+AMDG+

The last thing he remembered before he fell into unconsciousness was the site of fire all around him.

As the tiny craft pierced through the blanket of air surrounding Organia, he saw lascivious tongues of fire lick the heat shield like it was a lollipop. He felt the flames rock and sway his warp shuttle, as he fought its controls to guide it to a safe landing spot. Mouth dry and palms wet, he heard his racing heart beat against his chest in terror.

Pannis opened and shut his eyes every 10 seconds, too afraid of both seeing and not seeing what lay ahead of him. The distance between him and the land below shrank with each moment, now a hundred miles, now eighty, now sixty. Now and again, he glanced at the computer map, guiding him to the planet's largest city as best as it could.

He now flew into the planet's night-side, where any natives would probably think he was an arriving meteor or comet. He was now forty miles above land and closing fast. Thick wisps of smoke now mixed with the tongues of fire, cutting his visibility to near zero. His sweat matted his dirty blond hair to his skull, the drops on his brow threatening to enter his eyes.

"This is the last time I buy an early model Klingon shuttle sight unseen," he promised himself, as he turned the unwieldy flying tin can to the right. He aimed it for what he hoped was a thickening jumble of rain clouds ahead of him. Ten miles now and closing.

Pannis turned on the computer autopilot, punched in the numbers to land the craft safely near the big Organian city. Then his mind shut down his body and his eyes, as it forced him into a slumber of survival.

When he awoke, the gentle pitter-patter of a summer shower was cooling the shuttle's hull. Everything was dark inside except for the lights of the guidance system. Outside, he could barely make out the site of a thick grove of pine trees. Surprised, he chuckled to himself. He remembered only seeing such fine looking trees from his children's picture books.

"I must still be asleep," he said to himself. "Or else I've lost my mind for good."

He took his time unbuckling himself from the pilot's chair, his limbs aching and tired. Easing himself out of the chair, he got down on his hands and knees. He crawled toward the exit hatch as if he were crawling through a minefield, his lungs nervously gasping for breath.

Seven minutes past before he finally reached the hatch, lifting himself up to hit the exit button.

He hit it again a minute later.

He hit it a third time a minute after that before it opened. The heady, sweet smell of pine needles on a cool wet wind christened his face. He closed his eyes and smiled, pausing for several deep breaths of perfumed ecstasy. He dragged his tired body down the automatic stair case that deployed whenever the exit hatch opened. The rain falling down on him was dew from heaven.

He crawled over the wet grass, thick and full and uncut like his mother's hair when he was a boy. Without willing it, he giggled with relief. He lay down on the grass, letting his fingers run through the verdant carpet around him.

A moment later, he heard a pair of footsteps walking closer to him. Shutting his eyes, he slowly rolled over onto his back. Half opening them again, he looked up at an old man, dressed in a hooded dark robe and sandals and carrying a lit torch. His face looked thin and frail with kindly eyes and a goatee. The old man leaned over him, looking him over by the torch light.

The young man blinked his eyes, partly to keep the rain from falling into them. "If... you... can... under... stand... me..."

"Don't be afraid," said the old man. "I can understand you very well." He gently smiled. "My name is Ayelbourne. Welcome to Organia. Are you hurt badly?"

"Yes..." he said, as he winced in pain. "I...am...Councilor...Pannis... from...the...planet...Gideon... and... I... need... your... help..."

"Of course, of course," he said again, as he stuck his torch into the ground. He knelt down, caught the young man's chin in his hands. He gently moved the head left and right, as he closed his eyes and knit his brow intensely. Then he covered the visitor's forehead with his right hand.

"By all that's holy, your almost dead," he gasped. "Or on your way to being so." He stood up, turned around to face the darkness before him. "Hippoc? I call you, Hippoc. Bring two or three others with you and be quick about it. A visitor has arrived and is badly hurt."

Within a moment, three others arrived, one on foot carrying a cloth bag. The other two followed behind him in a covered horse-drawn cart.

"I'll bet it's one of those corporeal beings," grumbled Hippoc, clothed in a great hooded robe, his face wide and fully bearded. "Just like those humans and Klingons all those years ago. They and their blasted physical bodies, their very presence causing us pain."

"Even so," said Ayelbourne. "He is a visitor and deserves our hospitality. He came all the way from planet Gideon in that." He pointed to the Klingon built warp shuttle, it's charred hull still steaming from the rain falling on it.

Hippoc looked at it and groaned. "That rustbucket? It's no better than those metal shells the humans and Klingons travel in. That's the problem when you're still stuck with physical bodies, unlike us who made of pure thought. Just like their starships, their bodies eventually break down and wear out. What a waste, I tell you."

"I can do without the history lesson, thank you very much," the elder Organian said with exasperation. "Just help me get this young man into the cart and into the city. As soon as he's healed, we'll ask him what his business is here and take it from there. Now you grab his feet and I'll grasp his shoulders."

The two Organians lifted the Gideonite up from the ground, lay him in the back of the cart. They both got in after him, covered him and themselves with blankets.

"Ayelbourne," said Hippoc. "Haven't you forgotten something?"

"The torch? Oh, yes, thank you." The old man spun his right hand around three times.

The flaming torch, stuck into the ground, now shot up into the sky like a rocket, heedless of the rain. Within fifteen seconds, there was a brilliant flash within the clouds. Both men looked up at the smaller flashes bursting in the wake of the bigger one, followed by thin brilliant streams of light shooting in all directions.

"Fireworks?" said Hippoc, shaking his head. "You showoff."

Ayelbourne just smiled as the cart sped away into the night.