(1) Rebirth on Planet Paradiso

Groggily Anjeliqua rolled over upon awakening. Relief flooded her as she realized she no longer had the soft downy wings of a moth. "That was a poor choice," she admonished herself.

Anjeliqua felt her new body with admiration and eager anticipation. It would be clumsy until she had outgrown the kittenish shape she'd started this incarnation with. Still, based on the life form charts she'd studied before choosing this one, she was sure that she'd really enjoy her life this time around. New body, new planet, new experiences.

For one thing, being on top of the food chain again was a blessed relief. She shuddered at her last memory before the Inbetween and then the Waking in this new world. Intense pain and panic had engulfed her and she had fluttered in a futile effort to escape her murderer's vise-like hold, then sudden darkness before the soft light of Inbetween.

Her new mother's quick raspy tongue quieted her shuddering thoughts and awakened a thirst in Anjeliqua. She summoned all her strength to push her pudgy, still floppy body towards the sensation of warmth and the sound of thrumming, finding at last the soft underbelly of the mother, and a teat to latch on to. Delirious delight filled her along with the sweet liquid pouring into her mouth. She swallowed thankfully and found herself kneading the furry wall of her mother's belly. Soon she felt her throat vibrate. It emitted a strange thrumming sound which felt lovely and relaxed her until she fell unwilling into sleep.

The dreams were the only down side to repeated incarnations. It didn't happen to everyone, or so the Majester informed her, she was among the 3% who had them. During her stay in Inbetween three incarnations ago, Anjeliqua had spend what felt like days but were probably only nanoseconds, with the Majester, asking about these very dreams. This was only her fifth incarnation since leaving her human body on Earth behind. She'd been very surprised by Inbetween and the Majester, having believed up until then that only oblivion faced the dead. However, during that first visit, the Majester had explained, rather kindly, she thought, that the soul actually persisted, weighing in at roughly seven ounces, the weight lost by the body when a person died.

It also surprised her that there were so many alien life forms available to her along with the life-supporting planetary systems they lived on. This was her first extra planetary incarnation and she felt quite ready for it. Her first incarnations had been spent living as her favourite animals - a wolf, a horse and a whale - but the actual experiences had not been anything like what she'd imagined while in her human form. All of them lived far too long and had far too boring lives, except for the whale whose life had been rife with tragedy.

Her frustration with these first lives had contributed to her choice to come back as a moth for incarnation number four, despite the Majester's cautioning. She had figured that at least it would be mercifully short, and besides, she had been keen to know what flying with your own wings felt like.