Death Message

Chapter Thirteen

Brad was overcome with the profound beauty of the world he had penetrated. Cascading hues of whites, reds, blues, and greens were dancing, spinning, whirling, blending, and swirling about him. The cylinder was alive with a kaleidoscope of colors. Slowly, the cavalcade faded into the vast star-spangled richness of space. Encased in a three-dimensional cosmos, Brad marveled at the stunning, ever-changing views. He was touching the stars, swimming through the galaxies, traveling to the outer reaches of the universe, the dawn of time. He was accelerating faster now, warping through space, hurtling through time. The raging speed was a stellar contradiction to the gentle, tropical breeze that gently washed over his body. His hair fretting back, nudged by the balmy expanse. Brad's skin rippled with a million orgasmic tingles. His vision was acute, limitless, endless, boundless, he could see the birth of the ages, feel the Creators' presence, his warmth. Suddenly, Brad's momentum began to wane, he was slowing, decelerating rapidly, then drifting weightlessly, listlessly floating, dreamy, glorious, divine, his mind as light as his body: euphoric, astral, orbiting his very soul, witnessing the origin, the essence of life itself.

Maggie, he heard Maggie. Brad needed her, needed to share his wondrous vista.

"Maggie, it's beautiful," he beckoned to her as tears of joy streamed down his face. Never had he felt so much emotion, so much happiness, and so much bliss. He was drugged from sensory overload. He thought he would explode before consummating the experience, the rush, the ecstasy. Maggie glided into focus, like an angel from heaven. She hovered alongside, synchronized in pleasure. Her eyes are wide, her expression relaxed, and an intense peaceful aura surrounds her.

●●●●

"Maggie, are you all right?" Brad said, as he gently squeezed her arm. She was lying on her back. Brad sat on the floor, facing her. The experience had climaxed.

Maggie's eyes opened slowly then began darting around the entombment, startled by what she saw. They were at the center of a small chamber, a faint sweet shroud of vaporous white light surrounding them. They weren't in a cylinder but in a cube, perhaps ten feet on each side. On the far wall, Maggie noticed a bank of small red lights below a flat gray panel approximately two feet square.

"Where am I?"

"We're inside Maggie," Brad said in a soft reassuring tone.

"Inside what?"

"The cylinder."

"It certainly doesn't look like a cylinder," she said as she continued to peer around the enclosure.

"Well, as best as I can remember, the last thing I did was step inside the entrance to the cylinder."

"Me too."

"Did you have the same wonderful dream?" Brad questioned eagerly for Maggie to have shared the same brief, but immensely pleasurable journey.

"The 3-D version of the Big Bang and beyond," Maggie muttered, distinctly not as enthralled at the parade of visions as her husband.

"Yes, that's the one."

"It's too bad I had to wake up to this," Maggie said.

"To tell the truth, I'm not sure we were asleep."

"I hardly think what we witnessed qualifies as reality."

"We both experienced it, Maggie."

"What exactly did you see?" Maggie asked.

For the next ten minutes, they exchanged notes about the fantastic episode. Their descriptions matched perfectly.