LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post250
Meli’s large dark eyes rested on my face and I quickly masked my thoughts with an outpouring of love for her. With a twitch of her lips, Meli looked away and continued her story of Reveena and Akleet.
1331
“Their limbs are four, just like us; they have two arms and two legs. Their hands each have seven fingers but their feet each have nine toes - which are very long and can be used for manipulating objects, the same as their fingers. Perhaps their colouring is what overwhelms the eye, rather than their shape, for they have patterns of colours which don’t make sense if they really used to be prey. The patches have the same lacquered quality and sheen that we’ve seen on the antique pocket watch Themi sometimes wears, but there are none of the bright colours, mostly they are blanched colours like gray, various dull greens, black, browns - from almost ochre to chocolate and burnt almond. The preponderance of certain colours over others tend to depend on the family and when a future mating is being considered, they will also study what the colouring of the offspring will be. Being rather conservative, they do not wish to give birth to children of exotic colouring.
When they are not stretching their bodies, they mostly are under a metre tall and they have what looks like a ring (or roll) of fat around their middle, which is partly made up of something between flexible cartilage and tendons, surrounded by a lot of muscle. The colours on the roll tend to be brighter and are important for attracting the eye of the opposite sex. The shinier and smoother, the more attractive they are considered to be. There is a strange difference between them and us Terrans, worth noting. The appearance of the face has very little to do with their attraction to each other, though the rare person who has pink and cerise eyes fascinates all, both male and female.
Let us now begin with what led to their story becoming so important to the history of their people.
While growing up as children, our two protagonists often heard debates between the adults centred on the problems coming into existence for the first time in their history, which are caused by their population growing to the point where there is not enough space left for growing ample foods. The younger adults seemed to be more pessimistic than the elders, for the elders find it difficult to believe there will someday soon not be enough food for everyone. The younger adults, those with children, sometimes cannot bear their anxiety and whisper among themselves that the situation could lead to strife and deaths if not dealt with early enough, for they recognise the possibility of a drive rising within them that would compel them so that each parent will become determined to ensure their own children will have enough food to survive, irrespective of traditions and ethics.
Reveena worried about the overheard comments, but Akleet tended to lose himself in daydreams, imagining he’ll find a way to save his people. He did not fear and because Reveena could sense it, she also calmed down, despite her not having any particular high regard for his physical or mental abilities - it is mostly an instinctive reaction females have. Akleet talked to her about his dreams and she naturally ignored him, without it making her feel any guilt, for he was not even close to finding a solution.
There is a tiny corner on the roof of their home which is the private place for Reveena to be when she needs to be alone and nobody ever intrudes upon her thoughts when she is there. It was therefore a shock when fingers intertwined with hers and Akleet spoke. ‘Onn-Revee (my Reveena), I have found the way and we will be able to have our children without fear of them going hungry.’
She almost asked him whether it is another daydream, but then she saw the eagerness and excitement in his eyes and could not hurt him. ‘Tell me.’
‘I was at the top of our tree, struggling to find a way for us to have lots of food, when I saw the long thin island racing past us. I wondered why it always seems to be in such a hurry and then I waited for its brother, the lazy one that seems to almost come to a stop each time it comes close to us. I thought to myself, if the slow-land would come as close to us as the fast-land, we would have plenty of time to swim to it within the center of weakening of gravity.’
‘Wishing can make it come closer?’
He laughed. ‘Ahh tingly Onn-Revee, you are laughing at me? Would you like me to give you a hint of how I can bring it closer?’
He took her to his tree and persuaded her to climb halfway with him. She watched as he wrapped the rope around himself and then swung out to the landing platform of the neighbouring tree. He immediately swung back and, landing before her, he stood waiting, his broad face split by a foolish grin.
Reveena, smart girl that she is, hid her grin and earnestly asked, ‘You want to grow a tree tall enough for us to swing from it to another land?’
Certain now that his brilliance would be appreciated, Akleet told her, ‘We have a tree tall enough, Onn-Revee, what if we can make a rope long enough for it to reach from the fast-land to us? We shoot the rope with an anchor as the fast-land travels past after its next great orbit and then the next time it comes past us we grab the rope. I saw it in my mind, when we are pulled off our land and we rise outside our gravity, the speed of the fast-land will whip us around, behind it, so that we are travelling towards the place the slow-land will come to when it completes its small orbit.” He frowned at her, hiding his teeth. “It will need a lot of courage to let go the rope at the right time, because missing the slow-land means dying in the emptiness.’
1332
‘I’m not clever enough to see in my mind how your idea will work, but I do see that the slow-land will be close enough for it to be seen from out there, so it will not need so much courage. What I would not have the courage to do, is to let the gravity of the slow-land grab me and smash me to its surface.’
He thought about it a moment. ‘Why can’t we build wings like the qurilts, which use them to glide from high trees?’ Delighted by what he saw in his mind, he told her, ‘We can build wings and practice by jumping off a cliff. Once we learn how to glide correctly, we’ll know we can land safely on the slow-land.’
One of the rules of all societies I know of, demand in no uncertain terms that all ventures thought up by the young must first secure the approval of their elders, for only adults are mature enough to see all the faults in the plans and what dangers await. It is also seen as an unfortunate and unspoken rule of such societies that the young mostly do not obey the other rule, which often causes either great harm or death. However, such spirit produces the possibility of great changes; for mature adults would never dare the unknown risks of such change.”
The written word, right now, feels like a miserly medium, not conveying much of what is experienced. Although what Meli told us until now during this session seems short, her words were stretched out to give us time to sense from her mind images and meanings her words were not able to convey on their own - bear in mind that this is Meli we are speaking of, whose life is dedicated to using words for conveying her thoughts and imaginings. The preceding is an apology for my shortcomings as a writer, compounded by the changing of my words every day - I wish Robbie was here to do the writing, as he has the patience to deal with the way our words are changed in our diary.
If the spider is trying to lull us, he is not succeeding - if he wishes to lull us, he should try returning our Robbie to us. Apart from Robbie’s one phone call from Brindizi, we haven’t heard from him. Cherine demanded the protector finds out for her that Robbie is well, but it told her it cannot sense him - but that its existence proves he is still alive. After the disappearing tricks Robbie has pulled on us in the past with the protector remaining to protect us, we are not reassured.
Ordinx let us know that since Robbie left, another two hundred and forty four operatives have been neutralised. I’m guessing that the spider is wasting resources and ignoring us because he is trying to find a way to stop our attacks on his operatives.
The van from the local supermarket was busy delivering perishables, such as fruit, vegetables, bread, milk and a few other items we were running short of, when Claudia called to us. The adults were handling the delivery anyway, so we went in to Robbie's office to find out what Claudia wanted.
As we filed through the door she called out, her voice excited, “Come check this out! I found a new site created for a new religion! It already has over two hundred thousand members from all over the world. They claim that the time for the Second Coming has arrived and that they have seen the proof.” She looked at us and we could see the awe in her eyes. “They have seen the Sparklers and the Anadir and our Worlds during their sleep and are convinced that what they see are visions, not dreams, and they think the Sparklers are angels and the Worlds are the fiery vessels God will be using to transport them to Eden.”
All the other families joined us and for a brief moment there was a lot of wonder and laughter in our home again…and then the protector flared in our minds.
Cherine exclaimed, “Wow! That was the shortest attack ever! They sent a fireball to burn us and our homes, but the protector wrapped itself around the fireball and put out the fire!”
I am troubled, but do not want to speak to the others about it, for I see no profit in making them worry about my theories. The adults think that the lessening of the number of attacks, plus their relative weakness, prove that they are no longer a threat to us, because his organisation is collapsing and the few operatives still holding powers are afraid to use them. I remember how Robbie kept on harping about the spider, about two facts he considered important. The first is, to be the leader, he must be far more powerful than those under him - which means the danger is far from over. The second, even though not relevant at the moment, Robbie is determined not to lose him; a person with so many powers could help the Cherinians grow in abilities - as long as we are careful of what doors we allow him to open for us. Because nobody else can even imagine allowing such a person into their mind, for opening the doors, they do not see it as a possibility and are blind to the reasoning and dreams of Robbie. To be absolutely honest, I cannot claim to be totally not-blind, but I can see that part of it comes from present fears and I trust myself to fight them when the time comes.
We had an early supper so as to be free afterwards for listening to Meli tell Candy her story - which we know is not a fictional story. Early suppers are not part of the Greek way of life so I guess we’ll be having a second supper late tonight. With our Cherinian appetites, it is very expensive keeping our tummies happy J
Dommi has suggested to Meli that she limits her storytelling to one and a half to two hours a day, so that we have something every day to take our minds off our worries. With her eyes enormous, Meli asked for how long must she keep telling us stories about her worlds. Dommi hugged her and told her that when she is tired of doing so, someone else is bound to volunteer to tell us an anecdote or two, so she mustn’t worry.
“Are you going to tell us a story, Dommi?” Cherine asked her, a mischievous look in her eyes.
Dommi grinned, calling her bluff, “Oh, I’ll tell stories if you want - but I’ll end up telling them to an empty room, so you’ll have to tell them stories while I’m doing so, to keep them entertained.”
I glared at Cherine when she shrugged and said, “We won’t have a problem, when Meli wants to stop, Sam can tell us lots of stories.”
Meli gave me a hug, kept her arm around me as Candy settled next to her and she continued with her tale.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)25th May, 2019
* posted on Steemit: 25th May, 2019
@nikosnitza
Καλημέρα, δεν έχω απορίες για την ώρα :)))
Kali evdomada :)