Nirvana

[Lance_Uppercut]

This is the story of a lost spirit that found empty bliss in the utter void.
//It's okay, I guess. I probably won't be editing/adding much here, so feel free to comment, etc.
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Part I.
Linji-Shoriu

The 22 year-old Linji-Shoriu looked up from his sitting alongside the local stream on his native Honshu. The nighttime stars and clouds always anchored the young man's life through turbulence and toil. At 12, his grandfather went missing while working for the still-nascent Gas Miners' Guild. At 15, his family's terrestrial farm was overrun by bandits while Honshu was in the midst of the "little" fishing collapse of 580 A.S. Only two years later, Linji's biggest crush came when his father and older brother Tanoshi were killed in a skirmish between the AFA and (purportedly) the Blue Lotus Syndicate. But through Linji's tragic upbringing, the night sky remained as perhaps the last constant in his life.

After the death of Linji's father and brother, the 17 year-old fell under the guidance of spiritual leader Kijen Dougen. With no remaining masculine ties to his family and just about zero ambition, Linji yielded to Dougen as the last bastion of humanity he knew.

Of all of Dougen's spiritual teachings, the principles of the ancient schools of Zen Buddhism -- or what remnants made it to Sirius -- appealed to Linji the most. Though no true masters of the ancient practice existed, Dougen did his best to satisfy the young man's thirst for Zen.

In retrospect, it's easy to see why a man like Linji would gravitate towards Zen. In practice, Zen offers not a religion, but a meta-philosophy. That is, it is not only a philosophy on all life, but it is a philosophy on all meaning of everything. For a man to lose so much so quickly, only spiritualism and philosophy could possibly hope to fill the void.

So tonight, in the midst of yet another ascetic practice, Linji looks up to the stars that have meant so much to him. Like any good compass, the Honshu night sky is Linji's compass -- his frame of reference. He finds himself distracted by his stars tonight, since in the early hours of the morning, he will depart his planet aboard a Kishiro-sponsored train bound for the Hokkaido system. Linji is acutely aware of the fact that these may be his last moments with his Honshu sky.

Part II.
"Ah, so you are alive."

The dull hum of his transport's lifting engines did little to quiet the mindless thoughts of the apprehensive Linji. "Anyone home, guy?" Linji turned to find a smiling man of around his own age standing in the door of his small quarters. "Ah, so you are alive."

Linji flatly introduced himself to the stranger, who identified himself as a scientist-in-training for Kishiro named Hiro. "I'm getting my first crack at field work in Hokkaido," Hiro went on excitedly. "How about you?"

"I'm following the advice of my mentor, Dougen," Linji finally strung together a solid sentence. "He told me there is an ancient religion expert aboard Ainu Depot -- a lady named..."

"GC?? He told you to go to there?" the man jumped in.

Linji shrugged. "He said it would be okay -- that he knew her, and the Kishiro rep said they'd arrange it so... here I am."

"Whatever you say, guy."

From the tone of his voice, it was clear this Kishiro recruit had no real interest in talking to someone involved with the GC, and Linji was just as well off with the silence. He wanted to clear his mind for his trip.


Part III.
The Vacuum

Linji was jarred awake by a loud rattle and strong vibrations on his transport not 20 minutes into his voyage. Panicked, Linji ran out into the galley looking for an answer. Startled, the idle crewmembers looked at the young man like he was an alien.

"What are you doing, guy??" The man from earlier grinned.

"I uh... what ha... wait..."

"Listen, guy, that's just the docking sequence for our jumpgates," the guy was just a bit condescending to the obviously-inexperienced space traveler. "Don't worry, if we're under attack, *heh* you'll know." It didn't exactly make Linji feel better.

Unable to sleep, Linji sought to explore the vessel a bit. His interest was quickly piqued by the panoramic view courtesy the lounge's virtual windows. The stars in New Tokyo only bared resemblances to his sky in Honshu, with only a handful of recognizable points shared between the two systems. After who-knows-how-long, it became apparent that his transport had stopped.

"Hey, I was noticing the station over there hasn't moved sinc..." Linji turned back into the galley looking for another answer, but this time he found himself alone. Noise and bustle was heard from the command deck, upstairs. Linji climbed the stairs to find the crew in commotion and in various states of equipment.

"What's goi..."

"Get downstairs!" One crewmember yelled.

"Guy!" The man from before hopped forward, struggling to get his impact boots on. "You gotta get back downstairs -- we've been stopped!"

"Stoppe..?"

"It's Xenos! They're threatening to engage us!"

"Xenos? From Libe... ...here? Aren't we still in Kusa---"

"Doesn't matter! We need to get ready to defend ourselves! You get downstairs and stay in your quarters!!!"

The gravity of the situation hit Linji like a comet. He hurriedly returned to his room, and peered out his small window. There was nothing to see but stars. An acute sense of helplessness flooded the room. With limited options, Linji began goring through his limited belongings. Just as he methodically folded and squared away the meditation vestments passed along by Dougen, the ship exhibited a high-frequency rattle and a strange electrical noise. Before he had the time to check the window, Linji found himself knocked to the floor by a series of severe low-frequency vibrations. He grabbed his belongings and ran to the designated emergency area as posted on the inside of his room.

As he ran along the hallways of the vessel -- which were now blanketed in eerie red emergency lights -- Linji felt a certain emptiness.

Is this the end of me?
Will I enter the void of space?
Is this how Tanoshi felt?

As Linji reached his destination, he found several other people, of whom he suspected were other non-Kishiro passengers. Some cried, others paced, and not one of them had been in this position before. The vibrations and noises persisted.

Suddenly, the vessel lurched hard to one side, and various alarms serenaded the decks. The doors in the room in which Linji and the other passengers were waiting suddenly opened, revealing about a dozen escape pods, and indicator lights displayed a countdown to disembarkation.

15...

The startled passengers scrambled for the nearest door, leaving Linji bewildered and disoriented.

10...

As Linji entered the closest pod, the Kishiro crew we heard again upstairs. Some shouted and collared, undoubtedly jockeying for their own escape.

5...

The door on Linji's pod suddenly shut, and automatic systems began operation. Just seconds later, the pod exploded from the side of the transport and found itself in the great vacuum.

Linji was alone.


Part IV.
Void

The terrible flash of light from behind his pod subsided quickly, affording Linji his first glimpse of the scene. In flames was the Kishiro vessel, as were several unfortunate escape pods. Linji's emptiness persisted, and any emotion brought upon by the sight of the wreckage was muted at best.

In short time, his pod picked up transmissions from the Kusari State Police. Salvage crews responded soon after, and reported each recovered pod and equipment. After fifteen minutes of floating in the vacuum, Linji's muted emotions crashed with a single incoming transmission.

*** Kusari Salvage 3-14: All wreckage and survivors accounted for. Return to base. ***

With no means of outward communication in this early model of Kusari escape pods, Linji experienced the reality that every space pilot dreads: helpless abandonment in space.

In a melancholy state of serenity, Linji felt oddly prepared for this. He had his philosophy, and he had his stars. He turned to Dougen's teachings and his natural Zen instinct to clear his mind, and perhaps subconsciously, subdue his personal void. Linji entered meditation.


---

In time, Linji lost all sense of time and its onward crawl. Day-to-day needs like food and drink became meaningless. All emotion melted from the young man, and he proceeded deeper into meditation. As the momentum of his ship carried him away from all charted space, all hope of discovery faded -- unbeknownst to Linji, of course.

Emptiness, totality....
......labels, meanings, words....
...................knowledge and discovery....

The meaning of Zen became apparent... and if he allowed the thought to enter his mind, Linji would realize he was on his way to enlightenment. In the form of true masters, Linji took his lonesomeness and disconnected from the world and all its thought.

As this man -- this mind -- carried on through the void, Linji reached closer and closer to true enlightenment. However, after nearly two weeks of meditation (thanks to the extremely suppressed metabolism and vital signs), his thoughts began to navigate. As though brought upon by a force breaking the loneliness, Linji spontaneously imagined individual stars. The warmth of these stars was unmistakable. Soon, he was experiencing things he had no history with -- images never before seen, places never experienced. A strange shrine.

Then there were voices.

The voices grew louder and more clear, but the depth of Linji's meditation left him unable to change his thoughts. He experienced thoughts of terrible torment and unimaginable bliss, but his mind tried to negate all meaning nonetheless.

As Linji's last conscious act, his mind turned to the images of his stars back on Honshu. The moment he imagined their guiding brilliance, he was overcome with an unmistakable warmth, and Linji ceased to be.

---

::The Pennsylvania Liberation Force