“Raceme, ask your people to spread out. They must stand still so that the creatures we place before them are able to find them. They will not harm you, but they will help you understand what our problem is.”
5591
As could be expected, the Whites were nervous and emoting their yearning. The gobbies picked it up and augmenting what they received they sent it back, stronger and stronger until, once they were touching, it was overwhelming. I only concentrated on Sheena - as did Robbie. She was scared, more so than the adults and as they touched her, her equivalent of a scream broke out as a wild yearning. For a short while, not more than seconds, she responded to their emoting by strengthening her own, but then their need overwhelmed her. For a second she stopped yearning and then it was as if a bolt of lightning shot through our minds. She had responded to the need of her gobbies and sent back to them the love they seemed so desperately to crave! They reinforced her breakthrough by changing their emoting and sending her so much love that she fainted.
Robbie was instantly by her side and tossed the gobbies to me. He held her to him as tears overflowed and ran down his cheeks. Sheena woke up to the feeling of his holding her and the love he was emoting and as her large eyes opened and stared into his, we felt the wonder in her. She responded to Robbie and I called for Cherine. Instantly she was with us and she used her gift to strengthen the love between the two of them to almost unbearable levels. All the girls, even though they were still in Freddie, shared with us, our own love for Sheena growing in surges, so we were not surprised when the circle extended and snapped, bringing her into our family. Arthur, Sheena is one of us now. Thank you, she is pure magic to feel and share with.
Luckily Christós and Vincent did not wait for us and as each White had their own breakthrough, they removed the gobbies. To say that the Whites were dazed would be an understatement. They were in shock and sought each other out for comfort, weeping and sobbing at the magic of having known both aspects of love.
Since our family withdrew to savour this moment, we gave permission to everyone who wanted to go to the Whites to do so, subject to other species adopting (projecting) forms similar to ours, and Vincent saw to it that they were sheathed. Despite myself, I could not help noticing that Solomon was one of those who went and I wondered why he was excited/nervous.
Our joy is not complete yet, we cannot take her to the void to exchange kiss and share slivers and she is not Cherinian born, so is too young to be suddenly introduced to the wonders of our sexual loving. At least she is a sensitive and can feel our emoting while we feel all she is going through and those of us who have never had to live without love find it amazing, I mean, she even fears love! Every now and then, she bursts into tears and we soften our emoting to give her time to get used to our love.
Laura, with that Irish sense of humour she has, asked us, “What if Arthur comes here and wants her?” Another source of amazement for us - you would not believe how selfish our emotional response was and we whole-heartedly agreed with Robbie when he replied, “Not a chance, she is a part of us now.” Sorry Arthur, you really lost out.
What a wonderful charmed life we are living. We totally ignored the rest of Freddie for the next two days and concentrated on our Sheena. On the second day she learnt about Alki, though we have no way to give her a picture for the word ‘pappou’ she understood us after we verbally explained the basics of how families are made up. We invited Alki, Marian and the kids to the house and in the beginning Sheena sat with Dommi, shyly peeking at them. Robbie took her hand and led her to Alki. She surprised all of us by reaching for his face and pretending to pick a flea off his cheek while sending a questioning picture and emotion. Alki beamed at her.
“Yes my little one, I will look after you.”
Our next surprise. For the first time ever, she mouthed the word pappou, the effort making popping sounds in her mind as she tried to verbalise the letters ‘p’. Alki hugged and praised her until she happily sat on his lap, preening with pride that now our pappou is also hers.
5592
For two days and nights she had almost monopolised Robbie, so she did not look too happy the next day when he told us he would have his coffee at the taverna while chatting with others about the Whites, asking us to meet him there later. As he made to leave, Sheena made a supreme effort and telepathically managed her first ‘word’. *Wowerttt.*
Instantly Robbie forgot about leaving and crouched before her. “Try again my love. Rrrobberrt.”
When she managed *Wobet* he was ecstatic. Joyfully he grabbed her by the armpits and threw her in the air. As she came down he caught her and smacked a kiss on her lips. She put her arms around his neck and smothered him as she crushed his face against her chest. When she let go and he gasped a breath, he was broadcasting his love so powerfully that everyone must have felt him.
“If she can form words telepathically I do not see any reason why she will not eventually be able to speak verbally. Sheena baby, tell them my name?”
*Wobet.*
“It is really amazing! Robert, even if she does succeed, it does not mean the adult Whites will. However, it does show that if they are taught from a young age, they can. I think the original Whites must have found their way of communicating so expressive of what they really wanted to say that they did not try to speak words. It could pose a problem for us too. As we learn more of their pictures, might we also end up using their method of communicating almost exclusively?”
Robbie laughed. “If we find out they have pictures for swearing that are more satisfying than our words, we worry about it then.” The truth is, none of us are capable of thinking deeply right now, we are too happy.
“How are the adult Whites affected?”
“They are a puzzle. Before dawn they moved out of their village, scattering in all directions, in groups of three or four. Only the elderly have remained to care for their animals.”
We all sobered. Robbie took Sheena from Aven and jumped to a group trudging through the snow. “Why have you left your homes?”
“We had a meeting last night and decided we must travel to the other villages and teach them what we have learnt. Robert, the change you brought on us, will it make our Parents love us?”
“In itself, no. If you want them to love you, then you must first give them your love without flooding them with your need for love. You have done well and we will help where we can.”
“Good and not good Robert.”
“What is the not good?”
“We do not think we can teach them without the help of the creatures of love. You could not, how can we?”
“We will bring them once you arrive and have explained.”
“Robert, you have powers we do not.” He waited. “Why do we exist? Why did we change from being as the other babies of our parents?”
“It will be explained, there is a reason - I think it is a good reason.”
“Robert?” He turned back to the man. “I love you.”
Robbie’s face was as gentle as the face of Christós can be. “My heart is open to yours, feel my love. Feel the love I have for the little one we call Sheena.”
“We feel hers for you. Perhaps it will not matter anymore that she is unlinked.”
“What do you mean when you say she is unlinked?”
“When we collect a child of ours, those who do so note who the Parents are so that someday, should the Parents want us back, the child knows who to return to.”
5593
“I can find her parents, there is no need to worry for her.” Robbie was about to jump back, so I quickly sent him a question. “There are those among you who are old. Surely their parents are dead? Are they considered unlinked?”
“No, how can they be? The Parents have Family do they not? If there is no Family, then they are unlinked and travel into the snow.”
“To die?”
“They are already dead Robert, what purpose is there to life for the unlinked?”
Robbie’s thoughts returned to his childhood and the ‘death’ of his mother. For a moment, he felt he understood them, but then the cruel waste of lives forced him to rebel. “Never! Life is never without a purpose. Each life is precious, a light filled with colours that pushes back the darkness. Look at you, you stand on the ground, your feet are linking you to the land. It may not be so obvious, but you are linked in the same way to all lives around you. If your link to the past becomes too important, you allow yourselves to ignore your link to the present and the future. Each of you is linked to all the people, dedicate yourselves to them, each to all others, and you will never be alone or unlinked.”
“Perhaps it will be possible now Robert.”
Sparklers are watching the travellers so that we are ready to help them with gobbies when they are needed. Evolution is taking a step forward for the Whites, it is time now for us to give the evolution of the Darks a nudge. Robbie returned to us filled with grief. We had to soothe and shield Sheena while trying to stay untouched by his pain, for it lay too close to the surface in us also. Such a beautiful people, their lives revolving around an emotion they had never been able to feel, they do not deserve final death.
The next morning we were discussing who should take gobbies to which village when Allan and his loves arrived. He ordered toast, honey and coffee for himself, but insisted Eleni and Jess have a full breakfast. While they ate he concentrated on his loves, but they sensed he is amused and were trying to find out why. He kept his mind blocked until he lit a cigarette, sipped from his second cup and sat back.
“Christós, you better watch out.”
“For what?”
“Robert. It seems he is preparing himself to become the Jesus of this world. Did you listen to him yesterday? The sort of thing you are expected to say, isn’t it?”
Robbie flushed with anger. “I do not find that amusing.”
He flicked his ash. “Well, you have been practising with the Akiard kids, so I admit, you are getting better at it.”
All our non-Terran friends stopped talking, even telepathically, and Sheena began to emote her yearning again. Robbie was about to blast out at Allan when he saw Vincent is amused. “What’s so funny! Are you trying to encourage him?”
“Please, go ahead, let him have it with both barrels. I’ll explain afterwards.”
That made Robbie keep quiet. Angrily he lit a cigarette as he tried to continue with the plans we’d been discussing. As if he were conspiring with Allan, Vincent leant over and whispered (knowing we would all hear), “You seem to know more buttons than I do, you must teach me.” With an oath, Robbie jumped. Cherine glared at Vincent and Allan and jumped to Robbie.
“You shouldn’t ask me Vincent, go to the master, ask Sam, she knows many more than I do.”
I turned to him, my eyes cold. “Are you certain you want to involve me in your fun and games Allan?”
I felt him wilt as he answered, “No Sam, I was only acknowledging you are the master button pusher.” Samuel laughed and I vowed to get even with him.
“Eleni, I suggest you start pushing a few buttons of your own and get him out of here for a while.”
5594
“That was crude Samantha, I expected more finesse from you.”
“Is that so Samuel? I’ll remember to apply more finesse when I decide to push your buttons. Right now we are running out of time and have to get organised and collect some gobbies.”
Later on, Vincent spoke to me alone. “That was not nice of you Samantha.”
“I know that Allan meant well, he has set himself up as some sort of policeman, always ready to puncture Robert’s balloon if he thinks he is forgetting his role as servant of the people. Vincent, all I did was remind him that I know his buttons - he gets so easily deflated if criticised or confronted head on.”
Vincent grinned. “Yes he does, sort of reminds me of Robert in that way.”
“And you? What are your buttons?”
“The family Samantha; all you girls are my buttons.”
“Nice swerve.” I laughed. “I hope I’m a pretty button.” He swung me up into his arms without answering, only chuckling.
Periga stood up as we arrived in his home. We saw he had a number of guests. “What has happened? I warned you they are dangerous.”
“Not anymore. They have learnt to love. Feel Sheena.”
“I do! But how!?” We explained fully. They asked questions, not daring to believe and we did all we could to explain why they had been as they had been and how they are now. A man, in his late twenties, leant forward and put his face in his hands, his grief lashing out at us. Gently sweet Goldi took hold of his hands and pulling them away from his face asked him what is wrong.
“How will I tell my wife?” We saw from the faces of the others that they knew what he was grieving about and we began to suspect, thinking he had taken part in a raid. Goldi only stared him in the eyes, waiting for an explanation. “We had a mutant son. I did not want him growing up and then being killed, I thought it was kinder to kill him as soon as he was born.”
We could not help shrinking away from him for a second, but Goldi held on to his hands. Her stare compelled him to look at her. “You did what you thought was right at the time. You are only allowed to blame yourselves for what you do from now onwards.” She looked around. “Will you welcome your children back and allow their love for you to teach you to love them also? If Cherine links you, will you take care of them?”
Sheena is the magic button that helps them understand how the Whites have changed. They feel her love for us, her adoration of Robbie and they envy him, so they all gave a positive answer. When, in the general discussion that followed, they learnt that someone, in all likelihood from space, had caused the mutations, they were very angry and would not listen to us for a few days, clamouring for vengeance. We did ask, but none claimed they’d had a daughter about three years ago. Sheena had to have been born in this town or another very close by and we were certain we would find her parents. How they would react to losing her to us we did not know and worried over it.
* * * * *
The Darks do not have a central government. Larger towns tend to have influence on the smaller towns surrounding them, but the distances are such, the land is so rich, that they have not felt the need to create armies. The lack of armies means they do not have bureaucracies for us to get entangled in their red tape. In a way, they remind me of the Swiss. Every man is expected to train and bear arms in protection of their own family and the town in general. Their working hours are long, but not harsh enough to have turned them into brutal souls. They are pragmatic, keep their towns clean and every one of them, even the farmers, likes to think of himself as a trader, a master at negotiating deals with the few travelling traders. Manoli and then most of the other ex-Normals, claimed that as Normals they would have been happy to live here.
5595
They tend to be slow at making decisions and even after agreeing to something they need to return home to think about it overnight. A few females from Freddie claimed this is because they have to consult with their wives. Unfortunately it is not true for the majority of them, they genuinely need time to adjust their thinking. It took us days to convince the first townsmen that they have to spread the message to other towns. Only once they understood they would be travelling with us did they find our request reasonable. It only made sense to them that since they would be visiting other towns they should gather whatever they have to trade to take with and make notes of what goods they need in return, so we had to wait another couple of days. Of course, once they were ready then they were in a hurry as they had to return to take care of their animals, harvest and so on.
It has been a long time since we’ve been so stupid and because we did not think, we have hurt a lot of people. We never sensed from Periga that it could be a problem, and because the Whites are so beautiful, we did not take our usual precaution of altering our features slightly with the result that a number of men fell in love with some of us. Those that are extra delicate like Gilli and Wendy have not caused many problems. Goldi and Diana are the target for many hearts, but the cat-like eyes of Shiyra and the wholesome beauty of Aganthi and Maria have captured the majority of them. That is just of the girls from our family. Other girls also have their suitors.
Most of the groups have few problems in the other towns, we face disbelief, but slowly we are able to convince them. The towns Robbie goes to with Sheena are the problem. Her appearance, even though in his arms, causes an uproar and the people are less willing to open their minds. We altered our strategy, Robbie and Sheena waiting for us to call them to us to prove that we speak the truth.
At the same time, we are kept busy jumping to the Whites with gobbies. At least there we meet with no animosity, only fear and yearning, which they soon learn how to control. They are all shocked to find out that their need for the love of their Parents has been the cause of their problems, but after feeling the even stronger yearning of the gobbies, they understand and are sort of abashed - and excited at the new world they sense is opening to them. We will not be visiting every town, as the locals can visit those that are closer to the bigger towns. We had to pay (in kind) for messengers to ride in all directions to warn everyone that no more babies are to be sacrificed, but it is better for their pride that they handle it in their own way. No Whites have returned to meet their parents yet. They have agreed to wait for us to advise them when and where. We will wait a couple of weeks before we do so.
“Samantha, I have visited the artist and many other adult whites. I cannot find any evidence of souls in them. You must have been mistaken. Perhaps your deep need to find they do have souls caused you to feel he has a soul.”
“Solomon, it hit me too hard for me to believe it was just wishful thinking. I can’t be that wrong!”
He shrugged, but his eyes were filled with compassion. “I don’t see how you could be right.” My family rushed in to my mind to soothe me, but I asked them to give me time to think. I asked Cherine to stay with and let her share as I went through the memory in detail. By the time I was ready to face everyone again Cherine was in agreement with me.
“Solomon, what Sam felt was not due to her own needs, she did feel something. Whether it was a soul or some power of theirs I do not know. This reality seems to be very different from any of the others we know. Look at the Eqkee and their common soul for example. Perhaps some other kind of law applies here.”
“Why not with their parents then? Their souls are exactly like those of your species. Just because their bodies mutated should not alter their souls.”
Robbie ignored that Cherine had sided with me. “Sammy my love, you know I would usually take a stand on your side, but this is Solomon! If the Sparklers cannot sense a soul, how could you? Accept it my love, they don’t have souls, and then you’ll be able to concentrate on solving the problem of how we can help attach souls to them.”
“No dad, we will not attach souls to them.” They stared at me in shock. “Why is a soul chosen to live in a particular body and mind? Dare we blindly grab souls and force them into living part of a life? Will they lose the memories of previous lives? We already know that the process of entering a foetus alters the soul so that the present life becomes part of a chain of lives, how do we mimic that? When we are in the void my soul still carries my mind, my personality and memories. What would the attached souls be in the void? There are too many unknowns for us to act blindly.”
5596
“But at least Sheena, if we each give a sliver and create a new soul for her, why shouldn’t it work? It did for Diana and the twins.”
“I’m uncomfortable with that dad. Diana was created with her soul, she did not acquire hers years later. What if we succeed, but find that the soul is not Sheena? Would you get rid of it?”
“Oh Jesus.”
I could feel how depressed my family and everyone else was, and I felt awful. I had to think this through. What had I felt? “Solomon, have the Sparklers examined the energies Robert collected from the dying Whites?”
“Not as we should. May we Robert?”
“Yes.”
“I want to be with. Solomon, what if I feed them love motes and they react?”
“We’d be happy to have you with us. That includes any of you who wish to help.”
“No. I’m sorry, too many of us and we may influence what we see.” I felt I upset many who’d wanted to try. That night Robbie had to hold me very tightly for my heart felt as if it was in a very lonely place.
I woke up feeling more positive and cheerful. Today is the day Cherine will start linking suitable Darks. For some reason I was feeling very strongly the need to make love, even though I was physically only about eight. Robbie was happy to oblige and soon had my body tingling and burning. As always when we come to him very young, he was careful and gentle, but I was not in the mood for pain or gentleness, only wanting the burning fever brought to a mind-blowing orgasm, so my healer altered me slightly so that I could accommodate him with pleasure only. Feeling me he relaxed and let go, turning our lovemaking into something extraordinary and beautiful.
We felt we owed it to them and started with the town of Periga. The people had been warned and they waited for us in a field. The telling was not really like a telling for it was compressed and edited to last only for three hours. We gave them time to ask questions and talk among themselves and then Cherine created a golden ring of love. That shook them. Cherine used the love of Sheena for us to start it off and they felt how special she is.
We returned the next morning and Cherine began to link those she feels certain of. We might not be back for a while so we have to be certain there will not be any serious problems. After we had repeated the process eight times, we realised we will weary if we have to do so for every town. Asking the girls to do the same telling for over three hundred times is not realistic. With the help of everyone in Freddie, we gathered the populations of twenty to thirty towns for each telling. I would guess the teleporting of them had a more immediate effect on their practical minds than the tellings did.
Once Cherine had linked all those she approved of (the majority) we invited them in groups of five thousand to Freddie for the day. It took a lot of time, but was worth it. After the last group, we invited Periga and his family for the day. We took them to Meli’s world and showed them how they can use her world as a stepping-stone to find us wherever we are.
Robbie praised him, “You had the intelligence to see that I was something out of the ordinary, not just another White, and had the courage to order your people to stop attacking me. As far as I am concerned, inviting me to your home was an extraordinary decision and we all admire you for being so open minded. We would have liked for you to stay in Freddie with us for our next trip, but we need you to stay on your world to watch over your Cherinians and be their mentor until you find your own Cherine. If you find any who are willing, we are inviting up to two hundred of your people with their children (of the Whites) to join us for a while. The trip may teach them a lot about us, which would be to the good, but we also hope to learn from them. We are going to take a few days off to lie in the sun and enjoy the tropical part of your world. We will contact you as soon as we return.”
“Will you be returning to discover who caused the changes?”
“Not at this time. It is not important Periga, not as important as the trip we must undertake. We’ll check on our return.”
5597
As far as comforts go, Meli’s world is superior. No annoying insects, lots of lovely food and friends to drink our ale with. The novelty of the life forms we saw, the discovery of the equivalent of chimpanzees and even just the idea that we are on an alien world made our stay special. All the non-Terrans that were not occupied in scientific projects chose to project as Terrans and come with, except for those who can survive in our ecology, having a great time also. We only stayed three days, but we returned feeling reinvigorated.
Iziko surprised us and delighted Candy by arriving as a baby dragon. He did cause some damage to the vegetation, but he did not burn anything. The kids loved riding him with Candy seated on his neck and giving bossy orders. Having to supply him with whole carcasses from Freddie would have left us short if we’d stayed longer. Robbie told the Akiard kids to take their little brothers and sisters into the jungle for the day on their own. It made them very proud, but when Iona pleaded to go with, Akiar asked her father for permission and then told her she is welcome to ride on his shoulders whenever she wants to.
Igraekiq anxiously watched his daughter race off with the kids, so Robbie decided to distract him. “I’ve never seen you do that trick of dematerialising to pass through walls while in Freddie. Do you think you can do it here?”
“I don’t see why not, everything is far less dense here, it should be easy.”
“Robbie, why don’t you follow him as the void while he races through the trees? Maybe you’ll learn something new.”
“Thanks Athia, I was looking forward to a nice day snoozing in the shade. Give me a few minutes Igraekiq.”
Since Vincent felt he had to watch over us, he joined us to play and swim. He played a few tricks on us and by the end of the day, the girls agreed that sometimes he feels more like a friend than a protector.
Robbie called for all the Iktrian Cherinians to join us in a field far from any town. First we taught them how to go to the void and once they had recovered (in other words, the next day) we told them about the Whites not having souls and that when they die it is final death. They still carry guilt for what they did to them in the past and the idea that they were responsible for the final death of their children devastated them. We spent more time soothing them and then explained that we had rushed into linking them as we need them to watch over all Normals and heal any who may need their help, with particular attention paid to the Whites.
“We hope you can keep all of them young and healthy. We cannot afford to lose even one of them, for we hope to find a solution to the soul problem someday. Will you dedicate yourselves to their wellbeing?”
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Many of them wept, but we could feel a new steely determination in all of them to protect their children for us to give them hope for an endless future. Once they had calmed down, we brought the first Whites to meet them. Both groups were nervous, but the Darks could feel that while the yearning that had enslaved them in the past was still there, muted now, there was a stronger feeling and need to give love. The Whites who had parents among the Iktrian Cherinians identified them and their reunion was almost painful to watch and feel. What a lovely day!
A large number of Whites were happy to become children again so that they can grow up this time with the love they’d craved. Even the Darks who did not have children among the Whites were emotional as they watched parents and children walk off together. Even as a Cherinian, I can say that it is difficult to remember when I last felt so happy. It also reinforced the feeling among all of us that there is a higher purpose to our being Cherinians.
The Unation scientists and doctors have been studying the Iktrian people and made their choices of what they should teach them or give them. For instance, it was decided they should not be given food machines. If we destroy their agricultural society without replacing it with something else that would give meaning to their lives, we would be guilty of destroying them, leaving them lesser than they were, even if they are Cherinians now.
We had one last duty before leaving. We’d put it off because of our own nervousness. We went searching for the parents of Sheena. She has understood what we are doing and is extremely excited, but also afraid. She fears they might not love her.
5598
We’d visualised our finding of her parents taking less than a day, so it was disconcerting when it took two days. We learnt that the father had died and only the mother is still alive. The main reason it had been so difficult to find her was due to her bitterness. She had heard of our coming, learnt of the changes, but she had stayed home, refusing to be part of what is happening and so had not learnt we have her daughter and are looking for her. Robbie asked Dommi to go with him, as it would not be a good idea to take Sheena with if there is a possibility of her mother rejecting her.
She opened her door and walked straight back in without inviting them to enter. They assumed the open door was a sort of invitation and entered. “My name is Robert and this is Dominique, my wife.”
“I know who you are. Why have you come to me? I do not wish to be part of your plot to destroy our people. If they are fools and listen to you it is their problem, just leave me alone.”
“You have a reason for feeling so bitter?”
“They killed my husband.”
“Who did?”
“The mutants.”
“That is not possible, they cannot kill, not even an animal.”
“That is your story, I know they killed him.”
It turned out that the following happened. Her husband had refused to kill the baby and wrapping her up had taken her into the forest after a heavy snowfall. On his way back a large branch had snapped and fallen on him. He’d died hours later and was only found late the next morning. She was convinced the Whites had caused the branch to snap as he passed underneath. She refused Robbie’s offer to take her back in time so that she could see what had actually happened, so Robbie went alone.
“There had been heavy snowfall that day and evening and the branch snapped because of the snow that had gathered on it. It was a true accident.”
“Of course you would say that. I have been courteous and listened to you, please leave now.” She turned away from them and busied herself, expecting them to give up and leave.
Dommi said, her voice soft, but harsher than it usually is, “We found your daughter and she wants to love her mother. May we bring her to you?”
She swung around and in a strident voice filled with hate she screamed, “Keep that monster away from me. If I had not given birth to her, my husband would still be alive. If you bring her here I’ll kill her.”
Samuel spoke in a voice filled with sympathetic understanding, “You’ve done your duty and now you can keep Sheena.”
Robbie answered him, “She is full of hate.”
“Yes, as I said, you’ve done your duty. Sheena will be much happier with your family.”
“What is my duty Samuel?” His body slumped as he left for the void. We rushed to get a tablecloth and as his body appeared, we covered him. Alki put his hands on his shoulders to keep him down until Periga arrived. Robbie sat up again and continued, “Hate is usually only the surface emotion, is it not my duty to look underneath and try to find what is fuelling it? She is in a lot of pain Samuel and it is my duty to ease pain where I can - whatever it costs us.”
Periga explained and his eyes danced over our faces, lingering a long time on Goldi’s face and then he looked at his daughter. He tried to sense her and only felt her fear (yearning). Dommi leant over and kissed her cheek and she responded, looking up at Dommi for a moment with love. Her father cried out, “It is true!” he broke into sobs and Periga held him until he’d calmed down. “I was right not to kill her. Can she love me?”
5599
She could and she does. We rejoiced for her, but our hearts were heavy. When he heard how his wife had reacted to his death and was made to understand that her hate is because of her feelings of guilt for bearing Sheena and her love for him, he pleaded to be taken back to her. Robbie enjoys dramatic deeds and brought her to us instead. She screamed with fear as she arrived and then saw her husband. Once explanations had been given and tears had been cried and love had blossomed again like fiery stars in their hearts and we’d given them time to calm down, Sheena was introduced to her parents. They’ll need time for bonding, but we can sense that love is shyly growing in their hearts for each other.
We should have guessed that Robbie would refuse to give up Sheena. The next day he explained to them about Sheena being a part of our family and how we will be keeping her young and alive for many centuries. He told them they are not ready yet to become Cherinians, but that when they are, Cherine will link them. He then asked them to make Freddie their home so that Sheena can be with them while also remaining with us. They have agreed.
That evening we had some news from the Unation ship. They’ve discovered an unmanned station on one of the moons and it is exactly the same as the one close to the Eqkee planet. They asked permission to investigate it and Robbie agreed. A few hours later they informed us that as they approached it, the station auto-destructed, leaving only molten slag for them to examine.
“Coincidence? Samantha, could it be that the stations belong to the Muyzith? Are they responsible for the mutations?”
“The prima facie evidence suggests that is the case. I’m curious as to whether they will admit it and explain themselves. Robert, what if the station was responsible for the inability of Freddie to continue our trip? Why did it allow us to jump to another reality? I think it has been spying on us and allowed us to jump because they knew our purpose and that we would return.”
“How could they spy on us? The interpreter?”
I grinned. “It must have appealed to their sense of humour, having us carry their spy here. It does mean that the ‘off’ button is not real.”
He growled, “If the damn thing had a neck I’d squeeze it!” He turned thoughtful. “Why didn’t my protector instincts warn me? Should we assume that it indicates they mean us no harm? Vincent?”
Enigmatically he replied, “I was about to return to the other Robert, but I think I’ll stay with you for a while.”
Periga asked us to stay a couple of days extra as his people want to invite us for a celebration of the coming of Cherinianism to their planet and the return of their children. We knew it meant we would have to listen to many speeches, but we felt we had to agree. They also offered to replenish our food, if we are short of anything. We accepted enough to feed our Iktrian guests for a few months.
The speeches were not that many, but they do tend to go on and on - just like Arthur when he chats in privacy with me . Once the sun had set, Freddie put on a display for them, ending by mimicking the appearance of a Kaleidoscope World. For the first time our non-Terran friends came in their true shapes and we were pleased when the Iktrians did not respond with fear or dislike. Mostly they were curious and asked a lot of personal questions and there was a lot of good-natured laughter. By special request, Cherine agreed to do a golden circle of love. She asked all the families with White children (even if they are adults) to come forward. She drew on the love they feel for each other and built from there. When she let go in an explosion, there were people on their knees weeping from the ecstasy of love. This seemed like a good moment to leave and we jumped back to Freddie.
Robbie decided to leave in the morning so that Freddie remains visible in their sky for the rest of the night. Our loving that night was beautiful and left us not only satiated, but also feeling deeper levels of love for each other - or so we feel. Arthur, from everyone, thank you for bringing us to this reality. Everything we have experienced here has only given us joy and taught us to love even more deeply than we had before.
Our trip has begun to the next point in the map, the penultimate one. Inspired by all we have been through, a number of our guests (ex-Normals from various Earths) have decided to marry. Most of them have asked Robbie to be their best man and Alki is acting as our ‘priest’, marrying them the Cherinian way. We gave the newlyweds apartments near the top of the tree and in the morning they will leave in our ship to have their honeymoon on the river, ending it with their passage through the fairies.
5600
Arthur, we are now on the last leg of our journey! At last, we will meet the Muyzith. We suspect this could turn out to be the most important new species we meet. Would you like me to go back over this diary and add in a few paragraphs so that it ends on the 700th page as you want and our arrival is left for the next
ARTHUR: This is Alexander. Do not shut down, Cherine is here with me.
I do not know how to tell you the news I have. It is bad. The entire Teller family and all the people in Freddie, apart from our Jesus (Christós) and Cherine, are dead. Not just dead. They have met their final death.
I do not have the time to write for you in detail for Cherine is trying to either die or change into the light. Jesus has ordered me to prevent her from doing either. Here are the last details of what happened as passed on by Jesus for me to write for you. I hope your damn presuming doesn’t stop me!
Freddie advised everyone that they had arrived. They did so in the void, and Robert with Solomon left Freddie to check on their presence there - they were hoping to find a multitude of Kaleidoscope Worlds. They returned with the news that they did not see any souls and there are no Worlds. They were worried and delayed while they discussed it. They felt that a civilisation as old as that of the Muyzith should have had many Worlds and the void should have been full of souls.
Normally, when arriving at a new species, Robert first has Freddie extrude a tip into normal space or he goes alone as the void. This time he had decided the precaution was not necessary. Since they expected the Muyzith to visit immediately on arrival, he told everyone to eat as they probably will not be free for a meal for many hours. As soon as she had finished her meal, Samantha went to quickly write for you of their arrival, and Christós did not see her again.
Robert and his family stepped away from the taverna, ready to meet the Muyzith and Samantha was supposed to be there the instant they arrived over the planet. Robert asked if everyone was ready and then he instructed Freddie to move into normal space.
The first thing they felt was a violent tremor. Within seconds, the whole of Freddie began to shake and Freddie called out that they are stuck, half in the void and half in normal space and that he cannot move. Robert ordered him to return to the void, but Freddie could not. Robert then ordered everyone to jump into normal space and he promised them he will create a platform there and bring them back to life. Everyone discovered they cannot jump. Christós realised that Cherinian gifts will not save them. He believes that the most important human being in any reality is Cherine, so he rushed over to her, grabbed her from Robert and using magic jumped back to our world.
Christós has left to collect as many alternates of himself as he can with magi from all realities so that they can jump back to Freddie, each of them grab a person and escape. He promises their primes will be the Teller family.
Sorry, Cherine is breaking free of those I have watching her, so I must leave you now to stop her from killing herself.
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)20th February, 2020
- posted: 20th February, 2020
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