“What will you do with it if the medicine works?” Cassie asked.

“Return it to its world.”

)

Previous: Book 05 - Post 019

2991

“You can’t do that Robert. What if it is killed and eaten? The effect might spread or it can lead to them developing an immunity if the drug becomes diffused, we don’t know enough yet to take chances!”

“Yes, that would change the future.” He thought about it. “There is nothing else we can do, we’ll have to kill it.”

“No, please Robbie. Can’t we keep it here?”

“Cassie love…what about food for it. It will also be lonely.”

“Please?” That is what is so adorable about children - they don’t listen to logic when their sweet little hearts really want something; they just trust in the adult to make magic happen.

It did not need a Goldi to make him give in. He hated the idea of killing it.

He prepared a separate sphere with the correct ecology. “I’ll return to landscape it once I see where we pick it up from. Hell, we don’t even know what size it will be.”

He wanted to be alone with us so we went home.

“My loves, I have suggested it before, but you did not agree. I think we have reached the stage where we have to. If something happens to me, as has happened before, you cannot keep this world going for long. I have to make another copy of myself.”

“No.” This was not negotiable, so Cherine did not argue. Our unanimous approval of her terse reply was felt, so we kept quiet.

“My love, this world is becoming too complicated. So many alien ecologies, will you risk our friends? If we are to bring a dangerous animal I cannot take the chance it escapes and kills. Think of our poor giraffes getting eaten by it.” His blatant appeal to our love for animals did not work. Half-heartedly he added, “Bitsy?” That only earned him a wag of the tail and lick of his hand.

He was still faced with a rebellious family. He turned to Dommi. “How about we do it the way the corporates do it? You must have seventy five percent to overthrow my decision?”

“What is the point Roberto? We are all in agreement on this.”

“Then will you agree?”

We conferred mentally. We sensed he was up to some trick, but could not guess what it was. I advised caution, we should refuse. Cherine was amused, she was convinced she can outsmart him - because, she said, he does not really want this either.

“We agree.”

“Okay. As leader I have proxy and vote for those missing. Eight of them plus the protector and myself makes nearly thirty percent. Motion carried.” His statement was met by screams of outrage and a number of voices trying to argue at the same time. With that funny grin of hers, Cherine shushed us.

“We could dispute your right to vote for them - anyway, who says you can include Allan? The protector could have been called to vote. It does not matter, we will allow your votes, but you must agree that for any future votes you will count as a single vote.”

“I agree.” He was perplexed by his easy and maybe not entirely wished for victory.

“I propose we all do as Robert will. With two copies of each of us we grow stronger and our chances of surviving any disaster are greater. How do you all vote?”

We backed her cheerfully while Robbie scowled at her.

“Two Cherines!? One is not enough?”

Sweetly, too sweetly, she asked, “Is one enough Robert?”

He quickly backed off. “I better go get the animal, we can discuss this some other time.”

2992

Soon as he was gone Cherine stopped us cheering her, “Don’t be silly, he walked into that one with his eyes open. It was just salve for his own conscious.”

“That makes him sound hypocritical!” Claudia protested.

Dommi explained to her. “We all are hypocritical at times. He needs to secure our safety, but he did not really want us to agree, for a number of reasons, so he did not think it through. It is not deliberate Claudia.”

We jumped to the screen giving us the best view and watched as the animal was brought to the void protected by a sphere of energy. Another sphere collected the scientists with their ‘weapon’. Robbie brought them to the point where the two spheres touched and at that point he opened a window.

One of them called out, “Robert, we need to spray the animal. It is too far away, can you force it to come closer to us?”

Robbie appeared within their sphere. “Give it to me. How do I use it?” They showed him. One end pointed at the animal from anything up to thirty metres away and a button gets pushed for about three seconds. Nice and simple.

The animal was at least as large as an elephant and ten times as ferocious as a lion. We wanted to cry out when he stepped across into its sphere. A bellow of rage met his appearance. Robbie only stared it in the eyes and took another step forward. It tried to sniff his scent, but Robbie was protected-insulated by a sheath of energy. It then stretched some flaps of skin and we realised it is trying to identify him psychically. It did not recognise his emoting and it was troubled by this puny creature that was walking up to it without any emoting of fear.

Robbie began to softly sing (Waltzing Mathilda) and he took the few steps still needed to bring him within range. Even as he pressed the button and a mist sprayed out and a soft buzzing was felt, the animal attacked. It rushed at him with unbelievable speed, but also attacked psychically, knocking him back against the shield of the sphere. Instantly he rolled to one side and jumped. He rolled as he landed close to us, his excited laughter shocking us.

“Phew! That was fun!”

Ashiir was standing by us and she laughed. “Of course, he is the eight year old boy again, playing tigers in the forest.”

He was in a damn silly mood, until the scientists returned. They looked at the weapon.

“You only sprayed it for two seconds!”

“It felt like two hours!” He laughed. “Do you want me to go back?”

Henry said, “You’re fucking crazy!”

Robbie quickly hugged him. “You don’t know how good that sounds.” He turned to the scientists, concerned. “Will a smaller dose make it immune?”

“No. We built in a safety margin. If you wish to see the effects, you should return to watch it in about half an hour. We should find changes happening if it worked.”

“I know. Let’s have a picnic girls. Henry, Alice and Manoli, come with. We’ll go with the scientists and have some fun while we wait.”

All we did was disturb the scientists with our laughter and tomfoolery. Our three friends sat woodenly watching us for a few minutes, but then Alice joined us, mimicking Robbie strutting around looking stern and soon everyone was laughing - I suspect even a few of the scientists were hiding their amusement.

Enztepir let out a scream of joy. He quickly dampened himself to allow the older scientists to announce the result.

“It worked Robert!”

2993

Robbie went to the window and looked at the animal. It was quickly turning the upper half of its body left to right and back, its flaps of skin flapping as if urgently searching for something.

“I’d rather have proof.”

He jumped into the sphere with the animal. Strangely it ignored him and he drew up closer. He wanted it to attack him and when it did, he had no time to jump. Vicious claws raked across him and his body was tossed to one side. It pounced at him and he rolled again. All we heard was a ‘fuck!’ and he tried to jump. Razor claws tossed him again and we screamed with delight. He did not have a mark on him, it cannot penetrate his shield using its claws only. Bemused by the loss of its powers it allowed him to get up and he ran at it yelling and jumped home. Within less than a minute he rejoined us.

He was grinning as he said, “It hurt!” and turned to the scientists. “Congratulations! It is only an animal now - no super powers. How does that thing work?”

They explained that it is a double-pronged solution. The spray had been bio-engineered by the CherInguel scientists to affect the cells of the animal, while the Anadir with the help of the Elabet had targeted the electrical impulses the body/mind emits. It sort of scrambled them so that they cannot send messages-orders to the cells for changing, in the right sequence. We asked whether the effects will be permanent and they are of the opinion that it will be, explaining in detail (not that we understood much) how the effects damage certain cells and why they cannot regenerate. Robbie asked they provide him with details in writing and turned to Jade, his face serious.

“Come to us, my love.” When she stood before him he called to Cassie to also join them. “Cassie, you saw correctly. This animal will symbolise for all life throughout every universe our deliverance. Jade, I’m offering you your first commission by the Cherinian foundation. You will study the animal in its habitat and produce a series of drawings and paintings. We will pay you twenty thousand dollars for a minimum of fifteen works, oil or watercolour, your choice. Do you accept?”

“Am I free to interpret as I see it?”

He bent his head and studied her, keeping out of her mind though. “I’m going to answer yes and you’re going to make me regret it, aren’t you?” He smiled at her tenderly. “I agree.” It must have been the most beautiful and happy moment of her life. All of us made a big thing of it, congratulating her with hugs and kisses.

We celebrated and only the Anadir drank more than Robbie did. Dancing on the beach with a bunch of us he swung around and facing the sky called out, “Okay Allan, you can come back now, the worst is over. Bring my babies back.” He waited a minute, pulled a face, shrugged and continued dancing and drinking.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine

We ended up with a small zoo as the weapon was tried on a variety of animals. We had not thought it through to its logical conclusion and only now became aware of something that should have been obvious. There are no surviving herbivores, only carnivores, so we had to return in time to collect a few herds.

“I’m going to take a chance. We’re going home. I’m taking our spaceship-world to our reality.”

“You don’t think they will sense us as we return to our natural present time?” We really must evolve a vocabulary capable of explicitly stating our meanings when talking about time.

“We are not going to our present in this reality. We will travel in time within our own reality. I want the Anadir on planet Noelle to begin manufacturing more of these weapons. There can be a few variations if Seltwe is right.” He frowned. “Damn, but I wish we had a few Earth scientists working with them.”

“Racial prejudice Robert?”

“Yup! Actually, species prejudice. Everyone wants to be proud of their own family and Terrans are our family Manoli.”

2994

“I don’t want to go back Robbie.” Em-e looked as if she is about to cry. “Not without my Wendy and the others.”

“I don’t either love, but they can return today or in a year. We cannot wait here for them.”

“Can they find us there?” Aganthi asked anxiously.

“Wherever we are Aganthi. At this moment, the way they are, they can know whatever they want to. We have to go back, we do not have the facilities here to build what I want. The weapon, as it is, is not of much use to us.”

We did not go there directly. First we travelled spatially as Robbie wanted to check whether the pocket we found Meli’s world in exists in both realities. It does. We did not spend any more time there and rushed on to our present. The Sparklers had gone ahead to let them know we are coming, so that Noelle will not be full of visitors.

“We have decided Noelle’s planet is off-limits for now.”

“This could take years Ordinx.”

“It is the only place we have within normal space. The operation is far more complex than appeared at first. To create what you have asked for, means we first have to build spaceships for mining other meteors and to transport the minerals back to us. It is likely we will have to build the weapons outside, in vacuum. That means spacesuits and other support equipment. Our people also have to go through training.”

“We can’t wait that long!”

“There are no shortcuts Robert. The job is dangerous enough as it is.”

“What if I bring the metals you need? With the void energy I can smelt it and bring nuggets to you.”

“That will help, but we cannot avoid doing the rest of it.”

“Robert, even if it takes years, we can go to the alternate reality at any specific time you want.”

“I know that Sam!” He did not like admitting it to others. “I can’t wait years, I want the girls back.”

“We cannot jeopardise this operation for personal reasons.” A thought struck me. “Dad, Allan won’t want to lose years either. He has Eleni waiting for him.”

“That will be the last thing on his mind - he has our precious girls with him.”

“You are wrong! Ordinx, go ahead with your plans, we are taking Robert for a while. We’ll bring him back to help you later.” Dommi slipped her hand under his arm and Robbie had to walk off with her.

Soon as we were alone Dommi turned on Robbie, her eyes blazing. “When you wanted to play that stupid voting game you called Allan family. How dare you make a comment like that about a member of our family in front of others!”

Hung by his own petard, leotard or peotard - whatever! He cannot make any excuses, so he moaned instead. “I want them back Dommi. Now!”

“You are acting like a spoilt child. Have your powers changed you that much Roberto, you must have whatever you want when you want it? The safety of your loves does not come first?”

“No, you know I would not do anything…Dommi, I have this terrible empty space inside me.”

“We all do. Don’t you even dare to suggest you love them more than we do.” Which he does of course.

I am sooo thick!! We have often wondered why it is Cherine and Dommi can speak to him as equals and we cannot. Cherine is Cherine, his special love. Nothing she says or does affronts him; he expects her to be cheeky. Dommi, he sees her as his wife, as a woman, an equal, because of their love affair when she was almost an adult. No, that is only partly the answer, I think that when they were only three, Cherine and Dommi bonded tightly, while Dommi’s personality helped save them a number of times.

2995

All of us love Robert and Cherine, if not as much as Dommi does, then at least as much as we are capable of loving, but we each have our lives, Wendy for instance, her music, Meli her stories, me, my obsession with using logic and my heart as one so as to make our dreams come true. Dommi and Cherine have only one obsession, Robbie and each other. Maybe he also sees the rest of us as children and that is partly because we see ourselves that way.

Perhaps we see ourselves that way because he does? Us ‘girls’ will have to discuss it and decide what we want to do about it - if anything, who knows. There are a lot of benefits in staying as we are J. I bet some of the extreme factions (feminists) will want to hang me for saying that. Lol.

The word must have spread, for our CherInguel friends came to visit. After a few social niceties an-Fisp asked Robbie, “Do you trust us now Robert?”

“What does that mean? Why are you asking?”

an-Fisp looked at his fellow CherInguel sadly. “We better leave.”

“Hold on. My answer must have felt as if I was avoiding the question. That was not the way it was intended. What I was asking is in which way did you intend it? As a general question or is there a particular confidence you need?”

“Both. What good will the one be without the other?”

“Your child is well an-Fisp?”

He looked flustered at the change of topic. “Yes, thank you. She is a great joy.”

“Do you trust me an-Fisp? If I were to say I have a reason and want to cut her soul off from you and your wife, will you agree without questions?”

“We have already entrusted you with our lives.”

“That too is an evasive answer. If I were to find one of my girls on the ground with you above her pointing the tip of a sharp knife at her eye and you asked me to trust you as you brought the tip to her eye I will probably kill you. If you asked me to trust you as you brought the tip to my eye I probably will trust you. There are certain things none of us dare to trust others with.”

“I think I understand. Your ways of thinking differ from ours. Robert, I speak of the weapon.”

“I intend trusting every species with it.”

“That is once you have used it and ensured all have it at the same time. What if we asked for it now?”

“You wish to use this against your own people? What for, they…”

“No. We are asking you allow the weapon to be created on our world as a joint effort by scientists of all species. Our thoughts are you can take us to our new home, leave the other scientists there with us and jump forward to the time we have it ready for you.”

“Your offer is magnanimous, but have you considered the effect on your people? They are having to adapt and re-create your civilisation - this project would strain an already established economy.”

“We should not need to work in space. As you know, our solar systems are very low on metals of all kinds, if you are willing to assist with securing the metals we’ll need, we can manage, Robert. Most of the equipment needed we can grow and this way it will not matter to you whether we take five or fifty years. We will be sharing our knowledge with all species, plus there is one more advantage you perhaps did not consider. We have a fleet of spaceships available for you to use if you can transport them in space and time to the world of the Elabet.”

For the first time Robbie came alive, his eyes gleaming. “Can you provide living quarters for other species on them?”

“We can.”

2996

Robbie slumped, showing his worry (he is a real ham, for he was broadcasting his glee). “Fine, I see no problem with that. It does relieve me of my own problems, for which I am very grateful. We can discuss that another time, for now I’m more concerned about your problem. May we return to the subject you came here to discuss? On what matter did you wish to know of my trust in you?”

They were confused for a moment, speechless. We burst out laughing when they did so. This is the first time we’ve heard them laugh at something any of us have said. They not only saw the humour in his question, they were also touched by the implications. It was a day of pride for them and we suspect (hope) they celebrated that night.

“Ordinx, please apologise to your people on my behalf. I cannot bear staying away for years of my time. I want this over and done with as soon as possible so that I can go after my girls.”

“We are terribly disappointed Robert.” He hesitated, his face sad and Robbie desperately tried to find something to say. Ordinx reached out and grasped Robbie’s shoulder and his face broke into a grin. “My people will treasure this moment. You tease us often and we never seem to find a way to pay you back. May I say something Robert, that would be offensive if I did so in public?”

Warily Robbie agreed, expecting to be teased again. Ordinx became serious.

“Our people, and the Sparklers feel the same way, we feel there is a special bond between your family and people and our two species. We will not speak of this to other species, nor will we show our feelings in any way, for it might offend them. Robert, your pain is our pain. You need not have worried, nor do you need to apologise. It was a great pride for us that we could play an important part in this battle using the world you created for us, but the solutions the CherInguel offer are substantial. Having to build spaceships is an almost impossible task for us at this stage. Using spaceships within your system could have led to the discovery of us by your governments. We are satisfied to be part of the team and rejoice that you have found a way to avoid waiting for years.”

Robbie withdrew his sensor tip from normal space and without jumping realities began the trip back to our future. Being in the void, our spaceship-world almost invisible, we feel safe from the Gnolats. It was decided we should arrive a few years after the settlement of the CherInguel planet.

“When we do our tellings and show what happened with the Gnolats, do you think people will blame us, saying that if we had not provoked them they would have stayed on their planet and never been a threat for all other species?”

Since Rosie had asked her question at the taverna with representatives of all species present, I quickly replied while Robbie sat thinking about it. “Not if they are able to think about it logically, instead of emotionally as most people do. Consider the alternatives. For some reason our terraforming teams did not return the other species - I have a suspicion they saw how violent life was and they decided to leave them out so that the sapient species can live in peace. Robbie, we must talk to them about it and explain why they were wrong, they must never do that again. Anyway, as I was about to say, what if we had brought back the Teddies and departed without meeting them? Do we have any guarantees that none of them, probably out of hunger as great amounts of time alters their planet, would have moved out into space? All it needed was for their ‘protector’ nature to realise their species are condemned if they stayed on their planet and it would have happened.

Think of the disaster it would have been if we’d only learnt about the danger after they’d spread across a number of solar systems. We were very lucky and I’m glad we provoked them.”

The weeks it took to travel there passed quickly. For one, Robbie was in an exuberant mood and it raised the pall that had settled on everyone. It was not only the family which had been affected. We did have a moment of anxiety when something about Robbie changed, the strength of his emoting and presence faded, but he was soon back to his normal strength and since he refuses to discuss it, we decided he had caused it. We wondered if it has anything to do with our missing eight, for it is obvious he has split himself, sending off a substantial part of himself. For some reason Cherine did not react and we always take our cue from her.

Alice thought he was teasing, but I sensed that under his smile was a genuine question. “So sweet Alice, you are going to have your child in the void? Sam, does that make their child and Gina the first two citizens of this world?”

“I hope not. We are of Earth, Robert, and it must remain our true home forever.”

He really was puzzled. “I thought those of you born Cherinians will have outgrown such parochial loyalties?”

2997

“Why? I cannot speak for other Cherinians or those of the future, but those of our family, they will not change. You have been careful and seen to it that we never forget what we are, stressing the importance of valuing our links to the past.”

“Children do not always follow the beliefs parents try to instil in them, Sam. If we succeeded it is not just because of us, your own hearts and maturity can take the credit.”

“We are having a son Robert.”

“A nephew.” He said it with such pleasure it made Alice blush. “You will let us know when he is due to arrive?” She nodded happily and Henry came over.

“You told him? You better have a few more daughters Robert, my son is going to need a few.” Henry knows Robbie too well to have meant it as anything but a joke, but we sensed under it a secret wish that it could happen. Robbie did not laugh or give a witty reply. He hugged Henry, his eyes soft with love.

Robbie was soon to be proven wrong. An Inguel couple had a baby, Solomon admitted a number of Sparklers have created new Sparklers while travelling with us and they admitted they are proud they can say their children were born in our world - the first Sparklers ever born on a world of matter.

I am the one honoured. May they all live charmed lives filled with love.

The voice came from somewhere in the air above our heads. We were all startled, thinking for a moment it was Allan, but then the words penetrated.

“Robert!!”

“That is right love. You did vote I can split myself. The part of myself that was responsible for seeing to the details of running this spaceship-world of ours has now become a more complete personality. He can also look to the defence and maintenance of all in here.”

“But he can talk! Did you make speakers for him?”

“He spoke directly to our minds love. What if we are invaded? He must be able to communicate with us without the enemy hearing us. He can vibrate the energy of our shields to speak aloud.” He looked apologetically at us. “My loves, this was too important for me not to, but, I have concentrated on building up my core, so I’m not damaged in any way. The converse is true, now I’ll truly be able to relax. It is an immense load off my shoulders.” We sensed that what he said is true, so he was not met with the negative emotions he’d expected. Not that Cherine is going to let him off that lightly, but she’ll get her own back once we are in bed - we all look forward to that.

“What do we call you?” Annavi asked.

You can call me Robert. I am bigger than him so you can call him Robbie or Rob. After all, he is my little brother.

Thoughts are sometimes like coffee - they need time to percolate their way through our brains so that we understand. Cherine laughed, delighted, and clapped. “He has a sense of humour!”

“How else can a Robert survive having so many wives?” Robbie asked mischievously.

After the teasing and laughter, Robbie told Annavi she can chose the name for our spaceship-world personality. She didn’t want to, afraid she might choose a name we don’t like. We refused to let her off the hook.

“It has to be the name of a man?”

I will feel silly if you called me Mary. Annavi, I do have the same personality as Robert, just less confused, as I do not have a body that alters my thinking. Being part of a spaceship helps my thinking stay sharp and clear. So, what will you call me?

“I can’t do this Dommi. Why can’t he choose his own name?”

“You’ve been asked to love and it is an honour.”

2998

“Can I name you after one of the ancient Greek gods? Zeus.”

With a smile Robbie told her, “No baby, not Zeus, it is not a good idea. He killed his father.”

“Oh! Mercury didn’t kill anyone did he?”

“That is a good name.” Robbie told her.

“Then I’m going to call him Freddie.” We looked at Cherine in surprise, puzzled. Then we made the connection. “Wendy loves him, she says he has one of the best voices of the last hundred years. Even she still gets goosebumps when we listen to him sing Barcelona.”

Annavi, will you honour our love for Wendy and call me Freddie Mercury?

“Just how much did you give of yourself Roberto? He sounds so loving!”

“Of course he loves you. He is a Robert. Even the tiniest parts of me love all of you.”

I thought to myself that it was just as well I was not asked to name him, I’d have chosen Hal which would not have been as nice.

“Freddie, how does it feel?” I asked.

Being a spaceship? Or are you wondering about my size?

“All of it. Not being in a body, not having sex, not eating or smoking. Having so many details to look after.”

The first questions are very personal, do you know me well enough to ask them? As for size; my consciousness can be located in one specific area or as a general awareness throughout. It feels great Sam. Robert did not take back the parts he had running the ship. Just as well, as it would have been too much for me to handle on my own. I have only replaced Robert for those chores Robert had to look after. Before you ask, no, I cannot move us through time. I might be, no, I am able to move us within spatial dimensions. Should Robert not be able to do so, he thought it prudent that I be able to move us out of danger. Basically, you can say I am able to do everything Hal can - apart from killing off my crew of course.

I cringed and then laughed. “We are not crew.”

I know. I consider the parts of Robert as my crew. None of you were aware of it, but they were lonely. Now they are linked to me and it strengthens them, just as they strengthen me. You did not think of that Robert.

“I didn’t. I should have though.” He shrugged, not really concerned. “Since my mistake can only strengthen you, I’m glad I made it. You are also linked to me, which means you are indirectly linked to all my family. Where is Wendy?”

Nice try Robert. # Freddie laughed. # Actually, in a sense I can answer you. She is here, she is there, she is everywhere.

“Fuck off.” He grinned at us. “That is my code to let him know I’m finished with him. He will not speak unless you call to or for him. I suggest you each agree what you will say to show you have finished talking with him.”

We did choose some pretty stupid terminators, but it soon became obvious they were insulting. As a matter of fact, we found the idea of using terminators, as Robbie calls them, insulting, since we consider Freddie a part of our Robbie, so that idea died a fast death.

Manoli said, “What you are doing Roberto, it is not sensible. The soul is not meant to be treated this way. One day you may regret it.”

“You may be right, but I have no alternative. On previous trips when you were not here, I lost control and the girls had to struggle to keep all this from falling apart. If they had not been partially successful everyone would have died a final death, since no matter may exist in the void. Luckily, when I first designed Freddie, I had the sense to create a far stronger outer shield so when the water began to break through on the inside, the outer shell held. I’ve also now the fear that the shield separating those animals breaks down and they go on a rampage. My girls will be safe, all Cherinians who can jump will be, but all other life here will be prey.”

2999

I had not thought of it. The knowledge that even a drop of water or air can begin an explosion that would have only ended with the total destruction of all matter, made me shudder. I wondered whether Robbie is right or will our souls be able to survive from within the heart of such a cataclysmic explosion? If he is right, I’m amazed that his protector instincts have allowed us to travel in Freddie. I’ll try very hard to trust his instincts.

The difference in our lifestyles now, is amazing. Having a world that can respond to you, even help on certain occasions or if you need it, joke or comfort you with the voice and heart of your loved one, endears it, and it is tempting to think of the world as home. I had an idea for Meli to write. It will be about an imaginary us. We live on a world and she paints with words our lives here with the emotions we experience in living for a few years in such a caring world. Something happens to us and we become Normals on Earth again. We age and tell the next generations of our years as Cherinians and about this world Robbie made for us which talked, cared for and nurtured us. Generations go by and the stories begin to take on a myth-like quality. The world, Freddie Mercury, becomes a sort of dream heaven for children. The rest of the story she can think up herself. (I guess it is not really original enough for her to waste her time on writing it, not when she has so many ideas of her own.)

The Sparklers brought a number of souls from Earth and Cherine helped by feeling them. She chose one and it was released close to Alice. When she felt the soul settle within the foetus she could not stop crying. The CherInguel were all present when it happened, experiencing for the first time the way we acquire a soul. Cherine had shared with everyone, letting them feel the soul before it began its new life and then after it did.

An Inguel said, “There is beauty in your way! The eternal soul we dreamed of, yours is another way of achieving it. We are confused though; on entering we sensed it forget most of its previous life. What is the point of that? Surely that is a loss?”

“Not really. The memories are not lost for all time. Some of us learn to recall our previous lives later. We assume that life is a learning process. As a human, of any species we have met up to now, old age finds us fixed in our ways of thinking and it is difficult to learn, like your third cycle. For a child to be born with the memories of its previous life means the child will be condemned to making the same mistakes again, never growing spiritually. If it kept the previous personality it would not be able to grow by much. When our souls are in the void waiting for a new life, they are able to recall their lives and see what the lessons of their lives have been. We are told that our bodies create an enzyme that causes the soul in the foetus to forget the last life or lives it lived, so that it begins life anew.

We too dreamt of a soul reaching an ultimate enlightenment at which time we believed it would no longer be necessary for the soul to return to mortal life; we believed it then probably goes to another plane of existence.”

“You are using the past tense deliberately?”

“We are at a time of confusion. Becoming Cherinians has forced us to change some of our beliefs, but we have not replaced them with new ones. For instance, we discovered that souls arriving in the void after death suffer a terrible pain as the void tears at them, sending them back to a new life, and it also causes them to forget everything. How can they then achieve enlightenment? Yet we have too many instances on our planet of souls we call ‘old souls’ who are far more enlightened than the rest of us. Sam is one of our examples and a contradiction of all we thought we knew. What about us Cherinians? Our souls have broken the cycle and can remain the same personality for all of time. Will we be able to continue to learn? Can we achieve growth? It is my belief that life without growth is meaningless.”

Dommi asked, “Can it be the old souls are actually souls which have found a way to recall previous lessons?”

“I’ve begun to feel the same way Dommi.”

“So there is an advantage to being an Inguel. We are born with the memories of our ancestors and yet, because we are not of one old soul we can begin as new and learn, adding to all we bring into life with us. What we learn does not end with us and is passed on to the future.”

3000

Robbie smiled, genuinely pleased. “Isn’t that the beauty of life, that there not be one way? Perhaps at the end of time we will look back and see all the differences meant nothing, the different roads we took all leading to the same place.”

“What do you think that is Robert, can it be we all forget everything and begin anew?”

“At our present level of knowledge I react to that idea with horror. The idea of spending millions of lifetimes learning just to forget it all and repeat the cycle endlessly seems pointless and futile.”

Cherine offered, “Robert, perhaps the way we feel, when we dance and need to become one, that is the way our souls grow until all life is part of that soul and it is then outside of time and the beginnings and ends of our universe.”

Robbie shuddered. “I hope not. Not to be Robert who loves and is loved, to have merged into one faceless soul that has nothing to love except itself, that is a cold and empty future. No thank you Cherine, I’d rather start all over again a zillion times if it means I can love you.”

The Inguel were shocked. Robbie had just made their dream and religion seem an abomination to him. They left without speaking, but we can sense the turmoil within them. I guess there are going to be many arguments and debates among them in the coming days. I’d like to know how they feel about it and what they decide.

I could not help needling Robbie. “Perhaps you are looking at it the wrong way Robert. Ultimate enlightenment might mean the over-soul reaches a state of perfect peace as each part of itself loves all other parts.”

“Perfect peace!? Life without challenges? I might as well be a cabbage! What meaning is there to love if it is not directed? I love all life and want to protect it. I can tell you baby, that love does not even begin to compare to the love I feel for you.” The bastard! I’m not stupid, I know what he did, but I cannot help it, it worked! I sat there flooded with love even as that critical part of me that sits and watches, laughed at me.

We have arrived and now starts the time of hard work for Robbie. While the scientists prepared to move all their equipment to the planet Chering, he checked on the worlds of the normal Inguel. The bombs still circle their planets. He called our CherInguel to a meeting.

“I am worried. A point needed to be made and I think it has been made by now. To keep the bombs there any longer is, as I see it, an admission of weakness on our part. I would like to dispose of them. What is your opinion?”

“We do not see why it is a weakness to protect ourselves Robert.”

“You are sending messages to the people below that are wrong. First of all you are keeping them at your mercy. That will not earn you friends. How can you hope for any Inguel to join you, to even consider the possibility, when you hold bombs over them so that their lives and those of their children are threatened?

Secondly, keeping the bombs in orbit over them shows you need them, you are afraid of them. What message will it send if you dispose of the bombs?”

“A message of contempt?”

“I hope not, but even that will be better than the message of keeping the bombs there. As for how they view it, surely it depends on how you dispose of them? Make it a message of love, even if they do not believe you.”

“What do we do with the bombs?”

“Can you dismantle them? Each of those bombs represents a huge amount of energy. Can the energy not be used for peaceful purposes to enhance the lives of all?”

“May we discuss this with those we left behind?”

“Do so. Tell them, any help they need, I will give it gladly.”

Next [Book 05] - Post 021

I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)

^{21st November, 2019}

• posted: 21st November, 2019
  
  
  
  
  

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