LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post233

I shrugged. “If she were not being so obstinately hostile, I’d even want Hettie to come along. Basically Eddie will be a full Cherinian soon, so it is as if he already is.

Previous Post 232

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Since all Cherinians were invited, I was just perverse (αντίθετος) enough to include Solomon and Ordinx, despite knowing the consternation (ανησύχηση) it will cause. Cherine rushed off to our world and invited Mama Joe and then arranged a body for her - which looked like her body on Earth used to. This is going to be an interesting afternoon (Dubai time) and evening.

In the end, it all paled in comparison to their reaction when they saw our alternate family and learnt who they are and where they come from. It turns out that even Ryan had not believed the reports about another Robert and Cherine being with us, he’d thought it was something we were creating with our powers so as to confuse the organisation, in case they break through and install the trigger in us. Feizal was quick to grow excited about the idea and asked how he can travel to visit his alternate.

The introductions took a couple of hours, as Feizal felt he must introduce his family plus all his warriors. I noticed that his warriors, even his family, kept drawing away from those I’d brought back to life, with obvious feelings of awe and dread, and I worried about it, wanting to find a way to make them be accepted as the persons they are.

Ryan had understood what Wendy wanted, so he had prevented Feizal from hiring the most popular singers and arranged for local village singers and musicians to be present - the older they are, the better it is, he told Feizal, since Wendy wants to learn their original music. Of course Feizal and all his family felt humiliated, until they came to understand how much it meant to Wendy and how happy they’d made her - though even Feizal with his British education could not understand that the treasure house of their ethnic folk music is dying out as the local villagers think it smarter to play the commercialised music of their top stars on their CD players.

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As for the musicians, they had been told she is a singer, so they invited her to join them, amused by the idea of a foreign child trying to sing their songs. She asked them to keep playing and she’ll join them close to the end of the evening.

Though Feizal found it difficult to think of the two girls as aliens, he spent time with them and asked a number of questions. Soon most conversations died away and even my loves and I listened with interest.

“Solomon, you must have met some very interesting alien species, can you tell us about some of them?”

Solomon laughed. “Perhaps one of the most interesting I’ve met are those who call themselves Terrans?”

I grinned and called out, “I should have warned you Feizal, our alien friends have allowed my family to corrupt them and they have developed an evil sense of humour.” I then softly asked him to send out those who should not learn about the Cherinians and the aliens. He instructed the musicians and those serving us to leave, but to wait until they are called back.

After some banter, which only served to confuse and maybe frighten our hosts, Solomon said to Feizal, “I don’t know whether you would call them interesting, but there is one species which confused and trouble us. We met them after meeting Robert, so our team visited them with the hope of helping them and informing them about the new light of our universe - Cherine.

The closest to the Terran way they name themselves is Thrimaítte. What I believe would strike any visitor as an important aspect of their culture is the depth of their religious feelings. It is only once we studied their beliefs that we came to know what drives them. Most Terran religions we have studied are based on faith and models of what is considered to be the perfect set of character traits for their followers. As an example, good is stressed over evil; kindness over cruelty and even disinterest. To the Thrimaítte, how they comport (συμπεριφέρονται) themselves during their lifetime is of no importance and they claim they do not need to have faith, for they know their god exists. They have no prophets, angels or saints; they only have a god and their god is the universe. Part of their worship is a strong need to understand their god, to know all they can of it. Unlike most species we’ve met, it is their religion which has driven them towards developing a science that they hope will someday teach them all there is to know about their god.

They know they have souls - and therein lies the problem, as far as we Sparklers are concerned. Their studies of the universe taught them that the perfection of the universe is tainted and often disrupted by life. They think of souls as being part of the evolution of life, enabling life to grow until it has corrupted the entire universe.

For each of them, their lives are a sin against the universe. They do not seek to end their lives deliberately, for they will continue as souls, returning to re-infect the universe. Life in physical bodies is the time given to them for them to develop their science to the point where it finds a solution and permanently rids the universe of all life - which includes all souls.

We failed in our efforts to convince them that life and souls are the children of the universe, not an infestation to be destroyed.”

Samantha took a hand of Solomon’s and brought the fingers to her cheek as she told him, “When we have a way to travel through space, Robert will find a way to teach them how to love all of life. With Cherine at his side, he won’t fail.”

Gallantly Solomon answered her, “Don’t discount the importance of them having a Samantha with them.”

Sam blushed and to turn everyone’s attention from her, she asked Ordinx, “Can you tell us about a strange species from the past of your people?”

Ordinx smiled, “Samantha, you know my stories tend to grow long and convoluted (μπερδεμένα) - I am not certain everyone would enjoy a story told by me.”

Of course we all assured him we would enjoy a story - and once Feizal also joined us, he asked for a few moments to gather his thoughts. I was surprised at how much alcohol there was available at the party and that everyone seemed to be imbibing, so I decided I should join them since we’ll probably have hours of listening ahead of us, and asked for a cold lager.

Ordinx began, “Early in the history of our people, just after spaceflight enabled us to travel to distant solar systems within a reasonable time, we met the specie I wish to speak of. My problem is, they have no one specific name for themselves and the person who wrote of them in our history books was not interested in analysing them as a specie; she was more interested in the people she met and their story. I cannot recall all of what she said, word for word, but when I do, I’ll quote her directly.

For our hosts and their friends, who have met me today for the first time, I should begin by explaining that certain characteristics of our sexes are the opposite of yours. With us it is the female who is brave; it is the female who loves to explore new worlds. Us males prefer our books and music and greatly enjoy the study of abstract matters, such as poetry and social sciences. We males also are the spouse who usually devote ourselves to our children - with daughters being jointly adopted by other males, as it takes more than one of us to keep them safe.” He grinned at the disbelieving expression on the faces of the Arab soldiers.

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I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)
^{3rd May, 2019}

* posted on Steemit: 3rd May, 2019



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