Harmony
18

Arias’ gait was decidedly tentative as he walked towards the chaise lounge in the centre of the room. Lyri brought over some sort of helmet device. It was made of that same curious crystalline material that Pixie was becoming quite familiar with, although it was more flexible and fit somewhat like a hood more so than a helmet. Pixie liked calling it a helmet. It felt like it was readying them for battle. A battle with the difficulties and distress caused by life on Old Earth.

I’m just going to put this on your head, Arias, said Lyri. It should feel comfortable so let me know if it doesn’t. The helmet assists with the recall process and allows everyone to see your life on the screen up there.

It was a helmet. If Lyri was calling it a helmet, then it was a helmet. It seemed to possess special qualities that she was yet to understand. The technology of this New Earth was intriguing, but in this instant it was secondary to what was about to happen. They were all going to replace out shortly what made Arias the person he was. Pixie’s anticipation was strong.

Lyri, smiling radiantly, placed the helmet over his dark hair, covering it from his forehead around past his temples to the base of his skull. She then motioned for him to recline back on the lounge, which he did. She moved off to the right and seated herself at a desk near the wall. The desk reflected the green and purple from the wall and it was an enchanting sight. The desk had a small pad-like device on it, which Lyri placed her right hand on. Pixie turned to Suria next to her, seeing her eyes flash with excitement. They both quickly returned their attention to Arias on the chaise lounge.

With Lyri now at the desk, Thylen moved towards Arias, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to his head. Okay, Arias. I need you to listen carefully to me and me only. You are to put all other thoughts out of your mind. Close your eyes now and count down silently and slowly in your mind from ten to one. Thylen’s voice was calming and supportive. Maybe, with his help, Pixie would replace sharing her life easier. The rest of the room was totally silent. Pixie could not sense movement from anyone else.

Thylen waited for a few moments. Pixie’s anticipation continued to grow. Thylen spoke again. When you reach the count of one, you will see in your mind nothing more than a dense mist, but you will feel completely safe and secure. When the mist clears, you will replace yourself in a scene that you have chosen to share with us. He paused again. Arias, you have lived before. You have lived very recently in another time and place. You are going to visit there now to where you feel it is important for your personal benefit. Then forwards from there. Go now!

The last words from Thylen were particularly compelling in their urgency and intensity. Pixie was somewhat mesmerised already by Thylen’s voice, mixed in with the silence in the room and the gravity of what was occurring. This last command almost triggered a reaction in her own mind. She was able to suppress it.

The large screen in front of them flickered on. Pixie was astonished to see a fast-moving selection of images, from various angles. It wasn’t the images that astonished her. It was the link between Arias’ mind, that strange helmet, perhaps Lyri at the table, and the screen. His past life was being pulled from his mind and projected for them all to see. It was the most magical thing she had yet seen since waking up on the mountainside. That included the food machine, and any other technology she could name.

The images on the screen were from Arias’ own eyes at various ages. There was a plain but appealing boy’s bedroom, then a family dinner table with Arias’ parents and a sister who appeared to be older, as Arias was often looking slightly up at her in height until he passed her when he got older. School scenes mixed with street scenes in a mass rush of visuals that seemed never ending. It was difficult to make out what Arias was experiencing. At best it was a general impression of his life.

In the briefest of moments in front of mirrors Pixie saw him as a boy then later as a teenager. He was reliving various life events and growing up quickly. The scenes were rapidly switching through a variety of home and outdoor locations, with or without other people. As they did, the sounds all merged together into white noise. Lyri was apparently controlling the volume to a reasonable level so that it wasn’t distracting to everyone else watching it. Pixie wondered through all of this what Arias must be going through mentally as his memories were all being retrieved and displayed for them all. He was such a giving and open person, though. He probably didn’t care in the slightest.

Suddenly it all slowed down, to a scene inside Arias’ family home. A woman that must be his mother was sitting on a two-seater couch in front of a living room window. Arias, his voice clearly distinguishable, was telling her something important, and she was looking at him intently. Pixie couldn’t understand the words, because he was speaking Spanish, but Pixie thought she caught the word ‘universidad’, which might mean ‘university’ in Spanish. The scene lasted for about seven or eight seconds and then the images sped up again, cycling rapidly once more.

It was hard to make out too much detail, but Pixie caught glimpses of another part of what must be Santiago. The mountains towering above the city were as he described them to her one time a few weeks ago in the village. The vision slowed again to show him writing an essay at his desk, then putting it down and getting ready to go out. A brief look in the mirror to comb his hair and it was clearly the Arias she knew now. An attractive looking young woman showed up at his door and they went out together. The rapid scene-switching resumed.

In the next slowdown he was speaking at a rally of other students. His voice conveyed passion but again she couldn’t understand what he was saying. The crowd of a few hundred in a pleasant treed area on campus were all focussed on him as he spoke, then clapped wildly, so it must have been good. He glanced briefly at his girlfriend, and she returned his gaze with adoration. Things sped up again for a while before slowing down as some policemen were at the door of his apartment. They were clearly preparing to arrest him for something. The screen went mostly black after that; for quite some time. The only way she would know what really happened was if Arias explained it to them afterwards, including the scenes that weren’t blacked out.

Pixie could only assume during these blackouts that he was being mistreated in prison or was struggling emotionally or psychologically. She was glad in a way to be seeing nothing; Arias was such a lovely man. To watch him hurting or suffering would have been difficult for her. She shot a quick glance at Kjersti, who was watching him with sympathy. Pixie turned back to the screen, not wanting to miss anything. It was still black for the most part, peppered with quick images of him eating, or staring at the interior of a sparse room that was clearly a prison cell. Pixie could not help but be reminded of her own prison dream that first night.

There were a few moments where the images reappeared, with Arias was looking out of a small window. In the next scene from that same window Pixie saw the setting sun and heard Arias’ voice talking to himself of freedom that would come someday, in English this time. Some more scenes followed from inside his cell, before the screen went black again, then changed to a white misty scene that felt peaceful in comparison to what preceded it.

Movement to the right of the screen caught Pixie’s eye. It was Lyri, walking purposefully yet gracefully, her blonde ponytail making her look almost business-like, over to Arias’ chaise lounge. Thylen began speaking again. Arias, your past live review has ended. Please count up from one to ten slowly, and then open your eyes. You may sit up as soon as you feel ready.

After he sat up, Lyri removed his helmet and placed it gently on the floor. He turned to face her. How was that? she asked.

“It… it was very strange.” Arias stopped talking at this. The room was silent, waiting for him to add more description. Arias was now deep in thought but not emotionally affected, so clearly he hadn’t suffered from the reliving what appeared to be difficult times near the end of his life.

Go on. Thylen was still sitting cross-legged on the floor. Lyri had by now moved to sit down on the far edge of the lounge, facing Arias.

“I was a visitor in my own life. I know who everyone was and it was good to see them again. I was close with my mother. She would be missing me, but I already think she will be okay and I should not worry. It was meant to be. I am glad I did this review, and I feel better knowing about my life, but I am even more happy to be here and not there anymore.”

Pixie glanced over at Kjersti. She was nodding slightly, a knowing expression on her face. Arias continued.

“I saw some bad things and tried to do good things to fix the bad. I try to help everybody learn that fighting each other is not why we are here on this Earth. We fight each other so much. I wanted it to stop.” He turned to face them all.

“That took so long! I am so sorry to make you wait all that time,” he said.

“No problem at all, buddy. It was only a few minutes,” replied Rocsi.

“No! No way it was!” Arias’ eyes were wide with surprise.

The experience is quite different for the external viewer, Arias. The experiencer has no possible concept of time but for everyone else it is extremely brief. Lyri’s voice was as calming and compassionate as Thylen’s. It was reassuring to have such caring individuals in charge of what could potentially be a difficult process.

“Oh, okay; and gracias.” Arias still looked surprised. “What did you see?” he asked them all collectively.

Le was the one to respond. “We see lot fast motion your life. Hard to see anything. Some slow down and we see more. You go university, and you like? We see black screen a lot before you die. You okay there or not?”

“I was arrested by government. We had coup in Chile in September 1973. I join student group after that and get to speak at university. They hear about us and they don’t like what I say. They make up lies about me. Because of what I write and say about. They make up some charges about me, but I never go to trial. They keep me in prison. Then they take me to a dark room and question me and then I wake up and I am here again.”

“Oh my god, Arias!” Suria gasped. “That’s the captivity thing you told us about. You kept pushing it back. That’s where it came from.”

Arias simply nodded gravely. Kjersti spoke for him. Yes Suria. If he felt that here in this new life, that’s where it came from.

“How I get ascension, Kjesrti? What did I do?” he asked.

It was your activism, Arias, she replied. You constantly spoke of love and compassion throughout your life, and of connectedness of all Terrans. You did so knowing there was opposition from the new regime in Chile. You knew you were putting yourself in danger, but your values drove you to override this. You never stopped, despite knowing you were being watched closely by the government. Your captivity and ultimately your ascension was almost assured the moment you took them on in the name of peace. Your messages of love and unity reached a wide audience and made your part of the world a better place. As with all of you, this was not the only reason you ascended – there have been other acts in previous lifetimes – but it was certainly significant. It was more than enough to tip the scales, so to speak.

“How you die, Arias?” asked Rais. His question was bluntly put, but Pixie also wanted to know and was glad he’d asked it.

Arias was puzzled for a moment. “I did not see,” he said.

Arias, you died as a result of your... treatment, at their hands. We were looking after you at the time. You weren’t even present in your body. You didn’t suffer any real pain, but you also don’t remember those moments for that reason.

“We? You mean, you were watching over him?” Gimi could not get the question out quickly enough. He was like a small child entering a whole new world and trying to replace his feet.

Not me as such, but my people. We knew he was going to ascend, so we took a special interest in him. As we did with all of you.

“You watched all of us?” Neca asked. “Before we came here?”

Yes we did. We protected you where we could. Those men in Santiago did some bad things to Arias but he was shielded from psychological harm for the most part on each occasion until it was over. He suffered physically yes, but he had much strength of his own, and a little help from us. Ultimately, they were never going to reach the core part of his soul they were trying to get to. Kjersti’s words revealed more about how the universe worked each time she spoke. She was clearly aware of how Arias was being affected at his very core by his experiences. As to how this was possible, Pixie hoped she would someday soon replace out.

Thylen spoke again. You should now remember all of your past life, Arias, but those memories will fade quite quickly over the next few days. It will be like a holiday you went on. You’ll remember the good bits and largely forget the not so good bits. The trauma scenes have been blocked as well. Suffice to say, your mind will soon be back on your present life.

“I agree with that. I am already back here in this room. Gracias Thylen. Gracias also Lyri and Kjersti. I feel whole now.”

That is one of the benefits of this process. It is not harmful at all and is in fact useful. The best part, we think, is that you can replace out what you did that helped you ascend. We are proud of you all! Lyri smiled broadly.

“I have a question, Kjersti?”

Yes, Prina?

“If Arias did not see his death and we did not either, how do you know it?”

Through the same mechanism by which we watch you in your past life. We saw your death and then we assisted you through the void to your current life, on New Terra. We have abilities that we can’t quite explain to you at this point in time. Later on you will learn their extent to some degree. Now is not the time. Kjersti had so much knowledge and insight. So much to learn from and she was so lovely at the same time. She must suppress that urge to hug her. Idolising her was not something they should do, as Kjersti had said to them earlier that morning. Was it still morning?

“I have a question.”

Yes Bia? Lyri replied this time.

“If you are watching us, I really appreciate you looking after us, but what about those… you know… moments where we want to keep things private?”

Lyri responded quickly, wanting to reassure her and, most likely, everyone else. Oh, we only see your personal interactions as if we were in the same room. Kind of like if we were a family member and we weren’t participating in your life events directly but were present and witnessed them. Private moments, such as in the bathroom, bedroom or similar, are blocked to us. We also get impressions of your state of mind and your intentions regarding others, but not your most private, personal thoughts. Does that help?

“Oh yes. Thank you!” Bia glanced at Gimi momentarily, which Pixie thought was curious. She was glad Bia had asked that question. It was useful to know and had been bothering her without her realising it.

Who wants to go next? asked Kjersti, her eyes searching the group slowly.

“Can I? If that is okay?” Bia surprised Pixie by being so forthright. It was out of character for her.

Of course Bia. Please come up to the front. Thylen’s voice was calming to Pixie. With his assuredness and gentle nature, the life review process would be less intimidating than she thought at first. As for what Lyri was doing, Pixie wasn’t sure, but it seemed to be related to the communications aspect of the process. Fitting the helmet, for starters, and using whatever that device was on the desk she was sitting at during the recall phase.

Bia walked up to the chaise lounge and lay down on it. Pixie was as keen to see this lovely, gentle Cuban’s life as she was her Chilean friend previously. Bia had not said much about what she thought her life was like. She had told Pixie she wasn’t even sure of what she had done career-wise. She said that she thought she’d done something in government, dealing with nature, but that was the best she could do. Pixie was about to replace out exactly what Bia’s life was like, and how it had led her to this New Earth. Arias had talked about love and connectedness within a difficult and dangerous political climate. Pixie knew enough to realise there must be more than one way to ascend. She was keen to replace out what Bia had done to achieve it.

The screen came to life, changing from white to a rapid series of moving images, just as it had for Arias. Pixie was now getting a solid impression of what Cuba was like. She saw flashes of palm trees, lots of sun and warmth, as well as some street scenes and a sparsely furnished family home that had lots of activity and more than a few younger brothers although no slowdown scenes to get a good look at Bia’s home other than a family gathering at somebody’s birthday. She assumed it was Bia’s father as he was at the head of a large table outdoors in their backyard. One or two of the scenes later on showed Bia looking at coral formations from a boat. Pixie could even hear the water flowing gently, and other than that there was silence. It was a lovely scene to watch visually, as the tropical blue water and the colourful coral formations were visually captivating. It obviously had an effect on Bia if this scene had slowed down.

The scenes shifted to a bigger city that Pixie assumed was Havana. Bia had mentioned this city more than a few times in conversation. Through Bia’s eyes, Pixie was seeing some official looking buildings that might be governmental in nature. Some street scenes showed buildings decorated in pastel colours of blues and pinks, and there were narrow alleyways that Bia was walking down quite regularly, going to cafes and the like. Palm trees, black and white awnings, and outdoor street furniture made these Havana streets appear quite charming. Back at her house, a brief mirror scene reflected Bia in Old Earth clothing. She was getting ready for some official meeting of some sort, and looking sharp in a blue skirt, white shirt and matching blue jacket. Pixie was momentarily struck by how different their clothing was here compared to what they wore in their past life. The contrast seemed starker in Bia’s life than it did in Arias’.

The scenes of Bia’s life now flashed through offices and meeting rooms, with phones ringing, coffee being made, and discussions being had, all in fast forward. As with Arias, Pixie would have to wait until Bia was finished to replace out what she was actually doing. Pixie picked up both Spanish and English words being spoken. She saw stern faces talking to Bia, coupled with dismissive body language. It was clear to her that prejudice was being directed at Bia, almost certainly because of her biological sex and possibly her skin colour. The stern faces were all male. Pixie could sense Bia bearing it with dignity despite the emotional anguish it must have caused.

There were some good experiences too. One man in particular featured more prominently, first in some street and beach scenes and then in Bia’s home. Maybe he was Bia’s boyfriend. Next there were some brief blackouts on the screen, as with Arias, and finally the screen went black. Thylen counted Bia back up from one to ten and she awoke and sat up.

This time Thylen and Lyri waited in silence. Bia collected herself and spoke of her life. “I remember it all now.” She looked at Arias. “You are right, Arias, it makes you feel whole. But I’m not connected to it anymore. My life is here now, with all of you.” Her eyes shone and her smile was joyful.

Gimi was the first to ask Bia a question. “Cuba looks like a beautiful place, Bia. Can you tell us more about what you did? It’s hard to tell too much from what we see but we did get a good impression in some ways.”

She regarded him for a moment. “Well, I worked in government. I was advocating for the reef, yeah? I wanted it protected it from fishing and pollution. I loved the reef; it was so beautiful and needed to be preserved in its natural state. Fidel heard me and was willing to do something about it. He was one of the few who did, and I was lucky enough to meet him and get a photo with him. He told me I was an inspiration to other black women in Cuba and he thanked me for my work. It was a special moment. After we met, he put policies in place to protect the reef. I’m proud of what I achieved.”

You should be, Bia. You faced so much racial and gender-based discrimination, but you never gave up once for what you cared about. Cuba’s environment is in a better place than many others around the world partially because of your tireless efforts. You can enjoy your well-earned rest now. Kjersti looked like a proud parent, as she did with Arias.

Bia glanced downwards momentarily, a humble expression on her face. Then she looked up again, directly at Thylen. “Uhm… how did I die? I went to sleep one night and then woke up here.”

You and your baby son sadly died due to complications related to your pregnancy, Bia.

“Oh… the child with Raul. Yeah. Being pregnant wasn’t much fun. I went to bed one night, felt a bit off and woke up here. I knew I’d died, but not how. Raul was a nice man. It was a shame then. I hope he is okay.” Her expression was of concern, but she wasn’t upset. The emotions of her past life were clearly not present here.

He will be. He will move on and replace someone else. Thylen stood up for a moment and stretched before sitting back down again.

Bia regarded him silently as he did this, then got up from the lounge. “That’s good to know. It was so nice to see Cuba again. Did you all see it?”

“Oh yes, it was just as you describe it, but we only watch in fast forward. So now I know what mine was like for you all to watch,” remarked Arias.

“You were pregnant, Bia? Wow, we did not see that! So sorry you didn’t get to have the baby,” remarked Neca.

“It’s okay Neca, I guess it was meant to be. I didn’t suffer at all. It must have all been blocked from me,” she replied.

It was. You experienced it in your actual living of the life, but the difficult moments from when the labour started, followed by being rushed to hospital and the complications there were all blocked from your replay, remarked Lyri.

“Why is that?” she replied.

They don’t really serve any purpose here. Re-experiencing the physical pain and discomfort is not helpful, even if it were possible, which it isn’t, replied Thylen.

There was a momentary silence after he spoke.

You don’t want to know more? Kjersti was willing to let Bia reflect and ask more questions if she wanted to.

“No, not just yet. Maybe I will ask more later as I think more on my life. Thank you, my girl, for that review.” She in fact nodded at all three of the Pleiadians, before turning and walking back to her seat next to Le.

You are very welcome, Bia. Kjersti was up out of her seat too and stretching for a moment. You will replace that you may want to discuss your past lives in more detail in the coming days, and then the memories will fade, as Thylen told you all. Who would like to be next?

Pixie wasn’t ready yet. There was a slight pause before Gimi spoke up.

“Oh, why not? Bia has inspired me. I want to replace out now.” Gimi was going to be next. Pixie felt a renewed rush of excitement and anticipation at what she might see in his life.

The process began again as before and images of Gimi’s life started appearing on the screen. There weren’t any slowdown scenes as he was growing up although there were some black screens. From the images on the screen, Gimi had grown up in a poor neighbourhood and gotten into some difficult situations on the street and in the school yard, as far as she could tell. There were a few slower scenes at a high school, particularly where Gimi was talking to another girl at his school. The high school yard was quite pretty, with numerous ferns and other thick, leafy bushes, at least where they were sitting. Pixie assumed this was Gimi’s girlfriend, and to confirm this she later on saw a framed photograph of the two of them embracing on a dresser in his bedroom.

Before long, Gimi was at university and the girl was still with him. At one stage the scene slowed to where Gimi proposed to her. His proposal words to her were understated but expressed with joy and certainty. It was lovely moment, on a pier in some coastal New Zealand town, sun shining and a light breeze blowing. Her name was Rowesha, and she was going to be his wife. Pixie wondered if he was sad as he went through this, knowing he had left her behind. Then again, Bia had experienced similar with the father of her child and it didn’t affect her, so maybe he was okay. The Pleiadians had said on several occasions that emotions from their past life would not be felt or relived.

University life continued, and Pixie saw flashes of various libraries, classes and auditoriums. Gimi was clearly a lecturer in anthropology, which she saw briefly at the front of his office building as he walked in one day. He was good at it, judging by the interested faces of his students. Like Bia, Gimi enjoyed the beach too, spending lots of time there with his friends, including Rowesha. He appeared to love socialising and there were more than a few parties on the beach.

In one scene Gimi was reading a piece of paper that Pixie could not quite make out. She then saw him crumple it into a ball and throw it in a nearby rubbish bin quite forcefully. His life scenes panned forward, showing him in a beautiful desert style location – something Pixie wasn’t expecting to see in New Zealand – with a large group of people. They were marching somewhere, and all that Pixie could hear were the sound of footsteps and some muffled voices. Rowesha wasn’t present. Then suddenly the scenes ended and the screen went white and misty. Pixie was aware by now that this meant he had died. It was quite sudden. Thylen again counted Gimi up and out of his past life.

You can sit up now, Gimi. Thylen’s voice was so pleasant to listen to. Pixie wished he would talk more; his voice was so soothing to listen to. At this this thought she once again marvelled at how he, as with Lyri and Kjersti, wasn’t talking out loud, but still had a distinctive vocal sound that fitted perfectly with who he was. How all three of them were able to project this without speaking out loud was still a total mystery. Gimi sat up, and Lyri took the helmet from him, regarding him silently with a curious look that Pixie could not decipher.

How was that? Thylen asked. Gimi did not respond for a few moments. When he did, he spoke as if he was talking to himself, gazing out into the expanses of the auditorium, almost like he was still back in his past life.

“ ‘We are the Pacific Ocean. We breathe it, we feel it. We love it; it loves us. It is who we are.’ I remember writing those words now; Rowesha embroidered them for me and I put it up in my office. It was how I felt as someone of Polynesian heritage. My identity to me was part Maori, part New Zealander, part Pacific islander. Thinking about how my identity was formed inspired me to study my people first, then all people, as I realised we are all much the same in what we truly want. Many of us have it clouded in misdirection, misunderstandings and confusion. Ultimately though, we’re all the same – we’re all human beings. So I tried to replace those common links between all races, all skin colours, all religions. There were so many it was astounding. Yet all the media and the rest of academia wanted to discuss were our differences. It was hard work, swimming against the tide, but so rewarding.”

Pixie was loving his passion. He sounded so noble, and he spoke with such certainty. She had always looked up to him, but she had never admired him more than she did now. He continued.

“My papers were not popular. It was even said that ideas like mine were ‘potentially dangerous’. I could not disagree more strongly. My colleagues wanted to replace differences, divisions, classifying characteristics. Not me. Unity is what I strove for.” Gimi paused for a moment. “Sorry guys, I got carried away. That was neat. Rowesha was such a nice lady. I remember being quite close with her and thinking how nice it was to have a like mind to share my life with. Do you know if she will ascend too?”

Kjersti responded. It is uncertain. She is coming from farther back than you. You helped her a great deal and she will benefit greatly from knowing you.

“I’m glad. Gee, I’d like to see the ocean again, after that.”

“Oh me too, Gimi! I really do miss it.” Bia was evidently emotionally affected by at least this part of her past life.

“There are no oceans out here, though. I’d go with you if there was.” Gimi looked surprised that he had said those words in the way he did. Bia flashed a broad smile at him, her eyes sparkling.

Maybe that might be possible in the future, Kjersti interjected, a curiously bemused tone in her words. Thanks for your words Gimi. I hope you know why you ascended? He nodded. Those who promote and foster unity and togetherness, foregoing personal gain, are always on the right path. So many of your students loved your renegade nature and your earnestness in believing what is absolutely true: all Terrans really are the same in many ways. You inspired a great deal of people to change their thinking, no matter how much it cost you. You are not curious how you died?

“No, not at all. It was obviously on that peace march I was on, but I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter now anyway. Thanks to you all, for that.” He walked back to his chair, next to Bia, a sheepish grin on his face as he regarded her.

You’re welcome, and no, your manner of death is not important. Your manner of life is what really matters. Instead of asking who wanted to go next, Kjersti simply cast an inquiring glance across all of them. Pixie loved the moment that their eyes met briefly, and she wanted to say yes because of that, but refrained. Le wasn’t so reticent.

“I go next?” she asked. “I want to replace out what happen. Why I know about Vietnam, but why I go to Australia.”

Of course, Le, please step right up! Lyri’s voice and not Kjersti’s surprised Pixie, but her welcoming, encouraging tone energised Le. She almost bounded up to the chaise lounge, laying down and looking up expectantly at Thylen as if she were about to receive a double helping of her favourite dessert. Her mannerisms were so cute. Pixie loved her dearly.

As Le’s life began to flash across the screen, Pixie was again so keen to learn about one of her closest friends within the village, as well as seeing yet another country up close. Without having her own life played through, she could be pretty certain she’d never been to Vietnam. The distinctive clothing of the locals and the colourful and busy street scenes were quite charming. Pixie saw a lot of bicycles, only a few cars, some buses, and many thousands of people hurrying about. One woman in a pink dress stopped and put her basket of fruit down. Pixie wondered why this was important to Le, and then she remembered the pink dress Le had shown her not long after they first met – the one she had woken up in. These dresses, or variations of them, were everywhere in the street scenes and at home.

At home, Le had only her parents and a few servants. She was clearly from a well-off family and appeared to be an only child. A mix of important looking people were visiting Le’s house during her childhood, making Pixie speculate on what sort of position Le’s parents held in society. Were they diplomats or public officials, or something similar? Le was often playing the piano too, and its unmistakeable sounds could be detected in the rush of images.

Suddenly the scenes slowed, and the police were at the door. Pixie was astonished. Not her too? She was surely only a teenager! What could she have done wrong? Instead there was a scream and some crying, from behind Le. It was one of the servants. Suddenly Le was being taken away, but to what appeared to be a relative’s house. Pixie surmised that something must have happened to Le’s parents. Le had talked about the war occasionally. Maybe something happened to them in that way? How terrible that must have been for her. Pixie was glad emotions were not felt in these reviews. Le was however squirming a bit and Thylen had placed a hand on her briefly. This calmed her, and she stopped fidgeting. For some time, Le was in various other houses of a lesser quality than the one she’d shared with her parents, who were sadly now absent from her vision.

Before long Le was on an aircraft, and then landing at a foreign airport, surrounded by paddocks and unusual trees. Le was probably now in Australia and this must be Melbourne. This was where Le thought she lived and learned to speak English. Pixie then saw Le looking at what appeared to be some sort of dormitory and there were more scenes of piano playing and a pretty university campus. Pixie saw Le at her graduation, with the other students and then some restaurant scenes where Le must have had some sort of job playing the piano. The scenes slowed again and Le was reading a letter in what was clearly Vietnamese writing. She was then on the plane again and back in Vietnam, in similar streets to what Pixie saw at the beginning of Le’s life.

A jumble of scenes followed, with lots of other people crowded into makeshift shelters and waiting in lines for food. Le was holding hands with a young boy of about eight years or so and an even younger girl. By the expressions on their faces they clearly knew and trusted her, but they were at the same time fearful and upset. Le was rescuing these children and keeping them safe for some reason. However, each scene found them in dirtier living quarters, and the children’s continually unhappy and anxious faces made the scenes quite pitiful. Le was often watching the children sleeping, and it even seemed like she had no bed herself. She’d given it to the children, apparently. Pixie was getting an idea of what Le had done that had allowed her to ascend. She’d left a comfortable life in Australia behind to go back to a war zone and rescue two small children. She’d risked her life to do so, and ultimately ended up losing it, which was becoming obvious. Pixie was in awe of what Le had done. Her courage and sacrifice was something Pixie had been unaware of up until now and it raised her estimation of Le’s character exponentially, from a place that was already high enough as it was.

Pixie next saw Le getting onto a small boat with the children. The boat was wooden, with green and blue paint peeling in places. It had clearly done many years of service up to this point. It didn’t look very secure and, like the places Le had been staying, there was virtually nowhere to sleep. Le had to sit up, and let the children sleep on her. Pixie did not see them eating at all while they were on the boat. The cramped quarters, hot conditions, lack of food and now the entrance into the open sea, which caused continual rolling within the cabin, created a scene of suffering that must have been nearly unbearable. The next thing Pixie saw through Le’s eyes was an approaching storm, early in the morning. It looked ominous. Suddenly the screen went black as before and then instantly white and misty again. Thylen once again counted Le out of her review.

Are you okay, Le? He asked. Even with the detachment here in New Terra, that can’t have been easy for you.

Le looked drained. “It not okay” she said. “But good I know now. I know I see my death back in village. It not make sense then but I see again now and it make good sense now. I happy to go to Australia – I learn so much. My country still bad. Vietnam still not happy place. Is it still same now?”

You pretty much came straight here, so yes, it is. Vietnam is slowly recovering and will eventually be alright, we think. It has been torn apart at the moment. The future is uncertain. Thylen was unable to keep the sadness out of his response.

“How does that translate to the Vietnam on this version of Earth, Kjersti? You said there were links between here and there,” said Suria.

Kjersti did not have an instant answer and instead thought for a moment, which surprised Pixie. Yes, there are some tenuous links between the two dimensions, as you will replace out later when we get you to do some research on how all of these different dimensions work. There is much to understand, and to study. How does it translate? Even I’m not fully sure how it works but I do know they influence each other in both directions. The phrase used is ‘as above, so below’. Therefore, Vietnam here would be having problems too, but of a different nature. I can’t tell you what they are, however as I haven’t been there on New Terra as of yet.

“That sad to hear,” said Le. “I still love my country. I not stay there anymore. Not safe.”

“That was such a brave thing you did, Le.” Pixie was so proud of her and was in awe of the sacrifice she had made. “You went back to Vietnam to save those children, didn’t you? Were they relatives?”

“My cousin, yes. After my parent die I not want to go back again to Vietnam. I get friend letter; I have to go back. I not leave my cousin by themselves. Their mother die too, they not know their father. I help them or no-one help them. It not a hard choice. We run for long time from place to place and then we replace man with boat. Man have no map and get lost and then storm come. I not feel bad this time, so it okay to see it again. I had no choice to be refugee this time. It only way out or we die in Vietnam.” Le spoke with detachment, but with satisfaction and certainty that she’d made the right choice.

Kjersti reflected on Le’s life. You did a great and courageous thing, Le. You were only twenty-one years old. You left a comfortable and happy life behind to save two children you barely knew. You sacrificed everything and risked your life, although you couldn’t have foreseen the way things would turn out. You knew deep down, though, that you were giving up a comfortable life in Australia. That sacrifice was enormous and speaks volumes for the sort of person you are.

Thylen had something to add. Your story will not ever be heard on Old Terra and no-one there will have any idea what you did. No-one in Vietnam or Australia. You and your cousins are missing persons and will stay that way. Here on New Terra, we know what you did, and we’re so proud of you.

“Thank you. Thank you for kind word you say.” Le looked peaceful, content with her life choice. She was now on her feet, bowing reverently to them, reflecting her appreciation of their kind words as much as their facilitation in allowing her to see her past life. She walked back to her seat.

Neca got up to give Le a hug before she sat down. “I can’t believe what you did,” she said. Pixie regarded Le with an adoring look as their eyes meet briefly. Le returned her gaze in kind, and yet she appeared matter-of-fact about what she’d done in her past life. She didn’t look bothered by how she had died, or the circumstances that led to her death. Pixie recalled how much Le had been troubled by her death vision back in the village. Now she’d actually relived it, and she didn’t even care. Pixie was learning that death was a simple transition and nothing to fear.

“I want to go next, after seeing what Le did, please.” Neca said, her voice tinged with joy at the parade of wonderful lives she was seeing from the people she loved. “I hope I can even partially measure up to what she did.”

Oh, you were all great. Don’t worry Neca. Your story is worth seeing and hearing too. Please step up. Kjersti was clearly enjoying reviewing their lives with them. Pixie was at the point where she was looking forward to her own life review. For now, though, she was happy to watch the great things her friends had done.

Neca lay down on the lounge, her thick, dark, shoulder-length hair having to be pinned back and out of the way so that Lyri could apply the helmet. Pixie had no idea where Lyri had gotten the pins from. Thylen repeated the procedure and Neca’s life review – and presumably the city of Alexandria – was soon up on the screen. Alexandria was a curious mix of modern buildings and others of a construction that seemed centuries old and probably was. Pixie heard a lot of English and Arabic words mixed together and remembered Neca telling her once that English was relatively common in Egypt. Neca had a large family, meaning there were lots of old and young people in the family home as she was growing up. The children were often playing board games indoors or sports outdoors. There were many crowded family mealtimes, other communal gatherings presumably with friends and extended family and, unfortunately, arguments.

What was noticeable was how often Neca was seen in conversation with family members, using what sounded like soothing words, although it was hard to tell with the advanced speed of the images. Pixie got the impression that Neca was a peacemaker within the family home on a regular basis. She was someone others could turn to and someone who helped keep the peace, even at a young age.

Neca soon left school and began working in a local hotel, judging by the images of the staff area behind the scenes, and the array of tourists in foreign clothing she was viewing from the front desk. The lobby in which she primarily worked was quite opulent, so this was obviously an upscale hotel. As at home, her demeanour had a positive effect on the guests. One brief glance in the mirror showed Neca in her hotel uniform, an attractive pink and blue shirt with matching skirt. She presented as exceptionally smart and pretty, although quite different to how she looked now. Neca apparently spent her spare time out on the beach promenade painting street scenes and then selling her work at a local market which was small but always crowded and noisy.

Suddenly the images changed to feature primarily the family home. The hotel job, the street scenes and the painting all but stopped. Neca was now often at the bedside of an older lady. The lady might have been a grandmother or an aunt, and she appeared to have a terminal illness. Neca was doing all of the cooking and cleaning, looking after her younger siblings, and generally managing the household as well as caring for her older relative. Something had perhaps happened to her mother, but Pixie wasn’t sure. Her relative died, and then there were brief funeral images. The last scenes Pixie saw before the screen went white and misty were of Neca herself in a bed and being cared for by a man she assumed was her father. Pixie assumed Neca had died of some sort of illness of her own.

How was that, Neca? Thylen regarded her inquisitively from his usual spot cross-legged on the floor while Lyri took the helmet off. Neca sat up and looked a bit bewildered.

“I didn’t do anything!” she cried. “I thought I would have done something great to end up here with all of these exceptional people. I lived my life, got sick and died. Where was the great sacrifice, the good works I did or the special words I spoke, or whatever it is you’re supposed to do? I shouldn’t be here!” Neca was emotional from time to time, but Pixie hadn’t seen her doubt herself before, like she was now.

Neca, Kjersti said, speaking gently, would it surprise you if I told you that you had the highest service-to-others ratio of anyone in your group?

“What is that? And how am I better than them? I don’t understand, sorry Kjersti,” said Neca, only mildly less indignantly.

Service-to-others is a measure of how much you consider your actions in the light of how they affect others, especially with regards to making their lives better. The opposite is service-to-self, where one makes decisions in their own interest at the expense of others.

“So I had the highest?” said Neca, still with some incredulity. “How is that possible? I didn’t… I wasn’t… sorry for not understanding how this works.”

Kjersti regarded Neca compassionately as she spoke. It’s perfectly okay! You regularly put others first in everything you did, from a young age. You gave away everything you had, almost to a fault. You were the one person in a volatile household that everyone could talk to at times of stress, even as a young girl. It took its toll on you, but you were always there for your family when they needed you. You took that hotel job because it would bring money into the house. You only painted because your father gave you the paints, forbade you from giving them away, and told you to take some time for yourself. Then when your grandmother got sick, you dropped everything to care for her, including your job and the one thing you truly loved: painting. If that’s not service-to-others I don’t know what is. You did so well, and you absolutely deserve to be here. This was a developing pattern across several of your past lives, not just this one. Kjersti was quite passionate in her description of Neca’s path to ascension.

The realisation of what she’d done slowly dawned on Neca as Kjersti spoke. Her face relaxed and her eyes regained their usual warmth. Her response this time had more reverence in her voice, perhaps realising now that she had indeed been a good person. “Thanks Kjersti. I just did what I thought was right as often as I could. I didn’t think it was all that special, at least initially. I worked hard at being good, and I can see now that I made all of my family’s lives better by being nice and helpful and solving problems when they happened.”

You most certainly did all of those things. Lyri this time. I’m inspired by you, Neca. You’re a beautiful person. Pixie felt herself having goose bumps at these words. They were absolutely and totally deserved. Neca was indeed a beautiful person and they all very much loved having her around.

This time Neca looked humbled, finally realising what she’d achieved. She glanced down at the floor, then up at Lyri. “Thank you, Lyri. That was very kind.”

Neca paused for a moment as she got up from the lounge. “Hepatitis, wasn’t it? That I died of?”

Yes, it was. Do you understand now how ascension works? Kjersti was back to her normal explanatory self.

“Yes for sure. I do.” Neca looked from Kjersti to Thylen and Lyri. “Thank you so much for helping me see that. I feel so much better now that I know what happened.” She was calm and peaceful in a greater degree than she had been at any stage since Pixie had known her as she walked back to her seat.

“You do great, Neca.” Rais’s praise was genuine. She looked as pleased at his words as anything else since her review had ended.

“I want to see what you did!” she whispered to him, with some intensity, such that the whole room could clearly hear it.

“I can wait. I want to wait more,” he replied.

Rivo spoke up. “I’m going to ask for Prina to go next, because if I don’t, she will sit here and go last.” Prina playfully punched him on the arm at these words.

Rocsi laughed at this exchange. “Oh come on Prina, you gorgeous thing you, we’d love to see your life. Get on up there!”

Come on up Prina. Thylen was grinning at her also.

“Oh, okay then!” she glared at Rivo with mock anger, before getting up, brushing her dark curls back from her face and walking to the chaise lounge. Pixie was loving every minute of these past life sessions. There was much joy in seeing the great things her friends had done, in anticipating the life reviews to come, and in the gentle banter that was often present when they were all together.

After Prina’s life, that will be half of you. I’d like to take a lunch break at that point before we do the rest of your lives. Kjersti’s words reminded Pixie of how hungry she was. She’d forgotten all about food since she’d been in Versena.

Prina was perhaps the most private and reserved of them all. Pixie was looking forward to seeing what made her who she was. When Prina’s life started appearing in the now familiar jumble of images, Pixie was surprised at how different it looked compare to the way she had pictured it. Prina lived in a quite opulent house, much like Le did in her early life. In amongst the unique sounds of the sitar – a musical instrument much like a guitar, Prina had said – was a lot of chatter and dinner parties.

Pixie had thought India was an impoverished country, which Prina said it definitely was, so she was intrigued to see what the home of a well-off family looked like. It was quite colourful and exquisitely decorated with artwork, fabrics, mirrors, indoor plants and plenty of casual and formal furniture in mostly wood and velvet. The predominant colours were warm pinks, reds and oranges and it was all visually stunning. When Prina was outside, the street scenes were similarly charming. The streets were cleaner than Pixie’s pre-conceived notions of Prina’s homeland, based on what Prina had told her. Pixie saw through Prina’s eyes a jumble of busy city streets and lots of activity: she assumed this was the city of Patna and was intrigued by the flurry of activity she saw. One of the street scenes at night featured a throng of lights, traffic, noises, sights and sounds that was equal parts intoxicating and confronting in its chaos. More than any other city so far, she wished she could experience this place in normal time, with all five of her senses, rather than only watching it on a screen in fast-forward. Even in this mode it was a vastly more charming than her prior imagination had allowed.

Prina went to university, just as she had told them all. Pixie watched through Prina’s eyes as she attended different classes and rode her bike back and forth to campus. In her spare time Prina was indeed designing and making clothes. This was more of a hobby and was unrelated to her university studies, as far as Pixie could tell. The clothing was always colourful: oranges, reds, pinks and blues featured in her designs. In terms of her university, Pixie could not tell what Prina was studying, as the classrooms were quite generic and could have been for anything within a broader arts or humanities stream.

The next scene that slowed down was out on another of Patna’s busy streets. Prina was talking in her native language to some local people who appeared to be homeless. Pixie could not understand what Prina was saying but she could hear sadness and compassion in her voice. Following this, Prina was working in a slightly run-down warehouse, sorting through piles of clothing. She was also using her motor vehicle – which seemed to be a rare thing for a youth in Patna to own – to collect unwanted clothing from all sorts of fancy homes. The next scenes showed her personally handing it out to people in the street who were genuinely appreciative. There were dozens of people that Prina met on the street with expressions of gratitude in their eyes as she and her friends handed them bags of clean clothes and personal items like toiletries and other basic needs. Then, without warning, the screen went black, followed by white and misty, as before

After Prina had the helmet removed by Lyri, her first words to Thylen were: “My mother always told me to be careful on the roads. I was, but not careful enough. I wish I could have finished what I started. I liked helping everyone.”

“It looked like you were giving clothes to poor people on the street – is that what you did, Prina?” Tau had been unusually quiet until now.

“Oh yes,” she replied. “When I wasn’t studying sociology, I spent all my time collecting and dropping off clothes. We were just starting to get the organisation off the ground when I left… I mean, died… you know what I mean. Can you tell me how it’s going, Kjersti?”

Your organisation has changed very little since you left, Prina. You had some good friends who are continuing your work. I can tell you, though, that they re-named it after you. It was your driving force that got it going and made it successful.

“Was it hard to do this sort of thing, as a woman, Prina?” Suria was another who was unusually quiet. In fact she’d been silent most of the day. Pixie wondered why but hadn’t had the opportunity to ask her what was up.

“In India, yes,” she replied, looking squarely at Suria.

“Probably anywhere really!” Suria replied.

Things are changing. Slowly, but they are getting there. Women’s liberation is making progress, but there is still a long way to go. Thylen spoke with some sadness in his voice. It made Pixie wonder how the Pleiadian society worked with regards to the sexes. She sensed already from what little she’d heard that it had a healthy balance of masculine and feminine.

Prina continued the conversation. “I had more than a few troubles. I used my family’s money to set up the organisation because no government official would even grant me an interview, let alone give me any of the city’s money. I didn’t want to see the poor people of my city suffer unnecessarily when there were families like mine who had more clothing than they would ever need. There was so much we couldn’t do, though.” Prina was a bit exasperated as she spoke, her brow furrowed as if there was a problem here that she had no idea how to solve.

You made an important start, Prina. You created awareness of the extent of poverty in your city. You influenced a lot of important people in the process, even if you think they ignored you. You changed their thinking, coming from your position in society and caring the way that you did. Your mere presence would have been enough because of your family’s position in society, but your constant advocating did a lot more. Attitudes towards poverty and homelessness across the whole Bihar region changed solely as a result of your organisation getting off the ground. No-one had done anything like that before or even thought of doing it until you came along. Your ascension was guaranteed the moment you started this work. Kjersti cast an approving look at Prina. Pixie was enjoying Kjersti’s life summaries. It helped with understanding what had happened in each life to bring about ascension.

“Thank you Kjersti. I… I’m glad I started something.” Prina was regarding Kjersti with joy and satisfaction at what she’d done. However, there was something left hanging in her words. They were subtly tainted with the unfinished business and the social problem that caused it. Before Prina had even made a move to resume her seat, Lyri spoke.

Lunch everyone? She was walking towards the door and gesturing for them to get up and follow her. Pixie didn’t have to be asked twice. She really was hungry.