Seeing us attacked, especially the delicate beauty of Goldi being torn by lacerations that exposed bones, upset millions, especially the children, so we had to return to David for everyone to see that we have recovered. I watched David as he earnestly tried to deal with asking us the questions he knew his public wanted answered while also dealing with the interruptions from government leaders phoning in to enquire as to our wellbeing and safety and I giggled in my mind at the thought that he was getting a second show within the same day - a first I’m certain for any major chat host.
7761
Just as we prepared for the end of the show and our return home, an Anadir appeared. “Robert, my apologies for interrupting. Our team have been attacked and some of us injured. On returning to Freddie we were shown what happened here and the Unation allowed us to examine the cloth. We believe it comes from the reality we were attacked in.”
“Insifa, who were attacked of your team?” She gave the names and Robbie nodded. “As I thought, those who are more emotional. They have healed? Please assure them we’ll meet with you in a few minutes.” He turned to David as Insifa departed. “It seems the a-realities will be presenting us with many surprises, shall we call it a day before the next one extends your show into the next day?”
“Certainly. Robert, before you go, the attacks just reported, are they also from the same kind of cloth?”
“It seems it only looks like cloth, I’m told that the preliminary examinations suggest it is electronic and has the ability of reacting to our minds, inducing visions that are real enough for our bodies to react to them. We’ll issue a full report as soon as we receive one. Goodnight David and our thanks to all who have shown their concern.”
David exclaimed, “Psychic cloth?” but we left without answering him.
If David was shocked at what he’d guessed, we were just as shocked. We silently asked each other how could their science have taken such a different route from us, but none of us had an answer. Well, it turned out that the answer was far simpler than we imagined. The cloth is not psychic, it reacts to brainwaves that indicate emotions by sending subsonic sounds that induce the visions. How could any civilisation of Man evolve a dislike for emotions? Surely governments need their citizens to be emotional so as to rule them through their fears and infantile needs?
By the next morning another eleven of the teams had returned to report being attacked. Unbelievably they seem to have struck a series of a-realities that are closely related even though they had not co-ordinated their jumps. The Muyzith estimate that these related a-realities must number in the thousands. It painted a grim picture in my mind of such monumental misery that I could no longer stick to my determination that we only concentrate on finding Arthur. “I know how to control the damage to myself and I noticed that of all of us Haven, Theresa, Claudia and Aganthi suffered the least damage. Give us a day to practice and teach the least affected from the teams that have already visited those a-realities and we’ll return there to find out what the true condition of their populations are. Robbie, with Vincent as our protector we’ll be safe.”
The teams showed their worry when they heard me and warned me, “Samantha, we did remark on one obvious factor. Their populations are a fraction of what we are used to finding on alternate Earths, ours and theirs.”
We’ve been, we’ve seen and returned. Now we have to plan and execute our plans. Arthur, we cannot believe how horrible all your a-realities are! This is the story of the a-reality we went to, and I don’t doubt it is the same for the others. We did return in time to experience everything directly, as we did not believe what we learnt from the officials in power.
In the 1970’s mankind was contacted by an alien species. They were advised that they came in peace, willing to trade with advanced technology for certain chemicals. Fearfully mankind welcomed them and, overwhelmed, they hardly negotiated, accepting whatever they were offered. The aliens arrived with a fleet made up of thousands of ships, from the size of a Terran double-decker bus to the size of small moons.
The aliens who call themselves the Amar-se-csital are not inclined towards confrontation and warfare. Their methods are more subtle. They travel throughout the galaxy searching out planets they can inhabit comfortably and at no cost to them. They study the local dominant species and using their own psychology and bad governance against them, they offer generous quantities of whatever their governments require to totally control their populations. The most popular product is the cloth we have sampled. The aliens explain that the common factor that holds back all species from developing and growing into major powers out in space is the excessive reliance on emotions. They choose those who will barely be affected by the cloth and show how minds that rely on cold logic are the true guardians of great civilisations. They actually convince the population that they need the cloth so that they and their children can become super geniuses. A side effect that makes the cloth even more attractive is that once they have adjusted and control their emotions, the cloth adjusts their metabolism so that they are healthier on average. Of course, the cloth also inhibits the need for sex, which they don’t mention.
7762
The aliens then continue with their journey, leaving as friends, just in case the locals survive, travelling to the next solar system they wish to inherit. For that is what they do, most species that feel emotions die out when the cloth prevents them from being emotional. Their return is not likely to occur within less than two thousand years and experience has shown them that within such a period they will find an unpopulated planet waiting for their people. It is estimated they have such ‘homes’ throughout seven hundred solar systems!
What devastated us was the discovery that the Terran population declined over fifty years from four and a half billion down to six hundred million! Another major problem is that we cannot just remove the cloths, those who have lived their entire lives wearing a strip of the cloth patched onto their clothing go into convulsions and die if the strip is removed. Somehow we have to ensure that their birth rate rises dramatically and prevent the parents from using the strips on their children by substituting their stocks of alien cloth. A crash program was started to create a cloth that mimics the alien cloth with only five percent of the effects. If the Muyzith are correct and we have to save hundreds or thousands of Earths, the production of the cloth will strain all economies, Terran and alien.
There is action we can take immediately if we can find a way to…sorry, please wait.
I recalled what was said about the hull of the Unation spaceship existing and not existing. I rushed to ask them whether they can create a small model that does the same. Vincent and Robbie have taken it across to an a-reality and it not only did not explode, but it also is real to the local matter! I wish we were Red Indians, I’d love to have a fire to dance around as I whoop my victory whoops .
The Unation did not wait for us to consider all the ramifications, they jumped and then jumped back after carrying out certain experiments. They established that all personnel and matter from within their spaceship that have not been to the a-reality before are not real and require the same period of close to two years for adjusting or realigning.
Now I’ll return to what I was about to say and this time I’ve shared my thought with my family and then all Cherinians. Here is what we can do immediately to make a difference to entire Earths. Lynda must help us find Earths where the aliens are just arriving. The Unation spaceship will also arrive and offer far better terms and warn the Terrans of the effects of the products from the Amar-se-csital. Comforted by the presence of a vessel so advanced, the Terrans should be able to stand up for themselves. The Unation will also warn the Amar-se-csital that they will not be allowed to inherit any further planets and if they persist they will be attacked.
As if my suggestion had freed him to show his rage, Captain Wasoúda called out, “Seven hundred species destroyed by these monsters and they do not feel any remorse! We are tempted to return in time and save those species and bringing them back to life, force the Amar-se-csital to leave their worlds.”
Robbie just shook his head morosely. “My debt to life keeps growing, we’ll never catch up.”
I laughed. “Your debt? Since when? The debt belongs to Cherine, not to you. Without her gifts you would only be a Normal, so she is responsible.” We all felt Robbie about to explode with anger at me, so I forced another laugh and turned to Cherine. “Do you know why I’m happy that the debt is yours instead of his? Because you are willing to share, you don’t hog it all to yourself. Captain, don’t you agree, aren’t your people happy that the debt belongs to Cherine who is willing to allow you to help her by taking part of the debt upon yourselves? I bet most of the species feel the same way.”
With Cherine happily squeezing me tightly to her, Robbie no longer had the chance to vent his anger and he was forced to sit and watch as everyone reacted with joy as they eagerly asserted their willingness to assume their share of the debt. That night was funny. All the girls wanted me as the special for the night, but Robbie resisted. I joined him in resisting them, so that forced him to join them. As a minority of one I magnanimously stopped protesting and had a real Cherinian victory dance after all.
7763
I couldn’t help teasing the next morning, I felt just so fantastic I had to. “With the way all of you felt last night, I couldn’t help wondering, if Robbie was not so old fashioned and all you girls grew a penis and made love to me, with semen from over fifty I’d probably end up looking like a barrel!” Jade made Robbie laugh when she quickly sketched me looking like a barrel with sticklike arms and legs.
At a moment when we had no visitors, Robbie took my hand and we walked along the river to what used to be my hiding hole - waterfall. Now that Lusalith has her own home with waterways and waterfalls, she rarely comes here, but few come to swim in case Lusalith needs to. We sat on the soft damp grass and I wondered what was worrying him.
He did not look at me as he asked, “Do I hold all of you back Sam?”
Two and two came together to make four and I bit my lip as I felt Cherine enter my mind. That girl, does she ever live in her own mind? She seems to be in Robbie’s all the time sharing everything and jumping to ours if he asks us something that might hurt him. I gave her the finger, mentally, and blocked her from knowing my thoughts, only allowing her to share superficially.
“I was joking and you know it.”
He shook his head. “I know you too well my love, you’ve used humour too often for opening us to ideas you know we have difficulty accepting.”
I gave him my serious deep look into his eyes. “You do know what you are doing, you are doing it deliberately?”
“What?”
“You are stealing from me the right to joke and have fun. Now I’ll have to first consider my jokes from all angles and only if I see there is no way you could take me seriously will I tease.” I felt Cherine tense up, but she did not send me her thoughts. I sighed melodramatically. “I guess you really don’t want me to have any childish attributes.”
Robbie burst into laughter. “Damn it Sam, it’s not fair, you know all my buttons!” As he turned serious and lost himself in his thoughts his hand rubbed along my inner thigh, from knee to panty line, barely touching my mound and, though I did not need comforting, it did comfort me, his reactions to feeling my thigh reminding me that whatever thoughts we explore, I am safely held in his heart.
“It was a joke and mostly aimed at your wives, but there was a sharp edge somewhere within it. Perhaps my own worries place the sharp edge in there and not you. Sam, I do worry that my own prejudices affect you girls.”
“As they should. Some in good ways and some in not so good ways. Those of our loves born in Freddie don’t have many of their own, but the rest of us do, so I suppose we all affect each other. The truth is those of Cherine and you affect us the most. It is rather strange in a way, for if I had been asked as an outsider I would have said that Dommi’s would be the strongest. I wish I had her ability to abandon my prejudices when they could affect the way I love, as she does. Your prejudices are not holding us back Robbie, they form a base from where we start and then each of us adapts or not according to our temperament, but none of us live our lives exactly according to your prejudices or inhibitions - just as you don’t live according to ours. You don’t realise how powerfully our prejudices affect you and each other? As an example, when Alki holds me and I am honest enough to admit that I love him so much that if I did not have you I could be happy with him, Cherine withdraws in shock. To her, never, under any circumstance is it possible to think of any other as a possible substitute. The truth? If I felt any of the girls feel that way about any other male I too would be just as shocked as Cherine.”
“What about my intense dislike of any of you being touched by another male?”
“What about it? Should the first question not be about your intense dislike of any male touching you lovingly? Thank god Michael turned out to be so male that you did not need to feel as inhibited as you usually do and you did not make him feel rejected. Little Andreas and Bobby seem to have opened you further and Dimi could almost be drawn into our bed because he is loved by us and you so much, and yet he cannot for neither you nor us are that liberal. Robbie, you do affect us, but your prejudices are not solely responsible for us being as we are. We joke about you and little girls and yet, under nearly all conditions, should you seduce and make love to any little girl without us loving her first, we would be hurt and feel betrayed. Our extrasensory gifts have brought us closer to each other and we are more open to each other’s hearts and yet they have not rid us of the fears of being unloved. Don’t forget that many of us come from painful backgrounds where love did not exist. They hold us back far more than you do, for if they did not, we could and probably would have helped break you out of your prejudices.”
7764
Both Robbie and Cherine were dismayed. “Sam, how could you?”
“I could not, should not, if I wanted them to change. I don’t.” Cherine just had to ignore me and snuggle into my mind so that she could understand exactly what I meant. I felt her love as she pulled back - probably moving over to Robbie to share with him.
Unfortunately time will change us, again and again. I intend resisting each time for as long as possible and I treasure being the way we are, for I do not think the Samantha of today will approve or like all the changes that are bound to come over the thousands of years. Each prejudice and inhibition that makes each of us the person we are is to be treasured for who knows what their loss will signify.
The first act of war between the a-realities and ours has been committed. The Unation spaceship arrived in time to stop the Amar-se-csital and fully explain what the results will be if they agree to trade. The chemicals the Amar-se-csital claim to need is only an excuse, so the Unation ordered them to leave and warned them they will not be allowed to destroy any more species. The Amar-se-csital attacked. As if oblivious of any threat to them, the Unation ship remained where it was as they exploded two of the moon-sized ships. Those ships carry most of what raw materials are needed and also are their ‘farm’ ships, so they’ve had to return to a solar system they’ve already colonised.
Six years of Freddie time and nine months of Earth time later (we had to return to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary as Normals and alien friends had prepared a special celebration with people from all the realities present). It is now February PC50 and we are back at our Athens home.
The Unation spaceship has been to one hundred and forty three a-realities where the aliens were arriving and in every single one of them they’ve had to destroy two of the moon-sized ships to force the aliens to return to their previous solar system. The Amar-se-csital it seems are a uniformly stubborn race across all their realities and we suspect they will return in all the a-realities the Unation blocked them and we’ll have to be there to stop them again. This time we will have to take them back solar system by solar system until they have vacated all the planets they stole while the Anadir and Sparklers bring back to life the original inhabitants. It is a massive project, but with any luck, after we’ve done it once, other species will ask to take over the job and we can return to our search for Arthur. Until we are forced to return, the Sparklers will post teams in each a-reality to keep watch and warn us when we’re needed. I’ve included us in the searches as we’ve found a way for FTS to jump to the a-realities. Without warning us, Lusalith created a tiny platform out of her coral material and before Robbie or Freddie could protest she jumped to an a-reality she had visited. She returned emoting her triumph. The outer shield of FTS has been coated by her and now Freddie looks like a giant pearl. Freddie was surprised to find that he is still capable of extending a tip into normal space or for zooming closer to the surface of planets. At last we can take part in the search without leaving our home and friends behind.
7765
Since I wrote the above another four years have passed in Freddie and seven months on Earth (December PC51). During the second year we moved on to an a-reality Lynda said felt ‘different’ and she was right, it was. Many still argue how it could have been possible for Lynda to sense the a-reality, as it must have been at some extreme of a series beginning far back in time. For the first time ever we have found an Earth with some variation of Terrans that never evolved intelligence. They seem to have stumbled in their evolution and remained stranded somewhere between self-aware humans and animals. As if that were not enough to earn them a place within the curriculum of any university and research grants for teams from every species, they have other differences that puzzle us. Genetically they are 97.88% the same as us (keep in mind that not all Terrans are 100% the same, we have our slight variations, plus we are an evolving species with new variations cropping up all the time). The Stumblers do not have the same variations, for them evolution packed her bags and left for some other solar system. What I just said is not only true for the Stumblers, but also for the rest of their ecology. It seems almost every species of all the kingdoms have settled comfortably with only very small changes occurring over immense periods.
The obvious was examined first and the results justified us. The sun is less virulent, far less radiation from it reaching Earth. The second difference was a surprise, the Earth is shielded by a stronger and wider ozone layer.
From my observations, I would say that our gorillas tend to remain together in family groups while chimpanzees tend to gather in wider social group, more like tribes. The Stumblers also seem to gather in tribal groups with responsibility for their young being communal - apart from the role the mothers play. All life outside of their tribe is apparently viewed as prey or as hostile and slaughtered. From the first reports it seems that only rarely will a tribe accept or adopt the young of another tribe and that only seems to happen if they have faced a calamity of their own and have a far smaller number of children than normal.
For the first time Fisiti showed an interest and she was given a screen of her own so that she can zoom in or move from tribe to tribe. It took her a while to realise that they were not the same as her people and that they are not as intelligent. Once she did, she lost interest and she did not bother to use the screen anymore. Freddie left the screen by her in case she decides to use it in the future.
The Stumblers seem to have existed for the same general period that our Terrans have and the same is true of all life here. However, the continents have not drifted as far apart as they have on our Earth - South America, for instance, is about two hundred kilometres closer to Africa. As word about this Earth spread out we’ve been joined by scientists from many of our own realities who wish to remain here to study the planet. Robbie did not need to lay down the ground rules, scientists who have travelled with us explained the rules and they soon evolved their own rules when they discovered that some of the bacteria and viruses are more aggressive than ours.
Lynda promised us that the next a-reality has Terrans with the kind of civilisation familiar to us and we jumped. This Earth obviously belongs to a different reality stream, for the borders and existence of nations vary from what is familiar to us. Technologically they are not far behind your world Arthur, but here the Turkish Empire stretches from Portugal down to Spain, along Southern France, Italy, Greece, Albania, Austria and all the way to Poland. Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria all are part of the Turkish Empire and southwards the empire stretches into Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and then jumps across to the northern shores of Africa all the way to Morocco. The British empire is more of a joint venture with Norway and Germany. They must have joined forces to resist Turkey and once they succeeded in containing their aggressive expansion, they must have decided they needed to secure raw materials and they colonised most of Africa and parts of Asia. Australia has a different name here with nearly half the Caucasian population being German and the German language is one of the official languages.
The United States of America do not exist as such, but the individual States do. South America also is different since no Negro slaves were transported across to the Americas and the Dutch colonised part of the south-eastern continent.
7766
The above should give enough information to show why we had many interested in studying this Earth, but without us wasting too much time we left as soon as we ascertained that none of us exist. By ‘us’ I include all the family of Arthur and Terrans of our world not found in any of the a-realities till now.When the next Earth was seen on our screens we stared with horror at what the people have done to their home world. Mankind has moved into space and they have turned Earth into one giant factory for creating weapons and spaceships. The atmosphere is a murky brown and we cannot find any evidence of plant or animal life and the oceans are dead. We also see an alien species working alongside the Terrans. I think that before we make judgements, we need to learn what caused such a massive twist in the reality stream here.
In 1954, Earth was attacked by a species known as the Drikdiz. Earth had a few atom bombs, but nothing that could defend them from attacks from space. Even the spaceships that flew into the atmosphere seemed to be impervious to all the weapons of mankind. At a point when cities had been destroyed and mankind was facing extinction, the Drikdiz were forced to turn their attention back out into space as they were attacked by silvery ships that shimmered in rainbows of energy. Within days mankind found themselves alone with their saviours. They introduced themselves as the Musosn and concentrated on healing the sick and wounded while helping organise supplies of food, clothing and heating in the countries where winter was killing men, women and children.
The Musosn sent out robots and communicated electronically, but did not allow the Terrans to see them. Once we entered their ships as souls we saw why. They are extremely fragile and they probably evolved on very small planets or moons. Even within their ships they wear suits permanently as any sudden acceleration could kill them if they are not protected by the gel within their suits.
We came to like the Musosn despite learning of their true reason for coming to the assistance of Earth. They need allies who are not as fragile as they are, to help them fight the Drikdiz. The Drikdiz have over four hundred planets and their warships are estimated to total about thirty thousand with seven admiral ships. The seven are not the same for they were built sequentially, each one more sophisticated and powerful than the previous. The Musosn do not have any warships capable of successfully engaging one of the admiral ships in combat. Their fear that the Drikdiz will send one or more of the admiral ships explains their sense of urgency, for even as they helped heal and save lives and negotiated with the remnants of Terran governments, they sent their robots to construct the first factories on Earth. Within two months all Terrans not directly and usefully employed in the factories were moved into space. The Terrans were grateful to the Musosn as they felt less vulnerable living in spaceships.
Everyone felt we should introduce ourselves and offer some assistance. Robbie held back. He could not give a reason and after a very brief moment of resenting his obtuseness, I came to my senses and backed him. Cherine shared my thoughts, but saw that I had not understood some big secret and was only backing Robbie because I trust him. Her last reservations dropped away and feeling her the family stopped feeling embarrassed about our refusal to help - with the result that everyone felt us and thinking we’ve seen some important reason for Robbie refusing, they stopped pressing him. Robbie was just as aware as I was of what was happening and I sensed his amusement.
Dommi and Alki asked, so Robbie was forced to formalise his thoughts by verbalising them. “This seems to be the first a-reality where humans have shown some of the qualities we consider so important and it is humbling that the species doing so is not Terran. We know they have sound practical reasons for helping the Terrans and they have been rather high-handed in taking decisions on behalf of the Terrans and implementing their decisions without waiting for the Terrans to agree. However, I have tried to keep in mind that they are aliens and they are a species that evolved in space, so their thinking must be short of some of the finer instincts our energy rich planet allowed us to evolve.
I know what you all think, but my protector instincts are not warning me that there is any immediate danger, but something is a danger further on in time. Perhaps the Drikdiz will return and that is the danger I sense.” He frowned. “Aliens or not, any species that does not respect the home of another species and sacrifices it without a by-your-leave, cannot be as nice and sensitive as the Musosn pretend to be. I’ve also grown to mistrust all the a-realities and I must know for certain before we allow them to know we exist and that we come from a different Syncosmi. Once they know, they will find a way to come to our realities and I’m not convinced it is a good idea. We’ll help anonymously for now.”
7767
It did not take long for the situation to degenerate into a hilarious mixture of misinterpretations by both the local Terrans and the Musosn. If we saw an accident about to happen we’d interfere; if we saw or learnt they were running out of a certain chemical or mineral, with no explanation an asteroid would wander into view and it would obviously be artificially enhanced with whatever it was they needed. The Terrans, once they understood that their allies had no explanation, evolved a theory that another species is silently and invisibly helping them, seeing this as proof that they are the good guys and favoured by some other species. The Musosn were not that credulous and had many urgent meetings as they argued the various possibilities. They do not believe that the universe is benevolent in any way and tried very hard to understand what angle the secret ‘allies’ have for helping. The more we did for them, the more agitated the Musosn became and they even considered abandoning all they’d achieved and their investment on Earth so as to run and hide. We remained hidden and luckily, so we thought, common sense won the day and they stayed.
We were keeping an eye on the Drikdiz and it was soon apparent they are planning to retaliate, but that the speed of the larger of their spaceships is not anywhere close to the speed of the smaller vessels and it will take them over a hundred years to arrive by Earth. We decided to jump forward in time, briefly checking every five years whether our help is needed.
To be honest, I have mostly concentrated on the Terrans, as the Musosn remind me of the Imefi in their attitudes. On the other hand, some of my loves find them fascinating. Haven even considered some of their practical ways of dealing with life admirable. They spent more time watching them from within their ships. They ended up panicking the Musosn.
Family is important to the Musosn and they tend to spend almost all their time together. Even their technicians, labourers and all other professions make space and provide for the families to be present during work, despite there being certain dangers for the young ones. The parents almost seem to have a sixth sense and are quick to move their children out of harm’s way if an accident is about to happen.
In this instance, a young one had been playing with a child of another family when the instincts of the parents sent them dashing to collect their young. The moment the others who do not have children see this they know something is about to go wrong and they do their best to minimise damage and deaths. The child was too far from it parents for them to remove it from danger and the family of the friend ignored it as they took their own children out of the area. The child started to panic and rushed towards its parents, drawing closer to some engine we think they were experimenting on. Haven sensed what was about to happen and jumping, grabbed the child and jumped it out of harms way as the engine exploded and pieces of metal sped through the space the child had occupied.
The Musosn played their tapes a hundred times as they tried to work out what happened. They slowed it down, sped it up, used all kinds of filters and finally, only by zooming in on the child were they able to substantiate the claim of the child. Where Haven’s arm encircled the child, although she was careful and gentle, the impression of something invisible pressing and squashing the suit against the child could be seen just before it disappeared and after it reappeared about two kilometres from its first position. They increased their safety precautions, setting out even more electronic equipment to sense us. They actually cancelled certain projects while pressing for greater speed in those they continued with. The factories on Earth continued supplying them with what they needed, but they were less willing to use what they collected, saving a share of it for future needs. I quickly came to the conclusion that they are preparing to leave soon. Others had also come to the same conclusion, so Robbie did not jump us forward.
The Musosn received warning from their ships waiting between solar systems that the Drikdiz will be arriving within thirty years. This seemed to calm them and they returned to their original plans. They now began to build one-man ships for Terrans to fly. It did not take our scientists long to work out that these ships had no weapons, they themselves were the weapons, flying bombs, and the pilots would be killed without any possibility of them saving themselves. Only Terrans could fly them as we saw from their computer simulations, as they would be subjected to gravities far above what the Musosn can withstand when they accelerate at tremendous speed to impact with the Admiral ship. Each tiny ship is a nuclear bomb.
We listened in as they explained to the Terran leaders that these missile ships cannot be guided by computers or any other electronic devices as the Drikdiz have equipment that scramble the electronic chips. Only the human mind can guide the missile-ships, but the Musosn are not strong enough to survive the tremendous accelerations, only Terrans can. They want babies to be trained to withstand the high gravity and acceleration with their reactions honed to the peak of Terran capabilities. By the time the Drikdiz ships arrive, the babies should be adults and capable of performing as required.
7768
The Terran leaders saw this as proof that the Musosn consider the Terrans their true partners and felt that the lives of a few hundred is a small price for mankind to pay. What shocked many of us was that one of the Terran leaders actually felt proud that his newly born grandson will be one of the pilots. His mind was filled with rubbish about dying for the greater glory of mankind and so on. When we returned to Freddie, very few alien friends joined us, most of them thinking we would need time and the privacy to express our anger. There may have been anger in us, but, up to this point, we had no intention of interfering. The babies will only be trained, and though we may use our abilities to force them to consider the purpose of their deaths and make a choice free of the training and expectations of others, we do not expect to succeed in preventing their lives being sacrificed - unless we decide to get rid of the Admiral ship ourselves. Robbie says we must not, that his instincts are becoming more insistent and that now he can sense the danger does not come directly from the Drikdiz. We have to let events play out as planned by them, until Robbie can see clearly how he must react as the protector.The Musosn have eighteen of their silvery ships by Earth and they have constructed or guided the Terrans so that the Terran fleet now consists of about six hundred small attack ships - I’m not including the missile ships as those are only to be used against the Drikdiz Admiral ship. Outside the area we consider our solar system there are millions of asteroids of all shapes and sizes, also ranging in albedo. The Musosn constructed mini bases among the asteroids for the Terrans and as the Drikdiz armada approached, the Terrans attacked. For the Terrans it was a suicide mission and within hours not one base remained, but out of three thousand enemy ships only two thousand one hundred survived to continue their journey towards Earth.
We were facing a rebellion within Freddie, for everyone demanded we stop the war, that we are responsible for each death if we allow it to continue - they are throwing back at us all that Robbie has said over the years and we have no answer, only that we must wait.
By the time the Drikdiz passed the orbit of Mars, their armada had been reduced to eight hundred and most of the Terran attack ships still survived. We could not help wondering why the Drikdiz ships are so slow, almost lethargic in their responses. A number of us and other species went to watch them from inside their ships. I’ve come to my own conclusions, but I’ll wait for the others to speak their minds first. It seems we all agree, the Drikdiz originally come from an energy poor solar system so by instinct they are miserly. They have depended on trickery and cunning to fuel their expansion, not warfare, their ships are mostly meant to bluff the enemy into submission. The Terran fighters were aware of the truth it seemed, for the messages amongst themselves as they reduced the enemy craft daily made it sound as if they were playing some kind of video game. A few did become reckless and approach the Admiral ship and they were vaporised.
“Enough Robert, lives are being squandered senselessly as we sit doing nothing.”
Robbie looked pale, his face drawn as he nodded. “I don’t know why, but something warns me we have to wait. I cannot demand you do nothing, but I ask.”
“Days, hours?”
“I don’t know.” None of us said anything to try and influence them, Robbie would not want that. I knew that a number of them were watching me, hoping I would speak. I did the only thing I could, I stepped to Robbie’s side and placed my hand on his shoulder as he sat facing them, my other hand lightly touching Cherine as she sat next to him.
“We’ll wait, but if your instincts have played you false then our dreams of being Cherinians will have been damaged.”
The Musosn saw that the end was close, soon they would have to send their Terran kamikaze fighters. They called a meeting of the captains of each ship and we silently joined them. They discussed tactics, deployment of weapons, food and so on, checked that their fuel would see them home and then they came to the reason for their meeting. They projected onto their screen one of the ships they’d built for the Terrans to live in. At intervals we saw coloured objects in a superimposed diagram.
7769
An officer of lower rank stood to explain. “As soon as the Drikdiz flagship is destroyed by the Terrans the computer will accept your order to destroy the Terran ships.” He showed on screen the boxes and sequence of buttons that exist in the private office of each captain. He was thanked and left the room.
“It is a terrible waste, with their strength and endurance so many new sources of energy would become available to our people.”
“We cannot take the chance, it has been proven again and again that all species that come from energy rich environments are destructive and greedy, they would destroy us.”
“I agree, the universe is wealthy in energy and we’ll survive forever - we will not if we allow even one Terran to survive.” It shuddered. “See how they send their own offspring to their deaths without sorrow - we could never survive against such a species.” They gave all the reasons they could think of to excuse their planned extermination of a species that considered itself their partner, and satisfied that they have reconfirmed their plans, they each returned to their ship. Robbie called for us to return to Freddie.
“Solomon, I would have one Sparkler from each team join me to show me where the home system of the two species are.” He almost sounded angry with all of us as he belligerently spoke. “Not one more life is to be risked or lost. You see to it that the bombs are dismantled without showing yourselves while I take the two species back to their home systems.” He abruptly abandoned his body and as the void he formed stasis fields around all the alien spaceships. He dragged after him those that contained the Musosn ships and jumped. Within hours he returned, released the one Sparkler, gathered the Drikdiz ships and jumped.
“We will not allow the Terrans to know of our existence, but I want leaflets to be printed. Meli, explain why the Musosn helped them and what was planned for them and that we have removed both species and neither of them are likely to return again. Demand that they heal their home planet and if we return and see they have become worthy of our friendship we will join them. If not, they are on their own for all time. Meli, no other explanations or details - they must work it out for themselves.”
Robbie apologised to all the aliens. He felt that his protector instincts had betrayed him. To allow deaths just so that one species is protected is against what he believes or, should I say, he suspected his motives were not as pure as he wishes them to be. As for me, I’m quite happy with the way his instincts operate. The aliens made the same claim I just did and none spoke again of Cherinian dreams dying. Robbie waited two days and then lectured us about allowing people to suffer and die just because he asked us to wait. Cherine blew a raspberry so we all emulated her, much to the amusement of Alki, Allan and many others.
“Dad, don’t even try to do that with our alien friends, they’re still hurting and it would not be fair to them.”
“Would I do it if they were not hurting Sam?”
I answered vehemently, “I don’t care! Make your point some other time.” He pretended to give in by asking Lynda to find us another reality. I quickly asked for us to go home first. We need some time of being frivolous and happy to fortify us for another of these a-realities.
It is rare to see Freddie empty so fast. The Anadir either jumped to Noelle, their spaceships, or else, they left their bodies in Freddie and returned to their Worlds in the void. Other species took similar actions, many of them going to stay for a while in a Sparkler World with friends of those species that do not have a home anywhere else yet. Freddie and Cherise wanted to stay in FTS as, with nearly everyone gone, they can relax and enjoy being in their home. It is just as easy for them to jump from there to see a show or enjoy a meal in a restaurant with friends, so it does make sense that they stay home.
This might be the correct time for me to mention a recent development. Every time we go on a trip, our governments want to be briefed. I suppose they fear we could incur the wrath of some powerful species and bring the war to them. Sorry, was just being nasty, we can sense them and it is with eagerness and a sense of wanting to share in our adventures that they listen to us. For a while leaders from other realities wanted to be present, but in the end a suggestion was made and it was adopted. At all times we have Cherinians from other realities visiting our reality. They share with us and then return home to share with their Robert and Cherine. Then that Robert briefs the governments. We’re pleased that the idea is benefiting those Roberts also, helping to make their relationships with their governments more relaxed and friendly.
7770
Arthur has made his anger evident many times in the past when I’ve asked him whether he was responsible for something happening when he did not write of it. I wonder how he will react to what I have to report. Our Department of Philosophy have made a tentative announcement (in other words, they are not absolutely convinced they are right, but they think they are) that Arthur sent us to the a-realities for a reason. He saw that we are becoming too soft, too mushy (my word) and felt we Cherinians need experiences to strengthen us. Hmm, no reaction J
We had not realised how strongly we’d been affected by visiting the a-realities until we returned to our Athens home. Suddenly our planet feels like a haven and our feelings are accentuated each time we have another team returning from an a-reality to report. I spent some time wondering how I could make clear the difference between our set of realities and those of Arthur and I think I may have an example. When we first went to the world of Jeskine and Orgg we noted that the people there seem to have about four percent lower aggressiveness and we wondered at what a difference it made. It would seem that the worst of us, of any of our realities that we know of, are about four percent lower in aggressiveness than those of your realities and we are amazed at what that extra four percent difference makes. They think of themselves as practical, but the truth is they are harsher, less empathic, less loving and their loving is more selfish.
We have been here for five months now and it seems that our teams have been following a probability stream that was taking them even further to extremes of cruelty and viciousness as they returned to Freddie shattered by their experiences. They arrived at an Earth that had been devastated by a nuclear war. They had also used a variety of biological weapons and mankind was almost extinct when our team arrived. Horrified they watched as the survivors continued with their pointless slaughter until the only Terrans alive were odd but tiny groups living in areas civilisation had never made much of an impact on. Most of them died from the plagues that swept around the planet, but a few did survive. These however are no ‘noble’ savages and their belief is that for them to survive all strangers must be killed.
One of the team told us, “You may not have noticed it because they are of your species, but to the rest of us it has become glaringly obvious. As a people, as a species, they are far more adaptive to their environment, surviving harsh changes that none from our realities would want to survive in.”
“You are saying we are weaker?”
“It is not a matter of weakness and strength. People from your third world countries survived under conditions those from the more affluent countries would not have survived in. It seems to have to do with what expectations you have of life and what you see as being the minimum quality of life you are willing to endure, such willingness depending on past experiences. Those a-reality Terrans seem to hold only one thing as holy - their personal survival. The survival of their species seems to be far less important. We are convinced that all other things being equal, such as weapons and powers, should there be a war between our realities and theirs, we will lose. Not even you could save us Robert - you would prefer we flee by moving into the Worlds of the Sparklers rather than becoming like them.”
Robbie pulled Solace and Elpida to him as his eyes rested on the recently tanned face of Sol. “How could any of us have imagined how important the Sparklers would become to all life, offering all species a haven should life become unbearable in the material world.”
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.
- posted: 23rd Jly, 2020
If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 10, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:
