The Dream
A bird of great grace – an eagle, a hawk, a great owl of soulice – glides through the bright blue sky with me, weaving elegantly through the light fluffy, summer's day clouds with me. The sun is shining warmly, gently, on my back.
I look down at the magestic horses that gallop through the savanna grasses, led by the strongest and fiercest. He tosses his head at me and whinnies his greeting. A great buffalo roars as his herd splashes through the lakes of the savanna, shaking water from his long fur and sending flying droplets of ice-cold water through the air, landing on my skin, but I don't find the cold and stiffness of the droplets unsettling.
Blackbirds and Magpies fly lie above the treetops, where squirrels and other treetop dwelling animals leap through the branches and leaves that hide the rabbits and bunnies and other woodland creatures that run below the canopies from me.
Flowers and blossom springs up along the ground and through the tress as we pass, and, as the landscape changes from the peaceful planet that has never known no pain, torment, war or destruction to be replaced by the unexplored, unknown and mysterious dark vastness known as space, the animals stay with me by my side, running and flying through space with me.
The clouds and trees and the bright blue sky, the flowers and the blossom, the savanna and its lakes, are replaced by the darkness of the empty void between the planets known as space that's filled with stars and comets and meteors, gas giants and nebulas, suns and moons, dark matter and wormholes and black holes; and the starships of the civilisations that have long ago ventured into this void to explore and conquer the secret knowledge of life and existence that can only be found in the stars, with the billions of others that had set out searching hundreds of years ago for the same kind of knowledge, many of them harmless and friendly.
Planets and stars and nebulas, suns and moons and whole star systems go by. The familiar space I recognize fades into unknown space. Enticed by the beauty of this unknown region of what I'm sure is my home galaxy, I look around, taking everything in with a hint of awe and admiration swelling inside me.
The sights are beautiful: Class-M planets, some inhabited, some not, but all calm, quiet and serene; nebulas filled with rainbows of light and colour; comets and meteors, solid balls of rock shooting through the bright lights of the burning gas giant stars, flame and fire streaming out behind them as they crash and burn on a planet here, a moon over there; asteriods floating on the solar winds that guided them from here to there and everywhere.
We land on a planet, and I can feel a ghostly, whispering body beginning to take shape around me, swirling and humming in the warm, gentle wind that blows softly around me and the animals, our not solid, not whole bodies streaming soft, white smoke in every direction.
I can feel the strength of the buffalo and his herd flowing through me, the grace of the hawk, the speed of the owl, the magnifiecence of the eagle, the cunning of the blackbirds and magpies, the love, caring, honesty and gentleness of the woodland creatures filling my veins, giving me hope and something I never knew I didn't have.
The horse stretches out his nose to me, and I can feel my ghostly hand reaching out to stroke him, a small smile curling my lips. The eagle settle on my shoulder, and the hawk circles low over my head before he too settles on my shoulder.
"You are not alone, Kathryn," a voice like the wind swirls around me, warming me up inside. The eagle jumps from my shoulder and lands in a tree, stirring the leaves of the tree branch above my head. The horse bows his head, and steps back, the hawk sat on his back, cleaning his wings.
I turn, and the wind blows gently, warmly, whisking away my voice as I breathe his name, so proudly is he stood there before me. Animals much like mine stand behind him, all of them as ghostly as me.
He holds out his hand to me and smiles. I take his hand and he pulls me gently towards him. "You aren't alone," he whispers to me, gently squeezing my hand. "Look at the animals behind you. They define who you are: the buffalo, your strength; the horse, your leadership; the hawk, your grace; the eagle, your fearlessness; the owl, the blackbirds, the magpies, your cunning and swiftness, your intelligence; the forest animals – the squirrels, the rabbits, the chipmunks – your loving, caring, honest, gentle, friendly heart. The herds that follow the buffalo and the horse are your crew. They respect you and love you like family, Kathryn, they need you." My eyes mist over. "Let me show you something," he leads me through the forest. Our animals move through the forest around us, the birds soaring through the sky above us.
The trees thin out, and I can see the edge of the colony. We slip through the shelters and towards our cabin. He guides me up the steps and through the door, our ghostly animals following us inside, the hawk settling on my shoulder.
"I don't understand. What's going on, Chakotay?" I look up at his ghostly face. Before us, I see my body lying on the bed, my eyes closed, my skin pale. There's a dark pool of crimson-red blood spreading across the covers above my left side. Chakotay is sat by my side, holding my hand tightly, his eyes closed too. Tuvok sits between us, and I recognize the Vulcan Bridging of Minds. Flowers are laid out around my bed.
He looks down at me, his face contorted in heartbroken pain. "You're dying, Kathryn. I'm here to bring you back to me, to us. We need you, Kathryn, I need you," his eyes fill with tears, "please don't leave me, not now." My heart breaks and I throw my arms around him, burying my face in his chest.
"I don't want to leave," I sob. "I love you too much, Chakotay, and my crew. What should I do, how do I make this right?" He strokes my hair and kisses the top of my head, shedding his own tears.
"It's okay, we'll make it right, I promise, and I'll stay by your side forever. I'm not going to leave you now, my woman warrior," I smile, and pull him closer to me.
I tilt my head up and gently kiss him.