Little Cherine Book 12 - BPost006

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

Candy took a step back. “You have no honour and you need to learn to have some empathy for others. I’m entering your mind to block your powers and they will stay blocked until you learn some humility and empathy.”
We had gone to her reality in Freddie and as Candy returned she arrived in the bedroom. She came out as an adult and spent the day walking by the river on her own. When Wendy felt it was the right time she went to her and brought her to our bed as a little girl again; a child who only wanted to sleep cuddled up to her and in the hope the worlds of her dreams will be kinder and more loving.

Previous: Book 12 - Post 005

7851

When Candy woke up she sensed that Iziko is in Freddie. She knows how much Robbie would want to be the one who can help her so she kissed him and clung to him for a while, her heart flooding his with her love. With a big smile and a cheerful wave she then ran out to spend the day with her friend. I hope they both spend much of the day looking up at the sky.

A small comment regarding Talents. There are a surprising number of people who awaken to a gift or power that they are not equipped to handle. By that, I mean they are not mature enough. The woman in question is a good example. When I said that the women were afraid of her, I did not mean to suggest she would hurt or kill them. She is a small-minded and nasty woman and would have done things to them or forced them to do things that would have humiliated them. I think it is time we stop ignoring people like her and do as Candy did. I’m suggesting it to Michael and Campbell also and I think they’ll agree with me.

Michael agreed, but Campbell did not! Michael is angry with himself for not doing as Campbell did.

Unless we meet in Freddie, we never meet in each others homes if both Michael and Campbell are present. We do not mind meeting with Campbell in his club in Canada as we sense how much it pleases him that he can show us that he is a member there. What makes it special for him is that he became a member before anyone knew he has powers.

The club has certain rooms that women do not enter, not even if they are the wife of a member and are with him. Other male members might not be with a woman and want to be in an area that has no women. I know that when we are just females, as soon as a male enters the room the atmosphere changes, so I can sympathise with the wishes of the males, they also need to have time to themselves. If this paragraph is made public I fear I’ll be unpopular with many women again - as I was because of my imaginary pets.

Campbell arranged with the club that they would close off such a room and serve us a meal in there. I am told it was done in my honour so I sent a card afterwards thanking their committee and all members.

Robbie and I met Michael, an Ipohin council member and Campbell at the bar and we were shown into the private room. The usual platitudes were expressed while waiters served us our drinks and then Robbie asked Campbell to give his reasons for refusing (as he’d asked of us).

“I could not agree without having this meeting, so I had to refuse. Michael, I think the time has arrived that your group and mine will have to cooperate for the first time so as to protect the Cherinians.”

Michael looked at his council member and then back at Campbell. “I admit I don’t understand - what is the danger that threatens them?”

“The proposal by Samantha of course! That’s why we are here.” He paused, sensed that Robbie and I were just as puzzled as the other two. “None of you see the dangers and the opportunity?” Now he really had me stumped. He sat back with a pleased look as he sensed us, obviously relishing explaining himself as he sipped at his drink. “What have I spent years doing? Was it not fighting Robert because I feared what he could become and what his powers could do to the spirit of Normals? Samantha has put forward a proposal that makes sense and is necessary and I will partner this effort, but I ask that both groups consider what I have to say before you have my formal approval.

It has been accepted by everyone, including the Normals, that the Ipohin are independent but are also allies of the Cherinians. Gradually the same opinion is becoming accepted about my group. I think it is time we close the triangle and both our groups join to protect the Cherinians.

Samantha, most people who have any sense will agree that what you propose is necessary and to the benefit of the Normals also. However, there are always those who look for conspiracies and hidden agendas and they will find reasons to explain this decision as one more step by the Cherinians towards subverting our democratic governments, collecting all powers within Robert’s hands.

If we should announce, jointly, the Ipohin and my group, that we have been asked by the Cherinians to protect people from Talents who use their powers to bully, intimidate or humiliate, the world will rejoice without having to wonder what else hides behind the offer to protect.”

We were all quick to see what he was getting at and there was no reason not to agree. As I said, Michael was annoyed with himself as he felt that it should have been him seeing the dangers and opportunities as Campbell put it. Everyone was surprised when I asked to have our meal first before shaking hands on it as I wanted to give it some further thought. I think Campbell was slightly hurt by my not immediately agreeing to his proposal, but he tried to hide it and remained the perfect host.

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As the waiter took away his plate, Robbie lit his cigarette, sat back and smiled. “Sam, are you ready to give us your arguments as to why we should not do as Arthur suggested?”

“Yes. I agree with almost everything he said, but I would like one major change. I want the Campbellites and the Ipohin to announce this as their initiative. Leave us out of it.”

Robbie was the only one who did not look upset. “They do not understand why and neither do I. I’d say the most prominent thought in their minds, without me taking a peek, is that if they do as you suggest, their groups will earn all the goodwill and it will strengthen them at our expense. Am I correct gentlemen? Sam?”

“That is exactly what I am hoping will happen. I’d even be glad to go on David’s show and express my admiration for your groups if it wasn’t that it would make me feel like a fraud.

Think about what is happening at present. The world recently learnt that for the first time the Cherinians are in the majority. That is important to us and both your groups, but not to the Normals. You see, we think of ourselves as Cherinians, Ipohin, Campbellites and independent Talents. The Normals, at the most basic levels of their reasoning, which resides somewhere down there within the dark pool of their fears, just see all of us as mutants.

From now onwards all our groups will have to concentrate on helping the Normals not feel they exist at our convenience. I don’t know how, but they must be helped to feel that we depend on them tolerating our existence. Announcing this decision as being by all three of us would only confirm their subconscious assumption that we are one group - the mutants.

Now that I’ve thought of this, perhaps we need to choose our brightest minds to look for ways to help the Normals feel that in some ways we do depend on them. For us, the Cherinians, those close to Robert and the aliens, it is true, because Robert has spent all our Cherinian years stressing that we owe our very existence to them. I can’t see how we can bolster their egos and self confidence without lying, but we must find ways to do so.”

The man with Michael shook his head. “I don’t see how we can do that. I’d be happy to back a recommendation by Michael for us to form a think tank with both of your groups, but I have a feeling we’ll just be wasting our time. Just because people are Normals, it does not mean they are stupid, anything we come up with they’ll see through - as the sham and sop to their prides that it will be.”

I felt everyone’s reaction to what he said. Gosh, it is amazing how quickly people’s opinions can be swung over by someone looking at negative reasons only. “I disagree, there are real reasons, they are important and we can find real ways to strengthen their importance to us. Okay, off the top of my head, why don’t we examine what the incentives are for people remaining or being Normals? Do we spread more of the natural wealth to them? Do we see to it that they always hold a majority in governments, industry and commerce? If we are really good at it we might even have people from our groups wondering how they can become Normals for a while - oh…Robbie…oh god!” Within seconds Cherine was with us and I could sense all my loves needing to be with us. I called for them to come and Campbell and Michael’s council member just sat there looking stunned as the room filled up with little girls. Michael just showed he was glad to have a chance to get some hugs and kisses. I’m surprised Ahní has not given up and become a permanent little girl for him.

Robbie had pulled me onto his lap and Cherine sat on his other thigh. I felt embarrassed, I really should go to such meetings as an adult so that I don’t react like a child every time I’m overcome by some vision of the future - on second thoughts, that might not be wise of me…I’d really look stupid if I still end up needing to sit on Robbie to be squeezed tight so that my fears float out of me to sink into Robbie who knows how to handle them.

Once everyone was waiting for me I asked, “How do you envision the Terran species being in a million years? Will we all be Talents, and the Normals only a memory?”

Michael helped me along. “It could be.”

7853

“I suddenly had a vision of things being very different. I saw hundreds of millions, maybe billions of Talents choosing to be Normals for a while. I think we will get tired of being supermen and need a break now and then when we can just be ordinary men and women and children. Who knows, maybe some will even want to experience growing old and dying, their healers bringing them back afterwards. For all we know, some might even want to get sick just so that they know what it feels like.” I laughed. “We keep forgetting that we are born out of mankind and have their instincts and I for one am going to do all I can to keep those instincts. I have no wish to become a super-creature that does not understand what pain is when others suffer. I also want to be reminded every now and then of how special it is to laugh, love and be loved.”

Arthur Campbell just stared at me as if I had gone nuts. “I don’t see that happening. There will always be the odd kooks, but the majority will want to evolve into something finer, as you’ve claimed Cherine will help us become.”

I knew the answer to my question so I could not hide the teasing look in my eyes. “Arthur, you have never blocked yourself and joined the crowds for a night, just enjoying the feel of being part of the world around you? I know of many Cherinians who have done that - including our family. If we are already doing that now, so early in our evolution, how can you be certain you also will not be one of those kooks of the distant future I saw in my mind?”

The Ipohin and Campbellites issued a joint announcement and we hear that within the day hundreds of minor Talent bullies stopped being bullies. Multiply that by the number of realities we are linked to and it is a nice number of people who are suddenly forced to behave. As for the other matter, a think tank is being formed with each group putting forward those they propose as members. We’ve proposed mostly Terrans but included a Sparkler Thinker, an Anadir and an Akiard. This could turn out to be our most important think tank.

Em-e told Cherine that she doesn’t mind us going to the a-reality to search for Arthur, but she also wants to visit friends, Terrans and aliens in our realities. We all agreed with her, but we are starting off by going to visit Goldi’s world for a holiday. That led to me saying how wonderful it would be if my daughter Efineh was with and as I felt my loves agreeing with me, I admitted that I even missed my little Piri. That got them laughing and making jokes about me being insatiable and Sebura having to become my enemy again as he tracks me through realities to steal back his little girl. Lucy made them laugh (I don’t know why) when she asked whether I was also intending to bring Skotos with.

We arrived within a month of our last departure and for a moment they were taken aback when we appeared and ran to hug them as if we hadn’t seen them for years. They did sense we had changed, so they asked to share (we do allow that between family members and those we love like family). To say they were stunned by all we’d experienced would be putting it mildly. When they saw how close to losing us they’d come, we suddenly became incredibly precious to them which affected the others who had not shared and we could feel how desperate they were to know what was happening. We gave in and promised to do an update telling. Most of our visits to the a-realities had started from here so the ABB trip and the visits to the Patrice realities would take up most of the time needed to show them what we’d lived so it would not take much longer than one night. I can’t help wondering how the local people will react to seeing the birth of a universe - if they understand what they see. I guess they’ll mostly be impressed by the visuals.

We had some maintenance work to do in Gnolat City (mostly energy losses for Robbie to top up) so we had the time to visit friends and meet leaders. Efineh prepared for her absence, surprising everyone by asking Ataxia to take over her duties. She confided to me later on that she felt it will help mature Ataxia.

Samuel kindly took the alter Robert and Allan on a tour of the world, showing them the many ways it differs from ours and theirs. Samuel sent to me that he likes both of them, but that it feels weird to him having a Robert with Cherinian powers who has never had a Cherine of his own. He worries that it might not have been a good idea.

I made time for Skotos and he enjoyed racing me and it did not take long for him to allow me on his back again. I love sensing him as we travel, the proud way he looks at his world seems akin to the way a warrior would feel (or so I imagine). Sometimes Piri rides before me and she loves it when we gallop and I remove my arm from around her waist.

Ashema still enjoys his midnight visits. During our previous visit he had invited me to his home for a meal as he wanted me to meet his family. Having been there, I now return him to his home after his late night visits. He is still wary of Sebura, but admits he is impressed by the way he has matured and commented on the fact that people from other nations come to him to be healed despite them having Cherinian centres in their own cities. I have not met privately with Sebura and I can’t say it is because of him avoiding me, I have also been busy.

7854

On the eve of our departure we arranged a big feast and the official visitors from the other nations must have totalled over a thousand. Efineh arranged for musicians from each tribe or nation to play and it was interesting watching Wendy - she had a big grin on her face during the performances so none of us were surprised when she jumped to Freddie and brought her synthesiser. There was a susurrous murmur from the audience as the speakers were set up (wireless of course) and then there was dead silence as Wendy sat to play.

There was a surprised murmur as she began with the simplest music that came from a small tribe on the other side of the Feshidi. It was not much more than drumbeats and stamping of feet and yet it smoothly slid into the music played by the tribe of Efineh’s origin and picked up as it changed into the strange music of the Mountain Orati (Oraxi) and then the Lake and main Orati nation, the music spiralling and altering as it became music of the Feshidi. Wendy sat hunched over her keyboard with her hair hiding her face as she played and then she looked up.

“Most of the music played tonight has existed for a long time, from long before Samantha first came to you. As I listened to you playing, I recognised that the music spoke of a secret that our mother Earth knows and remembers, but that we often forget. Could you hear how the music, all the pieces, were sisters and brothers to each other? Music and ideas, they always show the influence of different cultures meeting and borrowing from each other. Thank you for listening to me.”

Later, back at home, Meli placed her arm around Wendy’s shoulders. “That is the first time you’ve spoken to an audience. Was it only because you felt you had something important to tell them?”

“Part of it was because I’m still afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of returning to Goldi’s Planet. The beauty of its music still haunts me and I’m afraid of what I’ll hear this time.”

We should never go to Goldi’s Planet without someone who’s never been. Sensing Robert and Allan made all we saw and experienced vivid and alive, almost as if it were the first time we were seeing it. We have so many happy memories here and we are so much in love with this planet, I find it difficult to understand why we don’t return here more often.

We are back in Freddie, and Robert and Allan have sensed we feel it is time we return them to their reality. They have not had an easy time with us, apart from the terrifying years far back in time, the fear and suffering they shared with us, they have both fallen in love with many of us and we’ve sensed how especially loved our Cherine is by Robert. They did not fall in love with us immediately, as they found the idea of being in love with children weird. That attitude did not last long enough with either of them for it to affect our ego .

Robert has his moments when he feels he loves this one or that one more, but they rarely last long, all it needs is for him to see Cherine’s smile as she teases Robbie or to glance into the dark depths of her eyes and he’s besotted by her again. Why have we allowed this? We offered him the choice of blocking him so that he would not suffer since it was obvious he would be with us for a long time and we could not camouflage ourselves for that long. He preferred to love us (as did Allan), knowing that it was hopeless, but that he will have his own Cherine someday. He told us that he thinks knowing and loving our Cherine will help him love his own Cherine deeply, as if they have already lived and loved and grown closer. I doubt it, I think they are both going to find it difficult to love their own girls - at least until they’ve stopped loving us. The suffering they have both endured does serve to show up their inner strengths and goodness, so I don’t think this Cherine will have to go through all the dying and chest beating our Robbie put Cherine through.

Before jumping to their reality, Robbie asked Cherine, “If we return to their time, his Cherine will be thirteen years old. Should we jump back five years? Will his being an extra five years older turn her off?”

I don’t think she let him sense the tiny spark of amusement in her, “Well, you were very immature when I first met you…”

Ashia quipped, expecting to make Cherine smile or laugh, “If he had not met Dommi and loved her first, he would have been even more immature…” Her voice died as she saw/felt the look in Cherine’s eyes.

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“You’re wrong, without Dommi we would not exist.” We have often sensed them as they were at that time and agree. Losing his love and being so insecure did help him love a child. If he had been popular with older girls, successful at his job and making good money…I can’t see him giving her the time she needed to win his heart. Most alternate Roberts we meet have the advantage of knowing how special all Cherine’s are, so it is not the same for them. I did not comment about the five years difference since the fact that it was actually ten years (with time spent in Freddie with us) did not make any real difference. I think it is not the difference in age that will matter, his experiences and his having loved us, they have made him stronger and I sort of feel sorry for his Cherine, there has been a special kind of sweetness for us having to go through hell until Robbie learnt it is okay to love us.

We arrived in their reality five years before collecting the two of them (I’ll call it Allan’s reality since it is his writing that brought us here). As Robbie left to become the void to search for Cherine, we sensed Allan was very nervous. He asked to speak to our Allan and his girls on their own. We did not peek, but we could not help feeling the girls and we wondered. They all returned to us with huge smiles on their faces and Jess called, “He asked the two of us to split for him!” It is a pity, the girls deserve a party for us to show how we rejoice, but with Robbie already searching for the local Cherine I doubt they’ll have it. At least they were exhausted and happy by the time each of us gave them a hug and kiss.

Robbie returned directly to his body, almost catching Candy by surprise. She felt he is distracted despite his kiss, so we knew he has not found Cherine and is worried.

“Cherine exists - at least, she did. Her parents exist and they seem to have grown accustomed to the fact that Cherine is gone, so it must have happened some time ago.” He lit his second cigarette from his first before he put out the stub. “I need to see the police files so I’ll have to go in my body. If that fails then I’m returning to the past.”

Robert looked as if he were also going to start smoking. “Our world does not know about you, so we can be at two places at the same time. Let me go to the cop shop while you search the past.”

Robbie shook his head. “Going to the past is the last option, there is always the danger I could alter the present - we’re taking enough of a risk with you and Allan, I don’t want to compound the problem unless I have to. We need to find this Cherine, not create a new alternate.”

Allan shook his head, stopping Robbie and Robert. “You’re forgetting that Robert Teller is not anybody important here. With what excuse will you go to the cops and ask to see their files? If her disappearance was suspicious, they are more likely to take you to a back room in the hope of ‘convincing’ you to answer questions.”

Claudia said, “We know a few things we didn’t know before. Her father is alive and he has not left her mother. The Robert of this time is in Athens so we have to be careful nobody who knows him sees either of you. Cherine disappeared some time ago. Libraries keep copies of old newspapers. Let’s go find out what happened to her before we jump around like fleas looking for blood.”

Robbie grinned at her, “You’re the only flea I know that has claws. I’ll go to the main library in London while someone else can search in the town her parents live in.”

The local paper had a few articles with photos of Cherine. She disappeared while she was just younger than seven years old and no ransom note was sent and the police stopped looking for her a year later. We met in a coffee shop in London to discuss our next steps. We saw no alternative, Robbie would have to return in time as the void and watch over Cherine to see what happened to her. We asked for the bill, paid and walked out. As Robbie reached the door the waitress called out, “Sir, you forgot this.” She brought an envelope that was addressed to ‘Robert Teller’ and from what we saw it seemed to have lain under an empty pack of cigarettes that Robbie had crushed as we got up from the tables. The envelope had not been there so Robbie stared at the waitress, sensing her emoting. He sensed she genuinely did not know anything else about the envelope. Another mystery that will have to be solved by recovering little Cherine. As we stepped outside Robbie tore open the envelope and pulled out a little card. On it were only these words:

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“‘From on high’, it must refer to the void. That indicates they know about us…they know I can become the void. How can this be?”

Robert said, “Even more disturbing is that they dare threaten you knowing that about you.”

Cherine only said, “We better return to Freddie before anything more is said.” We found a quiet cul de sac and jumped.

As we arrived, the card was torn out of Robbie’s hand. It floated in the air before us, but nobody made a move to grab it as it was surrounded by energy. Only then did we notice it was Angelica who controlled it and we waited for her. The energy disappeared and the card floated to the ground, Haven catching it before it touched the floor.

“I tried to identify who wrote the message, but all I got was a feeling that the person is someone I vaguely know but I can’t identify.”

“May we share?” We all shared and there was silence as we tried to identify the personality we faintly sensed.

Cherine looked over at Robbie, asking, not certain, “Doris?” Relief poured through me, she was right and that means we do not face some unknown Talent that could be a real threat. All we have to work out is how we rescue little Cherine without allowing Doris to harm her.

Robbie gave me a strange look as he sat at the table Maria had placed his coffee and cigarettes. “The person who abducted Cherine showed by the act itself that they fear us. To fear us they must know about us - which the card proves is the case. How can they know us if they have not travelled to a Cherinian reality? If they have, it does not make sense that they would fear us since they must have seen that their alternates are our friends.”

I hoped my words will not hurt all our Hetties when they share. “Hettie is brilliant, but she is not very imaginative. I’d guess that she employed a Talent who was able to sense some of our history…mmm, wouldn’t it make sense that any such sensing would tend to concentrate on the parts that would be of interest to Hettie - the war for instance. They probably never bothered to continue, deciding it is important they immediately take action to prevent the same happening here. She probably reasoned that if Cherine does not meet Robert they cannot develop the way we did. I’d say that all we have to worry about is what she has done with little Cherine - if she killed her, I doubt that any of us can stop Robbie from savagely attacking her.”

For a moment they accepted my interpretation as probably being the truth and then Cherine embarrassed the hell out of me. “If that is true, then how did she know we would be coming here? She must have for her to send us the card.”

I raised my hands in surrender, “We’ll find the answer later, let’s concentrate on rescuing Cherine.”

Cherine seemed to ignore what I said. “Why does she feel different?” Robbie asked, “Doris?” and she nodded. “It is her but she feels different to our Doris of that time. Could it be important Robert, Sam?”

“There is an easy way to answer that.” Robbie said. “Even with our years of living together and sharing, none of us can sense the Sparklers unless they make the effort for us to sense them when they are in normal space. Solomon, could they check on the local Hettie and Eddie for us? While they are doing so, they could also try to find Cherine?”

It did not take long for them to find her. Hettie was all they found. No Eddie and no Cherine!

“Obviously they expected us to find them, so Hettie stayed to keep their empire running while Eddie has teleported to another reality with Cherine.”

It is very rarely that there is no Hettie and/or Hettie alternate travelling with us in Freddie and this turned out to be that rare occasion. Robbie decided it could save the local Hettie and Eddie a lot of aggravation for nothing if we bring one of the alternates. We chose a couple that has not travelled with us for a long time. They shared from us and of course they could make sense of more differences than we could.

“Hettie is not using the same body I was when we first met, that is why she feels slightly different.”

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Eddie frowned. “There is more…something else is different…I’m not sensing her clear enough to work out what it is.”

“Shall we pay her a visit?”

Chantel asked, “Is it a good idea to visit her at this time? We could change the future if we do. For instance, if it is not Hettie who took Cherine, meeting her now would definitely change the future because she would learn about us.”

“If she has taken Cherine, not confronting her now means that if Cherine is still alive she will have five years to affect Cherine.” It was obvious we were stymied, neither alternative acceptable. We decided our only option was that Hettie and Eddie pay her a courtesy visit without trying to force the return of Cherine…or even showing they suspected her.

We were shocked when they returned with the local Hettie.

Our Cherinian Hettie shared with us even as Robbie greeted her and introduced the rest of us, keeping Cherine behind him. We saw that the local Hettie does not look the same, so she is using a different body but, more important, we learnt that when she saw Eddie it shattered her. She had lost her Eddie seventeen years ago in an accident - she had survived long enough to find and take over another body, but Eddie had died instantly. No wonder Hettie only looked about thirty or so!

Eddie said, “Hettie allowed me to share her memories and I am convinced she is not responsible for the disappearance of the local Cherine.”

Dommi asked, “Hettie, have you sensed any other Talents?”

“Of course, I employ them all. I have not sensed any unknown or independent Talents, I am strict about the rule as I cannot afford to allow them to stay independent.”

“You do not think any of them could have taken action against little Cherine without you knowing?”

“It could have happened if they sensed any powers, but if she was captured over a year ago I should have been advised by now.”

I saw a possibility that frightened me. “What if they captured her, as you put it, tested her powers and decided they would not be of any use to you, would they let her go or would she be killed?”

Our Hettie said, “If anyone was found with powers, but the powers would not make them a useful part of the team, they would be killed. I presume it would be the same here.”

Robbie’s arm shot out, the card in his fist, his eyes cold and hard. “Did you have this delivered to us?”

Coolly, without any show of fear, Hettie took the card and studied it. “The writing is mine, but I did not write it nor did I have it sent to you.” When such a definite statement is made there can be no lie for we would sense it from her. The protector within him was screaming at Robbie, but he did not know who to protect or who to attack and that was the final clue I needed, I suddenly saw the truth and with a cry fell to my knees. Instantly Robbie tried to enfold me as if his arms could protect me.

“We are in a new reality, we forced it and this Cherine has died because of us.” Cherine as always was first within my mind, but I opened for all to share, for all to know my guilt for being so stupid, so blind, for only daring to see the truth once it was too late. I was ultimately responsible for the death of a Cherine - and I could not live with that.

I woke up in our bed with Cherine and Dommi holding me. As I became aware, Cherine pulled back and Aganthi took her place. Cherine remained, resting on her knees as she stared into my eyes.

“First we will speak of what happened since you must understand what your responsibilities were.” I nodded, my heart numb from having borne too great a pain.

7858

“As with our Doris, the Hettie of the first reality had her men in Athens. We did not know that Zachos was considered a minor Talent because he died in our reality soon after the war ended. He worked for Hettie and his contact was officer Michalis. Allan did not realise that Zachos had a photographic memory and he was able to reproduce the two first diaries entirely as they were written, word for word. The diaries reached Hettie months after Zachos finished rewriting them and it took her another month to feel enough interest to start reading them. She started from the second book as the attached note suggested but once she’d read about the Doris war she started from the beginning. She had Cherine traced and found out that Cherine disappeared when she was seven years old. From the way it happened and the lack of clues, she realised she must have stolen her - but she had no way to travel in time so she did the only thing left to her. She sent a team to watch Allan’s home and every time he went out, the latest of his writings were copied and sent to her.

When she read of Robert being taken to other realities for his lessons she linked that to our ability to teleport and realised, that theoretically at least, if she could jump to another reality and aim to return here at an earlier period she could steal Cherine. She discovered from her list of Talents that Lynda could ‘see’ other realities which meant that they do exist and that Lynda could make her jump safer by guiding her towards an Earth that exists with air to breathe and so on. The other girl in New Zealand was able to help her teleport the first time. From there, Hettie managed on her own.

Before she jumped to collect Cherine, her agents in Greece sent the last writings of Allan with a report attached informing her that Allan and Robert have disappeared. She knew about the fire-world, from the lessons of Robert and from the reports of their own astronomers. With the fire-world having suddenly disappeared and the two principal characters from Greece missing, she realised she did not have much time, she worked out we would return to collect Cherine when she was eight years old, so she jumped to a year before our arrival.

She did not kill Cherine. She put her into a sort of hibernation and blocked her mind so that we don’t sense her; she then took her back to her own time, left her there and returning, waited for us to appear. She wrote and sent the card and left for her own time, convinced we would delay taking action because we would not want to put the child at risk.

I will return to her after I have told you the story of the newly split Hettie and Cherine.

The moment we contacted the local Hettie, unknowingly, because she had no knowledge of us visiting her in her past at the time of Robert and Allan, we forced the splitting and went along with the new Hettie in her reality. Part of the past of the new reality was that Cherine had disappeared but, the Hettie of the future would not be returning for her because we had already contacted Hettie now. Sam, it seems that if a reality cannot achieve a part of its history - should that part be crucial to its splitting - it evolves another way of forcing the same result. Cherine was sensed while she was with her father at a shop for car spare parts. He’d taken her with and another customer happened to be a Talent employee of Hettie. Sensing Cherine he followed them, notified his colleagues and as soon as they could they kidnapped Cherine. When they realised what her gift was, they decided that empathy was not likely to be a gift their boss would want so they killed Cherine, using the same net for trapping the soul that our Doris used on Robbie. When the soul escaped the net they decided it would be easier to get rid of the body rather than try to explain to the boss how they’d lost the soul of a Talent.”

“I didn’t know, but I realised that by contacting Hettie we’d forced a split and the one Cherine at least would be killed. She didn’t kill the first Cherine?”

“Let me finish with the second reality. The reason the net could not hold the soul was because Robert collected her and using a cell created her a new body so she is alive and eager to meet her own Robert as she really is half in love with our Robert and the first Robert. You’ll meet her before we leave - if our Robert lets you.

As you know, both Hettie’s have lost their Eddie. The lust for life is powerful Sam, and when Hettie was dying she could not resist the urge to cling to life and so she took over another child’s body. When she learnt that Eddie had died and she would live a lifetime on her own, to her it felt the years would be unbearable. She lost interest in the organisation they’d created and it carried on by virtue of its size, the money and power accumulated, and the fact that none of their underlings were used to having regular contact with the bosses.

When Hettie learnt of Cherine, she did not fear her so she had time to think clearly. She felt that in a way her Eddie had led her to the little girl of a talent that was not useful to her. From there her thoughts led her to images of creating a continuity for both her and Eddie by raising Cherine as her heir. She was to inherit all their power and wealth.” Cherine smiled at me. “I’m curious as to how a Cherine would have handled such wealth and power, would her gift of empathy have been stifled so that it withered away or would she have allowed it to guide her?”

“Have the years changed her?”

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Cherine stared at me in surprise and then she laughed. “Hettie did not live though the years again, she jumped to another reality and then back to her own time - where Cherine is waiting in her induced long sleep. When Robert meets her she’ll barely be eight years old. They would have met already if we had not been delayed by you. Sam, now you know the most important parts of both stories and we have to leave you as Robert wants to speak to you on his own. He is annoyed with you and I think you owe him a big apology.”

As they all left the bedroom I sat worrying at my memories, trying hard to think of what I could have done to upset him as Cherine claimed. Robbie walked in with a serious look on his face, but before my heart could plunge, his face lit up with a big smile and I felt the furnace of his heart trying to melt me. I quickly stood up on the mattress as he rushed to put his arms around me. I felt Cherine giggling in the back of my mind as I fell backwards, dragging Robbie so that he fell over me.

Creating a new reality did add to the work load for Robbie. For instance, since we’d caused the split to occur before Robert met Allan, he had to take care of the split off fire-world. This time we watched (spied) as Allan started writing; his visit to the island and meeting with Zachos and then the meeting between Robert and Allan. Despite it being an alternate reality we could not find any differences and they also ended up with Robert writing in Allan’s book, asking for us to help. I deleted it as I did not think Arthur would appreciate having exactly the same pages all over again.

Robbie is just a teensy bit in love with both little Cherines so we’ll be taking our time to see to them having a big family and group of friends before we leave. Included will be both Hettie’s - with their Eddie’s. Watching both sets feeling so close to each other I can’t help feeling I would find it really strange to meet a split off of mine so close to the time it happened. That close we would surely still be mirror images?

Allan and his loves found it rather overwhelming. As it turned out, they felt obliged to split for both Allans to have the same family (not including Ahní of course). As for me, since all my loves are concentrating on the Cherines and Robert, I’ve chosen a less crowded corner by spending time with the various Allans. The new ones are too alike for me to tell apart and I sometimes feel like asking them to dress in different coloured shirts or something.

Our little god decided that since we were not going anywhere that could be dangerous, she would spend some time back on her home planet. I asked her not to resign as their god without giving us advance warning, so that we can be there with her when it happens.

For the first time, Efineh rode Skotos on her own. She did not gallop, only walking around, accompanied by a number of Elabet. Efineh was real proud of herself as nobody else can ride him (apart from Piri).

We are back home again. We had our first big surprise the day after we arrived. After coffee and pastries at Kefalari we decided to visit Cyprus and have an early supper at Estella’s taverna. As we gathered our parcels (shopping) Robbie called for the bill. They took his card and we waited and waited. They brought the card back without saying anything, but Robbie became suspicious (they did not ask him to sign the slip plus we could sense their minds were in a turmoil). They finally admitted the card had been rejected. By the time they’d tried to draw funds from the fifteenth card (of us girls) we realised something was wrong, it was not just a technical problem. Athene confirmed that my accounts are all overdrawn! Within seconds all my loves had the same confirmations. Elias jumped to us and presented his card. It was also rejected. Within minutes all our friends had used their AI companions to check and found they were broke, all their accounts overdrawn. Later on even Michael and Campbell confirmed their accounts had been wiped out. The next evening David made a joke, stating that someone must be brave or foolish for it seems that person has targeted all the most powerful people on Earth, stealing from them. The next day David kept quiet, but we read that he had also been robbed of tens of millions of dollars. By now nobody thought it was a joke anymore.

The next day the bank Hettie and Eddie use for their personal accounts warned them that they would have to report to the authorities that amounts that tallied with what had been stolen from everyone else have been deposited in their accounts. They promptly called us and the Cherinian embassy issued a joint statement with ADFI and Robbie, asking those who are not of our family to contact them for arrangements to be made for the funds to be returned.

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It was far too obvious for anyone to take the attempted frame up seriously, but it did shake the confidence people and companies have in the banks. If we could be wiped out, who says they won’t? While everyone concentrated on trying to track down the real culprits, I had a very good reason for studying how they did it. As you probably will recall, I did show from early on a talent for breaking through passwords. I thought that whoever had done this must have a similar Talent.

Robbie took forensic experts from the bank regulatory board back in time with him and after watching a number of fake transactions they agreed that computer hacking had not been used, someone with a Talent was responsible. In a way it would have been better if they had announced a hacker had played a prank, as the world has long been used to computer fraud and whatever the numbers the public are not afraid of it anymore. Pranks and money being stolen by mutants - that was an entirely different kettle of fish, the stock exchanges around the world collapsed.

Michael, Campbell and Hettie secretly met and agreed to use all their most talented people to try and come up with scenarios for trapping whoever it is that had done this. In the meantime, seven companies announced they are coming up with new software that will prevent the transfer of funds without independent confirmations obtained in a number of ways. The financial world was not soothed by such announcements as the volume of transactions is so large, even on a per second basis, that anything that delays transactions by even a fraction of a second will create havoc and losses far worse than the previous debacle.

Over the next two days a number of large accounts were stripped and the funds transferred in small amounts to tens of thousands of accounts. They could all be traced and the transactions be reversed, but it was another blow to the confidence in the market and shares slid down again.

Ministers from the wealthiest countries, top bank executives, the largest hardware/software companies, Michael, Campbell, Hettie and Eddie and their son Dimi plus a number of law enforcement agencies met in Freddie. It was urgent that we catch the culprit(s) but we also had to find ways to prevent Talents ever being able to affect banking computers again.

Us girls were present, but for this once we kept quiet, concentrating on learning and examining the ideas exchanged. The only one we thought might make life a little bit more difficult for the mental hackers was suggested by Keith’s group. Thanks to the super speeds of their latest computers they can implement some of the ideas for double checking transactions that would have forced the banking system to collapse. Keith, after Robbie authorised it, offered the banks our latest computers with payment to be made only after the computers prove themselves capable of handling the traffic. In the meantime Keith told them he will be exploring the possibilities of their latest AI programs creating rules that will help them identify when transactions are not properly authorised and block them.

Dimi kept quiet during the meetings, but he sat with us afterwards to listen to us as we threw ideas around without him saying anything. The next day, during the final meeting, he was not there when they started and only walked in about ten minutes before the meeting was to end. He asked everyone to please wait until he hears from a party on Earth. He is respected, so I’d say that the only ones who felt they had to question him were those who love him.

His call came though his AI companion and his eyes lit up. He ordered his caller not to take action for the time being and rang off.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for showing such confidence in me. I had an idea and it turned out to be correct and we think we now know who is responsible for our problems. A prank is not usually repeated but, when it is repeated without anyone gaining, then there has to be a hidden agenda, some other motive apart from the blatantly obvious ones. I can now announce that the banks and account holders were not the target, all that happened was for the express purpose of collapsing the stock exchange markets around the world.

When our meeting ended yesterday evening I asked friends to monitor and prepare a list of the five hundred largest buyers of shares. My friends then monitored those five hundred, not reading their thoughts but keeping a close watch on their emoting. We are now confident that sixteen professionals are working with the Talent who used his or her powers to crash the market. If you are willing to bear some more losses for a few more hours we are confident we’ll track down the Talent heading this operation.” Everyone agreed to wait so we brought in drinks and mezedes.

I don’t know how we’re going to put up with Robyn for a day or two. We made certain that Dimi shared how she emotes to us when he is not around, so that he can never doubt how much he is loved.

Next [Book 12] - Post 007