Star Trek-Outwardly Mobile:

Asogi Castle


by

Jay P Hailey


I walked through the cool morning air. The mist and the earlier rain in the morning made the air smell fresh and infinite. The pines that clung to the sides of the mountains added their enthusiastic commentary to the morning.

The path I walked was flat, and gravelled. It wound along the side of a very steep ravine. We were in the central mountains of Japan. In Japanese history the difficult, steep terrain played a solid role.

A few steps later I was in the garden. A Japanese zen rock garden, raked into a simple, elegant pattern with a wooden rake. There was a wooden platform toward the back of the garden, set for the best possible view. In a more modern garden it would be a bench. But this garden dated back a thousnd years to Midieval Japan. I looked back at the Castle at the bottom of the ravine. It was a huge, rambling masterpiece of Japanese architecture. It controlled the whole valley. This was one of three castles to hold out against the Tokugawa Reformation. These people were brought on board by negotiation, not the threat of arms, and that castle was why.

I settled myself on the wooden platform. This reminded me that I needed to be a little more diligent about my personal excercise. I was looking north at the opposite side of the cut in the mountain. To my right the righting sun shot rays of sunlight down the ravine. The sunlight sparkled off everything and made the natural beauty of the ravine shone like it was coated in diamonds, except better. The sounds of the wildlife gently came and washed over my ears.

I made my self comfortable and began to try to meditate. It had been a while. Meditation is like any muscle, if not used it atrophies.

Eventually I managed to achieve a light, but definite alpha state. Not too great, but maybe I could return here regulrly and work on it. I drifted off into the moment.

And I was totally suprised when my Kitten bounced on me from behind. Evidently of all the sensory input and things to explore in the garden I was still her faorite toy. And she wasn't about to let me get away with paying attention to anything but her. A few moments of wrestling settled the issue. This wasn't about me, this trip. it was about her.

I found I especially liked the Asogi park and museum. And better yet, in the holodeck, I didn't have to sweat the crowds.

 

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek. I claim original characters and situations in this story for me.

This story posted by permission of the author. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Jay P. Hailey

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