Little Cherine Book 11 - BPost070

arthur.grafo13 (53)in #sfandf-fiction • 4 years ago

The life Fisiti takes from now onwards will return, much larger and vicious enough to hurt her once before leaving. Since she admires Haven and the Akiards, they will do what they can to turn her thoughts towards empathy.
The result of my actions that day led to my being chosen by all my loves as the special for the night.

Previous: Book 11 - Post 069

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This is Dominique. Time out for both of you. We all protested her reaction at the time and that is why Tina decided to write. However, you have just shown that you have teeth and can be just as thoughtless of her feelings as she has been of yours. Congratulations to both of you.

I had a dream, a mathematical dream: A big capital ‘T’ stood guard on the first line and on the lines below, as part of some formula from a dream lay other notations such as ‘hr’, ‘ch’ and so on. As far as I could see there were no mathematical signs such as ‘=, +, - etc.,’ but I knew it all proved some mathematical theory. What the function of the equation or formulae is meant to be or represent I have no idea, not even a clue. It is just as likely my subconscious created it for no logical reason - though it is strange that it chose symbols that are so strongly representative of logical processes for representing lack of logic. For some reason the line under the first one of ‘T’ was moved down so that a space was made for a new part of the formula to be inserted. A huge ‘0’ - a naught or zero, was inserted and I, Samantha, called from below to ‘T’ above, “Robert, two have dropped off the end, we’ve lost them” and all converged upon ‘T’ for the comfort of closeness as they argued how a zero, how a nothing added to nothing could make such a difference that it should lose them two of their loves. I, Samantha, decided that that nothing, that big zero, could only be and had to be Arthur.

I woke up puzzled and dismayed by what I thought was my subconscious message to me (that I strongly disagreed with) but soon forgot my imaginary worries for real ones as it became apparent that my dream has an explanation of sorts. The two that dropped off the formula are Freddie and Cherise. They have disappeared.

FTS is waiting by the world of Andreas since we do not know where to go to find them. We have checked this entire solar system and they are not here. We have two clues, the dream and the word ‘shadow’ in the title, but I can’t make sense of them yet.

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Now that is what I call ‘good’ writing, even ‘excellent’. The screaming, hugging and almost crying are over and they told us the first part of their journey and they’ll end it off tomorrow. They have been in the other reality for over three months. Arthur, we cannot believe you did not assume their destination, but there are big arguments going on about that, so I’ll keep quiet until we’ve heard the rest of their experiences.

All the species agree that it is not possible for you to have visualised their destination - that they could have not succeeded in going there if you had tried. If the reality they visited is truly the reality we think it is, then we think you tried to sabotage your own disbeliefs by keeping your assuming purposefully vague and may have opened the way for us to find you. We really hope we are right.

Freddie is going to write.

In a manner of speaking, our experiences were very ordinary, but lived from a different angle - which is what has prompted some of the conclusions Samantha mentions. Arthur, greetings from both Cherise and I and thank you for the trip. If you’d had the choice, we believe you should have chosen Samantha to experience it, as it would have strengthened her unbelievably.

Cherise and I fell asleep in our new home and at some moment I awoke to the startled realisation that my connections to FTS had disappeared. I could still feel my tiny bride curled up against me, so I did not panic. She stirred. “Where are we? Has Arthur sent us on our honeymoon?”

I grinned as I looked around. “The scenery is stark but beautiful…but as soon as any people put in an appearance we’re going to find it embarrassing; he forgot to send our clothes with.” She knew I was teasing for we both could sense no humans within five hundred metres and we could project clothing. Cherise has confided she does not like projecting, as we know there are a small number of people who can see through a projection, so she understood why I was teasing. She swung her one leg over me and then her body was lying on top of mine.

She had a naughty look as she told me, “If they find us and we’re making love then they’ll be embarrassed.” I started to laugh, but she sealed my lips with hers. I was soon on fire. I was sharing in her feelings and body sensations and I still find it amazing that she responds so fiercely and so quickly to my body. She licked the head to ensure it was wet and raising herself she balanced herself on my raised knees and slowly lowered herself, facing me so that I could see the lust on her girl-child face, and also so as to prolong the delicious sensations of first entry. When her crotch rested on mine she looked up at my face.

“See? I told you that for some girls there is no pain if they are loved.”

I could sense what she wanted. “Koukouli mou, I don’t have to be within your womb to enjoy making love to you. Even a part of me within you is enough.”

“The hurt was a nice kind of hurting and you are not damaging me. Stop arguing and kiss me please - I love pretending that it is going to make a baby for us.”

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I laughed as I crushed her to me, “You evil minx, you know the idea of that drives me crazy.” I proved just how crazy two times and then we dozed until dawn.

“Do you recognise where we are?”

I nodded. “This beach is either in Greece or Cyprus. Let’s wash, project and take a walk.”

We arrived at a tiny village extended by dozens of chalets for tourists on the other side. As early as it was, there were a number of people preparing for the day and I smiled with real pleasure when I saw the local taverna was already preparing breakfast for the tourists. I burst out laughing. “We haven’t got any money!” I grinned at her emoting of surprise. “We’ll have to jump to Athens and find the local Alki.” My laughter bubbled out despite my feeling it was not right. “Even if he doesn’t believe us, we’ll get a few good meals out of him while he listens to our story.” She felt me, so I explained, “Cherise, throughout the history of Mankind, story telling has been an honourable profession. Not only are story tellers fed, but if they are good at telling their stories they are also gifted with precious stones and so on. A few meals is not dishonest of us my love.” She now sensed I did truly feel so and she relaxed.

We decided to speak to a local so as to know where we’d arrived on this world. I walked over to a man whisking his broom over the pavement where he would be placing stands with merchandise, and greeted him. He ignored me, not bothering to respond to my presence in any way. Angered I walked on, wondering aloud how anyone so surly could do business. The next person also ignored me despite my repeating my greeting in a loud voice. Suddenly I recalled that we are in a new reality, one never visited by Cherinians before (I presumed Arthur would not be sending us to one of our known realities) and I should not allow anger to influence me - not until I first learn what their customs are. For all I knew, I was the one being rude if viewed from their point of view.

Cherise had watched without commenting and as I stood thinking she placed herself before the man I’d greeted and stared up at him. He did not pay her any attention and he shocked both of us when he carried out a small metal table and placed it in Cherise.

We are ghosts in this reality!

Being a ghost, in a physical sense, was a big enough strangeness to deal with, but recalling the title Arthur gave our honeymoon, we accepted it as being something he’d planned or assumed. It became a curiosity, an enigma we have to solve since we were convinced Arthur sent us here for a reason. He did ask or offer that we help people and make friends. How could we do so if we stay insubstantial and nobody can see us? What really did shake us, especially Cherise is that nobody could sense us, our talents of telepathy and so on being also totally invisible to them - if that is the way to describe it.

We experimented to work out what the laws are. We did not sink into the ground and when we walked into the sea our feet did submerge. We could walk through walls and yet we also could lean against them. We could not eat, bite or chew, but we could swallow water if our mouth was in it. Cherise suggested we try allowing water to enter into our tummies directly by standing in it, but I refused. I’m not willing to try anything so outré while we are totally ignorant. We did breathe, but if we had to hold our breath for a while we did not feel any discomfort. We tried levitating and teleporting and were successful at both. We entered a car that was stopped at a red traffic light by passing through the door and then sat as we were carried for two blocks until the driver had to stop for another red light. It seems that we truly are what we think in this reality.

Cherise made a good point. She asked why it was we could feel things if we wanted to, but not animals or people? My first thoughts were that we must be altering ourselves in some way, perhaps by altering the pulse or vibrations of the energy we are made out of. Perhaps, I suggested, living things can or do adjust themselves instinctively to avoid being touched by the unfamiliar. I claimed that my theory might explain why certain people can see ghosts while others can’t - those who can are not as fearful of the unknown. Cherise took the opposite point of view. She said that if I was right, then how did I explain our ability to feel trees? Her belief was that this reality is so far out of the main stream that we are not real enough for things that change, while inanimate matter, such as rocks, can be felt when we concentrate on doing so. She said that even trees change, sap rising through their trunk and other bodily functions taking place, but it all occurs slowly enough for us to feel them temporarily. I found the idea of trees having bodily functions strange, until I thought about it and realised she was right. She also was right about the ‘temporarily’ part. If we leant against a tree for too long, the changes within it would amass to the point where the tree seemed to briefly suspend belief in our existence and we’d fall through it.

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Now began the questioning of more mundane but equally important matters. Can we survive without eating? If we find a way to eat, do we steal the food we need? How do we help people or make friends?

That night Cherise woke up sobbing her little heart out and in a panic I held her to me as I waited for her to tell me what had affected her. I could tell that her sobbing was not out of grief, but that she was both overcome by something too wondrous to believe and yet also frightened of that same thing.

“Freddie, I think we are in the reality of Arthur, that is why we are not real here.”

Imagine a very long pause in our storytelling at this point, for we both recognised the possibility of her being right and the idea was too stupendous for us and we withdrew in shock. For a time after that we became childishly elated and were caught up in dreams of returning to FTS with Arthur and the surprise we would be causing. It was like we were drunk because a dream seemed to be coming true.

It finally occurred to us to ask, how do we bring Arthur home with us if we can’t even touch him? How do we communicate with him if he cannot hear us? Our first idea was to experiment on teleporting with something local and if that worked then to try to do so with a small animal. We could not jump even a pebble and when we tried with a kid goat we did not have to worry about frightening it, for the sweet little thing never noticed we existed and stayed put by its mother. Dismayed we withdrew to reconsider.

“Freddie, can we go to Athens? If we find Alki, even if he can’t see or sense us, his presence will make me feel better.” We jumped to Athens and spent days searching for Alki. He does not have the same home, none of the same friends and none of the businesses we know. This led to us looking for the family of Dominique and we did not find any signs of them existing either. We now began to desperately search for Tasso, Wendy, Cherine, Robert, Themi and dozens more. We did not find even one of them!

If I have ever needed persuading that Arthur created us, that reality will always remain as the convincing and final nail in the coffin of my doubts. We spent weeks searching for anyone we know, even Normals, and we failed. We went looking for Arthur in all the areas we know various Allans have lived in, but did not find him. We tried the address he gave us when Samantha was fooled into believing we were on the way to collecting him. Nothing! We cannot ask if anyone knows him or of him and I cannot go to the void to become the void as I dare not risk trying without my Cherise stuck like glue to me. How do we leave our bodies here? As ghosts, would we find them again? If we try to go to the void as we are, could our bodies be seen as being of physical matter and explode?

Arthur must have assumed we would not need to eat for we have been here seven weeks and have not felt one moment of hunger - only envy when watching others eat foods we love. If this had been just one of our realities I would have decided Arthur is very insensitive. After spending over a century as the ‘ghost’ of Freddie, to send me on a honeymoon to experience more of the same would have been cruel. As things stood now, I was humbled that he considered me worthy of being the first and very proud that it is my Cherise he’ll meet first. See, I’ve even admitted that Samantha was right about different levels of family and I hope she is wrong, in the microcosm the levels must survive, only once we expand beyond the direct biological family and friends, should we lose some of our prejudices. To argue otherwise would mean we wish to live without loving anyone more than others, having no dear ones to hold tightly to in our hearts, no friend to be special to us.

I explained to Cherise that Arthur probably chose us because he realised the other Roberts would find it difficult to live the way we are living. I guess hubris will be a part of our humanity for a long time.

It took weeks for us to realise that we were not imagining what we were seeing out of the corners of our eyes. This Earth has thousands of ghosts living in their cities. For the first three weeks they did not notice us, but then we’d see them give a start when they’d suddenly notice us. By the time we were to leave their reality the ghosts saw us clearly and even tried to communicate. We could not talk about the void to them since we do not know what the truth is for their reality, so we tried to keep communications at a minimum. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for humans to hear about suffering in others without feeling a compulsion to offer advice and we could not take the risk of giving the wrong advice, so we were forced to keep quiet, but it made us miserable, as if we were failing them.

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We controlled ourselves until we met Stefani, a little four years old girl who died nearly twenty years ago. She stubbornly clung to the fact that she must not leave ‘their’ apartment as her mummy and daddy would return there for her. The irony is that if her parents had died they certainly did not think of checking and went directly to wherever souls in these realities go to. We asked the ghosts of the neighbourhood but, although they knew of Stefani, they had not thought to check on her parents. One of them thought she recalled that the father was Italian and the mother Greek. We were lucky to find that information as most ghosts only last up to three years before departing, so Stefani pre-dated most of them. Our questioning of Stefani elicited one more detail that excited us. She remembered that her father’s name was Sylvestro. There was no way we could leave Stefani behind if her father was the alternate of our Sylvestro.

We spent all our time with Stefani and once she allowed Cherise to hold her we grew towards each other so that it was almost as if we were from the same reality. Finally we decided it was time we return so as to enlist the help of all the species. Holding Stefani to her, Cherise and I returned to FTS.

Stefani did not crossover with us, like smoke she slipped through the arms of Cherise as we jumped. She must think we have abandoned her, so we’re returning immediately with a large team that includes about ten million Sparklers from various alternate realities. We’re coming to get you Arthur.

We insisted that Freddie and Cherise wait until they can leave with a team and once details have been organised as far as it is possible, considering our ignorance. A delay this side will not affect little Stefani and Vincent has returned to our reality to bring Sylvestro and his wife. Even if he is not her father, we hope there will be enough similarities to provide her some comfort.

The main subject discussed and of concern for all of us, is the possibility that Freddie is right, that you sent him to your reality. Because we did not experience what they did as directly, we find it difficult to believe that you have succeeded in something you considered so impossible. The first meetings concentrated on scientists trying to find an alternate answer, some other truth that would make sense considering your own shortcomings. It is amazing to many that we have to rely on doctors of the mind analysing you to arrive at a probable truth more than we depend on scientists and cosmologists evolving the correct theories.

The team has left. While we wait for them I’ll write of the most prevalent theory among all our debaters and the decisions that were taken because of it. I’ll add my voice to theirs, for I also believe the same as they do. Let us begin by detailing some of the facts and theories:

a) It has been decided that nothing has happened to convincingly indicate to us that your ability to imagine us in your reality has altered to the extent required for Freddie and Cherise to be brought to your reality.
b) Our scientists have tried to create an imaginary reality that fits the description given to us by Freddie and Cherise. For the effects of their presence to be so tenuous they would have to visit an alternate reality of ours that is millions or billions of times removed from us. If that were to be postulated as being the answer, then we’d have an even more impossible set of factors to justify as being possible. How could an Earth so far removed from ours have the same languages and nations, as far as we know, have the same boundaries?
c) A fact to be noted in case it proves to be of value later on, but not weighting either scenario at present is the ability for either the visitors or the reality to adjust to each other. It seems that the longer they stay there the more ‘real’ they become to that reality - without affecting their ‘realness’ to our reality. Although it does not prove anything, this could turn out to be the key that opens the doors leading towards Arthur.

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The conclusions we are led to, we hope will be proven either way by the teams travelling with Freddie and Cherise. Arthur, we think that because you find it impossible for you to imagine us becoming real in your reality and, because you do not have proof that your reality has alternate realities, you managed to sneak us into an alternate of your reality without your subconscious (which is sabotaging you) realising what you were doing. This is posing new problems for our mind-scientists, as they cannot work out how your conscious mind, without thinking of what it intends doing, takes the action to achieve what it wants without the subconscious seeing any red flags. We think you deliberately refused to consider the possibilities of alternate realities applying to your reality so as to lull your subconscious, but you probably also added in an assumption to further pacify or reassure your subconscious (which we are hoping will not be a ‘law’ since it applies to your cosmi) that there is no ‘map’ that can lead us to your reality. I’ll discuss it later.

The Cherise team returned. They paused within FTS and leaving their bodies they jumped to the void, calling for us to join them. We guessed, so when we arrived we stayed at a small distance. Stefani was already held within Solomon as he searched through her memories and then we were apologetically told to return to our bodies as Solomon is creating a body for the little girl. He’d seen what she looked like before her illness, so he felt it would be better for the child that she is placed in a body familiar to her as soon as possible. Happily we returned to our bodies.

Stefani opened her eyes, took one look at the world she was in and clung tightly to Cherise. She was not frightened of the aliens as she’d met them in her world and come to know many of them. The strangeness of being in Freddie is what frightened her. She was probably just as frightened of suddenly having a body again. Sylvestro may not look like her father, but his way of talking, his Italian mannerisms, they were enough for her to feel drawn to him. Over that day and the next one she gained some self confidence, but there were too many signs of her having been damaged by her death and subsequent experiences; we had to do something to help her. As we find ourselves doing more and more often, we allowed the Unation doctors to take her to their spaceship for healing. Cherise went with and when she returned she enthused about their ship, but also about their medical AI who took the time to explain to her what they would be doing to Stefani and why they consider it necessary. Cherise told us that their AI felt like a Cherinian to her and the Unation people present emoted their pleasure at her comment.

Stefani has returned and she now seems to laugh more and act like any four year old, but the doctors warned us she will remain fragile for a time and we should avoid discussing her reality in front of her for a few weeks. Luckily there is a lot to distract her and if all else fails, Lucy takes her to visit the Elipians.

“We remained in that reality for nearly a year this time. Robert, it took that long to synchronise ourselves to Stefani - or the other way around. We tried teleporting locally a number of times without succeeding in moving Stefani.”

Cherine cut in, “You should not have brought her until she was totally acclimatised. Robert, what he just told us is exactly what we experienced with our Allan. How could that be, it was not true for any of the other Allans!” She turned on Allan, almost aggressively, “Are you really Arthur?”

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I giggled at the flummoxed look on Allan’s face. “Cher, he’s not Arthur, but he is going to feel weird if I’m right.” Having caught her attention I saw Allan relax and I wondered whether he’d still be glad of my intervention once I’d spoken my thoughts. “Dad, Cher, Allan only started to exist once you went looking for him. Arthur had not thought of creating any Allans before that, since he had not expected to become part of his story, that is why he could not be teleported, he was not completely real yet.”

Allan was not the only one to feel weird.

Robbie and Alki had a long talk in private and when they rejoined us, Robbie asked Freddie to take us back to our reality. “This is too huge for us to handle on our own. We must invite every world from all the realities we know to send us representatives. The logistics of creating a map of the manner in which realities branch out from each other are beyond us at the moment. Do we examine minute differences or do we only look for the larger changes? Even where it seems we have identified the direct branching of one reality from another, how can we be certain there were no others in between? In a sense it is even more likely that there would be a number of intervening realities. I’m referring to the reality of magic, one where Bruce went to help with the negotiations and the other where he did not and we had to bring back to life millions who died in an atomic war. Surely not all the possible realities went to war because Bruce was not present? The Muyzith seem to have a special sensitivity to the energy Arthur uses and to the differences in realities. Others have other gifts and for all we know one Talent on some planet in some reality has a gift that is crucial to a successful outcome. The pool dedicated to bringing Arthur to us must be spread as widely as possible.”

Agnof, an Anadir male well known for his interest in the literature of our species, spoke up. “I have shared with great interest the experiences of those who travelled to Cherise’s reality and something struck me as possibly of interest. It seems to have become accepted that energy and matter of our realities vibrate at a rate different from theirs. Are not the Eqkee the best equipped to handle such an anomaly? If they can alter their vibration so as to pass through solid matter, perhaps they can adjust their vibration to suit the reality being visited and teach us at what rate to vibrate so as to minimise the time required for adjustment by all species?”

Although I can confirm that the above suggestion did not work, I’ve quoted it as a sample of the many ideas exchanged and debated over the following months (I’m only willing to pass on to you ideas that do not work so that you do not sabotage those that do work). It was decided that the meetings would take place in two months time in Gnolat City so Freddie took me and those who volunteered to help clean and prepare the city for our guests. I made certain Bobby came with us as Robbie should concentrate on Andreas who is suffering shock from being in our Athens and needs a lot of love. Dimi understood and immediately volunteered to keep Bobby busy. Last I heard they were planning on riding off into jungles in search of the most fierce predators.

If we had been Normals, the job of cleaning and preparing Gnolat City for such a large influx of visitors would have been beyond us. Since the city was created there have always been some scientists, artists, poets and other students here, so food machines for feeding all species are permanently kept with full bins close by. Most species prefer the accommodation on the hillsides overlooking the lower part of the city, but their choice of a specific restaurant surprised us. It is perhaps the smallest restaurant in the city and is situated in what is meant to be a quiet cul de sac, a place of refuge when the city is crowded. I guess it proves some of the other species also have the herd instinct and seek the comfort (cosiness?) of the closeness of friends and the safety of buildings surrounding them.

I’ve enjoyed these weeks. First of all, seeing the city in such intimate detail re-awakened my love for the beauty created in honour of one heart that has been steadfast in its love for all of us (I am speaking of you Arthur). Having meaningful work to do made my mind sparkle again and Robbie and family were careful to time their visits and spend at least three to four nights a week with us.

Dimi wisely ignored the traditional relationship between child and adult and made Bobby responsible for their safety. Bobby blossomed as he was tactfully taught how to plan ahead and their trips achieved some of the successes they’d hoped for. Even now Bobby finds, at times, the plethora of life revolting. He enjoys their trips through the arid lands bordering the deserts and yet, the deserts themselves he does not like and finds no beauty and comfort in the scarcity of life that to the untrained eye gives the impression of absence of life. He enjoys making others laugh, but still tends to repeat his previous successes. In one way this turned out very well. He pretended an interest in worms such as he fed on in the past and asked whether anything similar was available here. This led to some explorations that sparked a keen interest among all the realities. It seems that the insect life, especially the subterranean part of it, has some minor but important differences from all the other Earths. They also have not killed off ninety percent of the lifeforms with pesticides, so it is as if we are examining the past of our own planets.

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Many of the guests invited to the think tank were aware that we were here preparing for their arrival and grabbed the opportunity as Freddie or other Cherinians jumped here to ask whether they could arrive earlier. With pleasure I agreed since it offered me the opportunity to talk to them in a more relaxed environment so as to fire their imaginations with ideas I’d prefer they introduce to the majority once the meetings begin.

The three Orati nations and the Feshidi are determined to prove themselves to be hosts their visitors will talk about for a long time. Since Sebura is an elder of their council plus chief of their International Rider Group, he has been very busy and I’ve hardly seen him. His people know he has acquired some of the demon powers they feared in the past and they are not shy to ask him to use his abilities to help them. Apparently he calls on Efineh with other elders fairly often and she frets that he seems to have the ability to draw from her concessions to the maximum of every point they need to negotiate. I am certain he is not using any power unfairly and warned her that if she does not spend more time growing her own knowledge of humanity and the games they love to play, he will end up dominating her.

The truth is, I am giving a lot of thought to the position Efineh finds herself in. If Sebura had remained uneducated and naïve to our ways, she could have survived the first ten to thirty years with a little bit of help from Samuel, his family and I. Even with all of us combining our wiles we will not have it that easy anymore. I wonder how long before he issues me his first serious challenge? I must either find Efineh a partner or else I must take over for a while.

Ashema came to visit and sensing his unease I guessed Sebura is behind whatever he is going to ask for. We sat in the garden and I made certain he has some meze and beer before sitting with my feet tucked under me - a pose he recognises as meaning I’m ready to talk. “The people who will come, they are important?”

“Not in the sense of them being leaders of their people. They will mostly be those who study to find answers.” I smiled. “What is it my old friend, what is worrying you?”

“Those who come, they will be seen by their people on their worlds?”

When he gets this way I have to let him plod his way to the final question. “Yes, cameras will show everything and they will also record our discussions and decisions.”

“They will show Gnolat City and all people of our world will be proud that they see Robert chose our world to create it. They will also see this?” He waved at our centre and I nodded. “We will be shamed for they will think we do not value you and those who work with you.”

I glanced at the building, that I still consider far too grand and pretentious and tried to puzzle out what bothered him. “In what way are we lacking?”

“All who help you are dressed like women who work in the field.” As he explained I saw the hand of Sebura behind this more clearly and tried to work out what he hoped to gain. I came to the conclusion he did not wish to gain anything directly from us, only from his own people. By showing that he’d saved their honour in the eyes of so many worlds they would appreciate how valuable his knowledge of us can be for them.

“On our worlds, for various reasons people like to wear uniforms. The way they dress makes it clear for all that they hold some special position or have some responsibility that gives them rights to tell other people what to do.” I’ll get slaughtered if my words are repeated on our world since they are over-simplified and slanted to stress the point I want to make. “That is not true for us, no Cherinian is more important than anybody else. We do not have special rights, all we have is responsibilities.” I came to my feet, putting on a show of distress. “You are right, we have shown a lack of honour in the way we have treated the people of your world.

Visitors come and they see that we do not provide food machines for your people and they do not listen to our reasons and think it is because we do not love you. Perhaps they would listen if they saw that we build you beautiful homes and provide you with all the technology of our worlds, but we do not, so again, they think we do not love you. How are we to correct this Ashema, would providing beautiful clothes for all of you be sufficient?” I paused as if considering. “I think all should wear the same kind of clothes so that our guests see that you all consider yourselves one people, children and brothers and sisters of your Mother Earth. Yes, all must be dressed the same way, pretty clothes that show you enjoy your way of life. Stand up Ashema and let me show you what I mean.”

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By now my loves were killing themselves laughing and our Angel was busy designing for me the fanciest and prettiest and most impractical clothes she could imagine. I had a full length mirror appear in the room and with Ashema standing before it I projected onto him the clothes Angelica designed made of the sheerest silks. I talked about how impressed everyone will be when they see the Orati men and women looking so glorious while they work, hunt and farm. Ashema has the soul of an Orati Rider, he is no decadent politician who treasures the trappings I was offering. He made an excuse and left as quickly as he could.

As we’d expected, Sebura was waiting for me when I entered the dining room for my breakfast. Politely he talked of the things he knew I would be interested in until I’d finished eating. “I thought to honour you and you have made my people curse my name for they do not see how we can refuse your offer without us losing honour.”

“You thought to honour me Sebura? You have lived amongst us Cherinians for so many years and not learnt anything about us? What was this thing of honour you proposed Sebura, was it something calculated to prove that Campbell was right about us, that we think us Cherinians are special?”

Efineh frowned at me. “That was unfair!”

I stared at her solemnly, did the same to Sebura and then cracked a grin. “I know, but it was fun. You tried to play a game, so I played also. Ashema was horrified by the clothes I projected for him?” He saw the look in my eyes and burst out laughing as he confirmed it.

“We have four days before the meetings officially start. Samuel, I’ve spent the last week talking from morning to night and I need to get away from it all for a day or two so that my mind is fresh again. I’m going for a long ride with Skotos.”

We raced until we were long out of sight and then we walked with Skotos stopping to graze whenever he wanted while I stood by lost in my thoughts. I was not thinking of anything in particular and in some ways my daydreaming was similar to meditation. After Skotos flicked his ears a number of times and stopped grazing to stare into the distance I woke up to his unease. I would have been happy to sense any animals, even predators, but I sensed nothing. I rose into the air and tried to sense human minds close to us, but the land seemed empty of all thoughts that are not normal to this kind of terrain. I could not find any reason for Skotos being spooked so I cavalierly dismissed his unease.

Skotos calmed down as daylight faded and the first stars cheerfully twinkled at us. I found a spot on a rising and spreading out a thin blanket lay to stare at the stars. Freddie appeared and it was a beautiful sight. I had not realised that when he suddenly arrives in normal space his presence causes a disturbance that makes his light shimmer and coruscate as if under water. I was nearly asleep when Dommi sent me a thought. As I sat up a box appeared by me. They’d sensed I had not bothered to eat and Maria prepared me a lovely meal.

In the morning Skotos was skittish again. I tried to sense what could be worrying him, but did not find a trace of any presence within kilometres. It did not frighten me, to the contrary, I was annoyed that a horse can sense something is wrong and I cannot sense anything at all. I felt Robbie’s mind, still half asleep, lightly touch mine. Although he did not have warning from his protector instincts, he left his body and as the void examined the terrain for kilometres around me. He sent me a chuckle and told me to enjoy myself and he returned for breakfast and a conversation with our loves in privacy that had them all laughing.

The rest of that day was not really conducive to relaxing, so I raced Skotos back home.

Robbie had given warning that there would be a feast that night outside our centre, so I had a shower and dressing like an Orati I went to wait for my family among the trees. I was pleased when I saw Dimi and Bobby coming towards me and gestured for them to sit by me. Dimi looked a little bit tense, but Bobby was showing too much hate for Dimi for me to sense anything else from him.

“You’re going to be angry with me. Robert showed me that Skotos was nervous and it spoilt your vacation for you. Samantha, it was my fault. I wondered whether Bobby could camouflage my mind and emoting so we followed you to see whether you’d sense us. Bobby succeeded with you, but somehow Skotos sensed us.”

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I sat back to think about it, allowing Dimi to nervously wait for my reaction. “I think I understand. Neither Skotos nor I could pick up any emoting or thoughts, but Skotos is more aware of the environment. If a cricket suddenly stops and then so does another, if a bird whirls away in a sudden rush all these are signals to Skotos that I ignored. I was not worried about an animal, so I made the mistake of ignoring the clues that I was being stalked. I can promise you it won’t happen again. Bobby, how do I thank you and Dimi for teaching me how to protect myself better?”

Dimi sat by me and we chatted. Once Bobby left to play with Pirusi, he turned to me. “Thank you, I am sorry my thoughtlessness spoilt it for you, but Bobby was not responsible so it was nice of you to make him feel good about it.”

Robbie chuckled from behind us. “Samantha is not the kind of person one often employs the word ‘nice’ for describing her. Dimi, I think you’ve started something. I want all of us to be stalked by you and Bobby until we learn how to become aware in the way Skotos was.”

I tried to look mean as I told Dimi, “You and Bobby stalk my wives, I’ll take care of Robert.”

Robbie laughed as he pulled me to him, knowing I’d melt into his arms. “Dimi, go play with someone else.” With a grin as Dimi looked back at us, he jumped.

Without warning, Robbie jumped to the roof garden. As my feet touched the grass he sank to his knees before me and his hands cupped my face gently as he drew me to him for a kiss. For a second our lips barely seemed to touch, as if what touched was the essence of love in our breath instead of flesh, and then I crushed my lips against his. The sudden passion that flamed throughout me was like lava shooting to the edge of our atmosphere and fanning out into the vacuum of space. It has been a while since I’ve felt such a need for my Robbie, for the touch of his flesh against and into mine. Within a couple of minutes we’d torn off our clothing, he’d penetrated me and we’d both exploded. Robbie collapsed upon me and it felt like he weighed a ton as I struggled to regain my breath. Robbie raised himself onto his elbows, moved slightly to the side and looked down at my body.

“That was wow! Now I’d like to make love to my perennially twelve year old bride.” His finger slid around a nipple. “Look at how they only hint at the swelling to come! I love them.” Slowly his words and emoted love and lust for my adolescent body stirred me from my sluggish collapse so that I ached for us to be one again. This time Robbie controlled both of us and loved all my body with lips and fingers before he allowed me to slide him into me. He gave me the time I needed to adjust to feeling him deep within and then his strokes began almost gently and built into a fast and powerful crescendo as he seemed to try to force himself even deeper as he spurted for the second time within minutes.

We relaxed, he teased me and we went for a dip in the pool and then, lying just out of the water, we came together to celebrate the feelings of love that yearned for our bodies and souls to be one. Afterwards I fell asleep, but when I woke up Robbie still lay by me, his fingers tracing with wonder the tidy shapes of my body as if he’d just discovered how young and small in size I am.

I gave him a grin, “That was far more effective than my run with Skotos, I feel nice and lazy now, but by tomorrow I’ll be ready for them.” I ran my fingers down his chest. “You wouldn’t happen to have a little loving to spare would you? Just one more time?” As I slid my lips over his nipple I felt his response and knew that this day had turned into one of those I’ll remember for a long time.

Ashema yielded to Robbie his place and the slight murmur among the hundreds of thousands settled into a total silence as Robbie waited. His face was flushed and his eyes glittered as he turned from one side of the stadium to the other to stare at the crowd.

“This is the first time ever that all known species have a representative at a gathering of ours. There are a number of species who were brought back to life, they were informed of what had happened and provided with food machines and then left on their own. We did not and do not do so because we are callow, experience has taught us that as long as a species knows they have friends who will return, healing on their own is the best way for them to heal completely. If we stay, they concentrate more on us and try to make light of the pain that still tortures their lives as they fear it might seem ungrateful of them to show their pain to us. All those of you who consider yourselves our friends, please spend time with our new friends and help them adjust to belonging to such a large and varied family.

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