co-ordinates in
relation to where she
was from where
she was .
That was
yet another memorable
journey . The stars
and their planets studded the
universe , vastly
stretching out to its
edges . Helen tried to
get through the edges, but there
was no way through which
she could think of . There seemed
to be simply a reflector
curved around,
containing everything .
Various explosions took place on
her way as
stars died and formed . A continual
process of death
and rebirth
went on as
the universe stretched its edges without
letting things through .
Helen even
saw some spacecraft
around , carrying
out missions
for whomever had
built them . "One day
one of those will
be from earth
visiting on our
neighbours." she thought
astounded still from
the magnificence of
it all. Daring thoughts
and questions came
to Helen's mind
again, but
she dismissed them , not
liking to suppress her thoughts , because to
her that was
the start of
all trouble.
More travel through
the vast and
expanding space
eventually brought Helen
to where Contentia
would lay if it
were material . Helen then
wished to enter
it .
*
|
O |
nce more
Helen found herself
outside a door
of the great hall
of Contentia . This time
though she entered without knocking . Again there
were people carrying
out their wishes .
Everyone seemed content
just as the
name of the land
suggested .
Helen now
recognised some species
whose home planets she had seen .
Almost everyone was
in a cloak , apart from those whose wishes
included different clothing .
There seemed some kind
of a code
to the colours of the
cloaks
. It was not based on
the racial differences , but somehow distinguished between different Contentians .
Helen thought it appropriate to
ask these questions of the expert
, the queen in
blue . So she moved
on through the masses
one more time
to reach the
throne .
Even without
a guide she
found her way . It
was not really difficult , since the room was
finite , despite its size
. The region around
the throne seemed somehow more illuminated
than the rest
of the room .
However
, Helen did not
reach there promptly , as she stopped
on the way . At
one point , she bumped
into an
inhabitant of one the planets
she had come
across . That planet
had fascinated her
even more so
than the rest , somehow. It seemed to her to
have an aurora of welcoming
warmth and friendliness about it .
Helen had stopped of
there for a
long period , if time
had any meaning where
she was .
She had
decided to call
the planet Pardis , her name for
Paradise . The
planet was beautiful , with golden beaches and
green mountains warmed
by its binary stars . It looked rather like the
earth would had
nature taken its course
and there had
been no human
interference .
The alien
turned its body
fully at Helen's
touch on its equivalent of a shoulder. It was a joint
between its arm like
organ , although there were
major differences as it
did not have
fingers , but tong-like grips
and was rather short . It gazed at her
questioningly , with
eyes of a strange
violet colour . It , or rather
he as Helen decided , then
smiled at her
through green lips
contained in a brown
face .
"What is
the name of
your planet ? The one
orbiting the
binary star , in the
region of...." Helen inquired , discontinuing remembering that from that
planet’s position it
does not lie
in the same region of
sky as it does
observed from earth .
Her own
speech sounded strange
to her , because due to the way things
were set up
in Contentia no
matter which
tongue was spoken
it was comprehensible to
the listener .
"Earth lady , my home , the
one orbiting the
binary star you saw
is called Palace
by my people . That's because it is
the rulers' home . We
Palacians rule the smaller planets
in our suns' system and
some in another, which you
may not know . How
is your home
these days?"
"My home , earth ? Em... Well ,
generally or ...? Either way it
is not in good condition . It is most upsetting to me . I just wish
I could do
something about it ..." at that
she excused herself
rapidly and went
to pursue her thought
and to enquire of the
queen .
Eventually she
reached the throne . The lady in blue sat there reading some
material . Some of her
aides were gathered around whilst some of
the others ran
back and forth looking
overworked .
With uncertainty , Helen stepped
forward . "May I ask you a question ? Are you
not too busy ?"
"Oh
, Helen . It's OK , but if
it is not too urgent or grave ... Pardon my expression !
Could one of
my colleagues
help you ? They are
much better then
me at most things , you know ."
"Well
, yeah . I'm sure they
could help me . Whom ..."
Before Helen
could finish her
sentence , to
the queen's wave of
hand one of
her company came
to Helen , smiling .
"Hi Helen . I'm
Naomi . What do you
need me for ?"
"Well
, I had a
question or two ? You
see I just came up with this
idea . Seeing as I
can do as I wish in Contentia , can
I then bring about favourable changes on my
world ? You
know like peace
and harmony ?
And before I forget , why are
people robed in
different colours ? It's
not purely by
choice , I see ."
"How very
observant ! Well , as
people spend more
time here they go
through different colours , due to
their experience . For instance I can
soon wear the
queen's blue , too , because
I have been here almost
as long as her ." Naomi
paused there thoughtfully . A
few moments
later she seemed to come
back to Helen
and continued .
"And about
your other question . I have to tell
you it's not possible to change another
world from here , because you
are not there , in
those dimensions . You are separated from there completely ."
"That can't
be right . Only my
mind's here , so I
can be on earth
simultaneously. I don't know
why you say it's impossible . Do not discourage
me . It's this sort
of attitude which has
kept us from
evolving into better humans and
which causes us
to destroy each
other as well as our
planet and its
nature . I'm going to
go to my body , but with
this mind and
I know that I can
do that ."
Naomi moved
to touch Helen "Wait , it's because...."
By this
time , Helen had already
left Naomi
"don't try to stop
me . It's
essential that I
go ." she
exclaimed as she
left . She heard Naomi's
voice in the distance as
she moved on.
"But its
just not possible . Why do you refuse to understand ? I
know it's hard to
accept , but that's how it is here ."
Naomi was shouting .
Helen completely ignored her and
went to find
the way she had
entered there.
*
|
F |
inally
, Helen found the
door she had
entered from
and went through it . As she
descended through the
light she could hear
voices . She liked to
think they were from her home ,
on earth , but knew
better , they
were from Contentia .
She slowly
floated in a
direction which she
chose to call downward , even though her movements
were not due
to gravity .
Looking back
on her way , she saw far
off a couple of
figures in robes
of which colour , she could not
tell . They were following
her , she knew .
Nevertheless
, Helen carried on . Gradually she
was getting closer to home.
Eventually
, after an indescribable amount of time Helen was home , at the
non-spatial door of
her basement room .
She entered through
were the gap
in the ceiling was . Descending , she saw her room
was in a
complete mess , everything
was everywhere . "As if
a bomb's hit
it." she murmured
to herself .
Suddenly a
realisation hit her , a
bomb really had hit it . Her room had
been in an
explosion . She looked
around wide-eyed . She then
spotted something . A body
laid on the floor .
Helen went
towards the body
worried , thinking it was her mum's figure
. She reached out
to touch her
and sprang back when
she saw her
own face , like she was looking in a mirror . She screamed and threw
herself about the room .
At that
moment she felt
a touch and
jumped . Naomi and
the queen in
blue were behind
her . They held her firm as she tried
to escape from
them .
"Helen
, calm down . It's gonna
be OK , you'll live
in Contentia.”
"But I'm
dead ! Why ? Where is my
mum and everyone else ?" she paused
to see the queen's expression
showing her family were
alive. "So , I'm the only
one dead ? They will all
be worried about
me . But there's no
need , there's nothing
they can do . Is
there ? But I was
just minding my own
business ! How..? How did I..? How
did it happen ?"
"It was
a ground to
ground mis.....” managed the
queen , in a solemn
manner .
"Oh
, they just sat
there in safety
and fired it
to kill me .
How brave ! They didn't
even know me , though, so they couldn't hate
me ."
Helen mumbled and allowed them to take her to Contentia . She was
told she could
visit her loved
ones , but they couldn't
respond to her .
Helen cut short
their support by
leaving them looking very distraught . As she was
moving away she
shouted out
"Someone's got to
do something to
stop this nonsense
and killing . I'll see you
later ."
Gaining more
distance she whispered "Not that
I have a choice, but to
go back to them! "
Helen then made a
wish quietly and disappeared
from view.