Little Cherine Book 08 - BPost026
Bruce turned his face to the sun and felt for the warmth he craved. After a moment he asked us. “I take it this is unusual? Why did he do it?”
5151
“He did it for you Bruce.” Cher said, annoying Robbie. “He felt you wish you could lie in the sun and daydream. If you go into the taverna you will find swimming trunks and a large towel.” She grinned. “I don’t think you will need a sunscreen lotion.”
“He did this for one person!”
It was not long before the slender sandy tract along the water was filled with bodies, lying or playing in the sun. All our alien friends decided today is a holiday and set aside their work for a day under a sun that does not belong in the void. We could hear Freddie mumbling to himself in a grouchy way as he quickly did all he had to so as to compensate for the new factor that will affect our weather.
It was over a nice lunch, mostly comprising a variety of fruit and cheeses that Robbie asked Bruce for a favour. He did so by telling him in more detail than had been shown in the telling about what Jesus and Christós are attempting. Bruce chuckled over the shock of the three who were appointed by Robbie to have authority over Jesus.
“You really have no respect for anyone do you? Assuming such a right over a man such as he!”
“I did it because I respect him. Why would I bother otherwise?”
Bruce looked at Robbie without speaking and then nodded. “You’ve been telling me this for a reason?”
“Yes. Would you mind acting as advisor to Jesus for a couple of months? I feel he is likely to rub the local politicians the wrong way and it could delay the effective change of his people to a Cherinian world.” Robbie laughed and said, with an impudent grin, “After all, our own Jesus was not known for his sense of tact when dealing with figures of authority.”
“Like someone I know from our world?”
Robbie played innocent, making everyone laugh at me as he replied, “You mean Samantha? I admit that in that regard I was a failure, I could not convince her to use me as her example.” Because of his twisting his barb at himself, I enjoyed his humour.
As soon as we arrived, Jesus jumped to us. He listened as Robbie explained why we had returned and we felt him sensing Bruce. He nodded. “It is one of your better ideas. Bruce, I would appreciate your help.”
When they were gone, Robbie sat down heavily, feeling morose. “I wish I would learn to stop acting impulsively!”
“But it was a good idea Robert.”
“I know. I had other plans though.”
“They were more important?”
“Not for this world, for us.”
“That was why you did it then. What was your plan my love?”
He told Cherine and I liked it. I needed to think quickly before he totally discarded his idea.
“Dad, you could still do it with a slight change. Instead of bringing those who are attacking us to this world where they’ll hear about Bruce having been here, why not take them to a whole string of realities that have a Jesus until they are sick of meeting Jesus’s? That way we also have some fun.”
Lynda gave a sly smile. “Maybe we could take the imams to meet their prophet Mohammed and the Jews to meet Moses?” Since Lynda was an adult at the moment he could not tickle her as he responded with delight to her suggestion, so he gave her a long kiss that left her gasping for air with a flushed face. Hmm, there might be advantages to being an adult after all.
5152
We went to check on our terraforming teams, moving them to their next assignment after we got to know the Brokeet. They are short and squat, especially if angry (for fighting). When making love they stretch to double their height. To show friendship or make conversation they stretch to three quarters of their full height, which puts them in an amorous mood. They are able to control their birth rate. When told I am considered a ‘friend of aliens’ and that I will represent them in any decisions we make, they were not upset to learn I am female and appointed Dokhok as my mate. It took some fancy verbal footwork to explain I am mated for life to Robert and contrary to their customs, do not have casual sex with other males. They offered to appoint a female homosexual, asking that we give them time to train her. Finally they came to understand that I would not have sex with anyone outside my family. They asked how we show we are not ready to fight if we do not stretch ourselves for loving. In their culture males and females always travel together so that as they meet others they can greet them with a brief symbolic making of love that is used instead of our shaking hands and smiling.
We can breath their air, which made it easier for me to offer Dokhok the opportunity to travel with us for a while. It was agreed that seven couples can come as they need the kind of interaction I had shunned. The Anadir scientists distributed food machines set to their edibles and once they understood how they can program them to add or change the varieties they may want, we left.
I came in for some good-natured but somewhat bawdy teasing. I took it with a smile until they ran out of steam. When I took on my thoughtful look and made to speak, I sensed Cherine mentally cringe.
“I doubt that any of you have considered the matter in its entirety. Thanks to me they have understood that females of our species do not have sex with others outside their family. I could not do the same for Robert, I did have to admit that males of our species do not adhere to that rule so rigidly, so they will expect Robert to have sex with their females. I trust that all of you will be broadminded about it as he will have to make love to all seven females each time he meets them. It should help make Robert less inhibited, as he will have to do so in public at least seven times daily.”
My teasing was not directed so much at Robbie, more at the girls, as I knew they would hate the idea. I was not wrong and soon I was the centre of a squabbling group who demanded I should have made clear that our males do not have casual sex either. I protested, claiming I would not begin our relationship with a new species based on lies. Cherine had also flared up, but she quickly recovered and smiled at Robbie as she listened to the girls. They appealed to her to intervene and ask me to explain properly to the Brokeet.
“Our Samantha is so much more broadminded than all of us? She does not mind our Robert showing sexual favours to others outside our family?”
Once they understood they’d been had, they turned it into a joke, teasing Robbie about making love to females that are wrinkled and have hair on their bellies. He turned the tables on all of us.
“I think Sam was wrong to refuse them. isi-mi-Metti, would you like to be our ambassador to them? Find a compromise that would satisfy their needs.”
“What kind of compromise?”
“Perhaps our greetings could be even more symbolic, our amorous friendliness represented by a couple of touches only?”
I grinned at the thought of Robbie symbolically touching their sexual organs which are displayed proudly and have tons of makeup put on them daily. If the females had greeted others before him there will be a fairly strong odour and there might be some mucous. At my visualisations he quickly backtracked.
“Perhaps they could be satisfied with the touching of limbs?”
“Like shaking hands?” I sweetly asked, visualising for all again. He did not like that idea either.
“isi-mi-Metti, I think we better leave this species to Sam.”
At another time, when isi-mi-Metti had taken on her terran form of a little girl, as Robbie placed her on his lap he said, “Your people must be feeling vindicated.”
“In what way Robert?”
“I was impatient and abrupt with them. Now my own home world is acting exactly in the same manner.”
5153
“We are saddened by your problems Robert.” She grinned and kissed his cheek. “Maybe they will teach you how to solve the problems of our home worlds? Would you like to know an Inguel secret?”
“If you are sure it is permitted.”
“We have a saying: Don't ask for friendship when you are weak, but offer it when you are strong. You did and that is why we trust you.”
The Akiard kids are now the equivalent of five year olds. Though they have been aged faster, they are still mentally their true body age, so we’ve decided to let them grow a year for each year for a while. In a year or so they will start exchanging genetic information and that phase will last for only two years. We need the females now!
We returned for Bruce and went home. There was no reaction from Earth so we felt our absence had not been noticed. They probably blamed their equipment or the weather for the brief flicker. Bruce looked twenty years younger and was darkly tanned - and worried.
“How can I return looking like this!”
“We’ll take care of it after Sally sees you - it should do her good to see you as you are.”
Robbie’s healer went with Bruce and once Sally got over her surprise and had her moment of joy, Bruce explained to her that he will be made to look as he had when he left, but inside he will remain as healthy as he looks.
I had argued that we had to warn Bruce of what we plan, but Robbie refused. “If we tell him he is obliged to warn his government. If he does not, out of loyalty to us, he will be betraying the duty he took on when he was sworn in at his inauguration. Are you certain that none of those he would have to confide in are of the faction that hate me?”
All of us rushed to build homes for our ‘guests’ in a new complex further away from our taverna. We had to build them in separate groups to avoid placing imams next to rabbis, for example. For the first time we did so without the usual banter and teasing. We all felt slightly depressed and anxious. We did insist that Cherine stay by Robbie, but the two of them sat together glumly watching us.
As is usual at times like this, I feel the need for some beauty in here.
We have not inserted in the diary photos of a number of our loves. I thought I would rectify that now and during the balance of this book. Here are two, Bernie and Laura. (You are getting better at finding tasteful - instead of porn - pictures Arthur; Laura is delighted that you used David Hamilton photos for both of them.)
Our local Cherinians brought us volunteers from the Normals of the Islamic, Jewish and Hindi religion. They will oversee the preparation of foods so that none of them have reason to refuse to eat and drink. Not all of any religion are against us and our volunteers were glad to help, but we did take the precaution of altering the way they look, as we do not want to have to worry about them being persecuted or beheaded..
5154
We had our party for Empathia. Nothing special was organised, but it was a good party and all of us enjoyed ourselves. She had Robbie to herself for a week in another reality while we waited for them in bed.
Since our targets were spread all over the planet, we could not grab them at the same time. We got those for whom it was night, waited for the globe to turn and got the next lot.
Freddie has never been a place of so much anger and hate. His face pale, Robbie told Freddie not to watch over everyone, that he would do so. Freddie refused to block himself and we did not know whether to sigh with relief or grieve for Freddie.
The media were advised Freddie is leaving for a few hours to take care of a problem, but we are soon returning. The local broadcasts were slanted according to the sympathies of the station.
“Robert, do not worry about their absence being noted. We reasoned, after seeing how they operate, their followers will want to awaken them to tell them of your departure, so the Sparklers who had been watching them have taken their place.”
“Thank you Solomon, I had not thought of it.”
I looked at the crowd gone berserk, destroying and trying to start fires and tried to feel all my loves to make sure none of them were too upset. I found mostly the same emotion I was feeling; bewilderment. Did they think they would frighten us into returning them? Was it just a way of not admitting to themselves that they are powerless to change their destiny? Though we stood in a group, we had no obvious defences, just a group of girls and two men standing on the grass watching them, and yet not one of them tried to attack us. A few walked up to us with a show of bravado (but kept to a ‘non-aggressive’ distance) and swore at us, mainly naming us spawn of Satan, shaking their fists as they shouted what our eventual punishment will be by their God and walked back to their friends, hoping for looks of approval.
It took us a while to notice that there were a few who did not take part in the riot and were trying to calm the others down. There was a thunder of hooves and a cloud drew near to us. The Elipians had arrived en masse and from their expressions we could see they were angry. A solid wall of Elipians is quite an impressive sight and it did more to calm down the rioters than their own leaders could. The Elipians wheeled to their right and came galloping at us. Robbie guessed what they intended and sent to Sharipya that they must not encircle us, if they wish, they can stand by our side. They did so and it was good we knew they were on our side, for many of their males cast fiercely angry looks at us.
“Should I jump to the treehouse entrances and seal them?”
“No, most of what is in there was created out of energy, so let them vent their anger. Mostly they are afraid and are using rage to give them courage. A number of them have hurt themselves, send your healers please.”
Though a number of them entered our taverna and tried to smash everything, they soon gave up. We knew that Robbie had withdrawn Maria and her husband so we were not worried about them. As the last one left the taverna, Robbie said he wanted a coffee and we walked to the vine covered patio. With amusement we saw all the chairs and tables had been repaired. Maria brought his coffee and cigarettes while her husband brought us cold juices.
“By tomorrow morning they should have quietened down. Have the parents kept the kids away?”
“Yes. They were afraid they might not manage to control them and some of the Terrans would get hurt.”
“I am still surprised that none of them have tried to hurt anyone.”
“When are the females coming dad? They must have time to grow used to each other before the fertilisation games start or else they’ll ignore them.”
He answered, “As you know, the plan has worked far more successfully than we’d expected. The Sparklers report they lived normal lives as females and are now in the void coming to terms with their previous lives as Akiards. We’ll have to wait to see what the results of that will be.”
5155
“Their bodies?”
“You should have gone to the ship above us to see them Sam. The scientists say that theoretically they should function as planned, but we will not know for sure until they are here, as they could not test them”
Jade noticed a man was walking towards us, not afraid to pass between the Elipians. He stood a moment just outside the patio we were on and Robbie quickly got up and invited him to join him at his table. He refused to sit.
“Why have you brought us here?”
“I will answer you, but first I have questions of mine.”
He pulled out a chair and sat. “Ask, but be brief.”
“What turned you against us? Why not when both alternate Jesus’s came?”
“We were blinded by their presence. They are both charismatic.”
Robbie nodded. “I agree, they are. I have not made it a secret that I have not been a believer since I became an adult. I’ll tell you, when I met the first Jesus, the one that saved my family, I came close to falling to my knees. If you will concede, for arguments sake, that I am far more capable of looking into the hearts of others and sensing their true power, will you believe me when I tell you, either of them alone has powers that make mine seem as those of a child.”
“Their powers are less than those of children in the eyes of the Almighty God.”
“They are the first to say so. They see themselves as alternates of our Jesus who took a different path from Him. I have sensed in them a regret that they were not as Him. Surely if you understand what alternate realities are, it makes sense that some alternates must have found different truths for themselves, without them claiming their truths are more valid than those of our Jesus. If I were you I would pity them for not having achieved their potential as ours did, I would not hate them for that and name them frauds.”
“Why not argue this way on our world in front of all, instead of stealing us from our beds with your satanic powers?”
“You are a man who thinks for himself. Do you examine all ideas for the truth in them with an open mind, even if they seem to contradict what you believe?”
“Of course!”
“Then you are rare among those who attacked me. Most of them refuse to examine their beliefs, preferring to blindly justify themselves with words of faith. I do not understand why any intelligent man would do so, especially men of God. God gave us intelligence so that we question everything and by refusing to do so, surely they are failing Him?”
“You betray that you are a servant of Satan by misquoting His Word. We are meant to use our intelligence in matters dealing with our world. With regard to God Himself, He demanded that we believe in Him without question or proof.”
“But I am dealing with matters of the world! God created the Universe and He saw fit to allow alternate realities to exist. Nobody, definitely not me, is claiming that our Jesus is not who He claimed to be. As you said, that is a matter of personal belief and no one has the right to make claims to the contrary on behalf of everybody. The alternates though, surely they have the right to believe what they wish of themselves? The second Jesus we met spent his youth believing he was a Son of God, but he then lost his faith. If you believe he truly is the Son of God, or that his believing it is so, enabled him to become the prophet you consider him to be, pity him and all of his reality, for he then failed them. You do not have the right to judge him and call him a fraud and tool of Satan.”
“You have made some interesting points. I will think on them. Now release us.”
5156
“We will return within hours of your departure so do not worry about it. Since you are here though, why not use this time to think and enjoy the trips we have embarked upon? We are travelling to new realities we have never been to before in search of other alternates of Jesus to learn from them what they think is the truth. My family have asked that we also search for alternates of Moses and Abraham. If possible, we would also like to meet the Prophet Mohammed.”
For the first time he lost his composure and his eyes came alive with excitement and awe. They immediately narrowed in suspicion. Robbie quickly carried on.
“While you are here, please rest assured that we have done all within our power to see that for each of you, whether Moslem or Jew or Hindi, food is prepared and served according to your beliefs and your cuisine. We bought our meat from halaal butchers and you may examine the seals. We also brought cooks of each religion. Feel free to ask them any questions you like about the food. If you need anything else, please ask.”
He did not realise that he can never be out of sight in Freddie. When he walked away he was stern with those who approached him with questions. As soon as they were out of sight his voice came alive as he told them where we are going. It was amazing how quickly the word spread.
Well Arthur, do you want to come with us to meet all these holy personalities? I know you are not religious (ironic since you are our Creator) so if you want I’ll take a holiday from writing here to give you a break.
Angelica is the only one who has been, so she had to go to call Christós. Vincent took her. He must have far finer control than any of us over his teleporting, for he did not enter his home with her, waiting outside in the desert.
“This undertaking could prove dangerous Robert. Why do you think I have not been to visit my alternates? By their definition, as alternates, it is likely we will arrive at the reality of one who has turned against all we believe in and he might start a war.”
Robbie smiled. “We have one advantage you lack. We have Lynda. She will not take us to such a reality.”
He looked at her. “You can sense whether they are good or evil?”
“No. What Robert means is that I will concentrate on wanting to sense realities where they are good.”
“In that case I will come with. Robert, why do you want me? Is it because of your guests? I have never felt such raw hatred.”
Robbie explained and Christós looked devastated. “I am sorry, I never intended to cause you so many problems.”
Robbie looked at him with open curiosity. “I’d thought you did it deliberately.”
At the look on his face we all burst out laughing and Irene ran to him and clambered onto his lap, a broad grin on her face. He hugged her to him.
5157
“What do you suggest? At which period of their lives should we arrive?”
“Not the early years. They are all magicians? You are not visiting any non-magical realities?”
“I dare not.”
“Now you have confused me! Surely those with magical powers are more dangerous?”
“Not the way I see it. How tolerant of us will a Jesus be if he truly believes he is a Son of God?”
Haven said, “If he is fanatical about it, he will find soldiers in Freddie to battle on his behalf.”
“You better stay away from any that combine magic with such a belief.”
“Keep that in mind please Lynda. Do you have our first reality yet?”
“Yes. It is the closest to the one of Jesus.”
“Please show Freddie.”
The instant we arrived three men arrived within Freddie, one Jesus and two of his followers.
“I have been expecting you.”
Lynda miscalculated. We have jumped to a very recent alternate of our second Jesus! Boy, is this going to get confusing!
“We need your healers Robert, our magical powers cannot handle a disaster of this magnitude.”
“What has happened?”
“You do not know? The fools started a war and used nuclear missiles.”
The planet came on the screens and we stared in dismay as Freddie zoomed in and showed us the devastation. Robbie instantly thought of all the children on that world and we were not surprised to see his body shimmer with an angry glow. The instant we knew about the war all the Sparklers were gone, desperately trying to save as many souls as they could.
Robbie shot away from us until he hovered over the main body of our guests. When he spoke his voice was as cold and hard as his face.
“I do not care what you think of me, for as long as we remain here you will do as I say. Look at the screens. They have fought a nuclear war. If you are human beings with any empathy, try to imagine the pain of those still alive down there. We need healers by the millions. Open yourselves to Cherine so that she can link you and help you create your own healers. I warn you, I will be taking all of you down there to help dying people. If you do not have a healer you will not be able to help others and the radiation will kill you. If you were not willing to help, then do not expect any sympathy and help from us. I promise the link will be shut off as soon as you request it.”
The pictures on the screen had shaken them and most of them instantly agreed, the rest agreed because the power and fury that was emanating from Robbie frightened them.
The Unation leaders had stayed away so as not complicate our problems with our guests, but they came down now. They warned us they need Freddie to allow their ship out so that they can help. By now all aliens were either preparing to go down physically with us or had left their bodies and were already doing what they could to find healthy tissue in the recent dead. The Christós alt left with Jesus, promising to return immediately with a place in his mind for us to land.
The Unation leaders must have sent someone back home, for even as we arrived on planet, the skies filled with their silvery ships and they began to help without asking us.
Robbie was frustrated as he could not join us. He had to become the void, collect the tissues and place them in stasis. Vincent disappeared and within hours he returned with millions of healers from alternate Earths.
5158
The family jumped to Athens. I could hardly see though my tears when I saw the destroyed city, all landmarks gone. As with the world of the second Jesus, Greece is much bigger and more powerful than ours is and it had been a target of a number of missiles.
We worked without stop for days and nights. Someone thought of all of us and once a day whoever was available would appear with food and water for us. Dommi told them to bring cokes for the added energy. The first day we wept again and again, but by the third we were numbed, only now and then giving in to tears when we found a particularly heartbreaking victim still clinging desperately to life. Dommi used her gift to find children and what she saw burnt a pain into her that I fear will scar her forever.
As with their recent alternate, Australia has not been colonised - or attacked - so we sent there all we healed. Robbie saw to it that no radiation clouds touched the continent and the Unation ships took food machines, blankets and clothes for all. They also did all they could to help the survivors find any family who were there by making lists of the people present and their computers searched through the mountains of information to identify relatives.
By the fifth day Robbie was not kept so busy. He asked the healers to collect healthy tissue even from those alive and not in immediate danger of dying, but not healed by us, as radiation will have affected them all. He took a break of an hour to visit us, knowing the sight of him in his beloved form, even as the void, would hearten us, bringing back a bit of love to our worn out hearts and souls. Goldi is the most vulnerable to pain of all of us, so he tried to take her in his arms, but she resisted, not willing to delay one second in helping others. Suddenly the grief, pain and fury in him overflowed and he disappeared, sending us a message of what he intends. I nearly jumped to try and stop him, knowing he would be adding to his burden of grief, but then decided he has a right to be human. He went to the bunkers were those who gave the order to fire the missiles waited in safety and he took them out, setting them down amongst the death, ruin and radiation they were responsible for. He left them without protection, unwittingly adding to the workload of those helping in those areas.
It may give you an idea of how terrible it was if I give you some statistics. Out of an estimated population of two billion three hundred million, only eight hundred and seventy million survived. Out of those, we saved about half of them by curing them of radiation and healing their burns. We only managed to bring back another hundred and sixty million. Those who had been at the centre of the explosions had been vaporised, nothing left for the healers to find. The Sparklers told us they had arrived too late to help those souls. I wonder if their souls ever went to the void. Could it be that a blast as powerful as that would also destroy souls? Over one billion three hundred million gone! I wonder how many of them were children?
Would it surprise anyone to hear that even after it was over and we fell on our beds to sleep for close to twenty hours, that there was no sex for a number of nights? Mostly Robbie spent those nights trying to heal hearts with his boundless tenderness and love.
Cherine is right. Empathy does not buy those responsible for this, the right to forgiveness or understanding. They were all saved by us, but I doubt their own people will allow them to live for long - and we will not interfere. Saving their bodies does not mean we have healed them of their memories or their pain at the loss of loved ones. I dare not suggest we stay to make them Cherinians. Can we foretell what their reactions will be when they find out they not only lost their loved ones, but also have no hope of finding them in new births? That is whether their souls still exist or not.
Gosh, Robbie must really be tired…I had to go on and on about those souls for him to get the message! Like a light bulb going on in his mind he clicked and has decided to save them.
We returned to before the war and the Sparklers identified those we had not saved, staying with them so as to help us find them. Everyone was on standby and only seconds before the missiles exploded we all jumped, grabbing one, two or if lucky, three and returned to Freddie. Luckily not all the cities were struck at the same time, so we would return to the next one, save them and on to the next city.
Have you ever had to pretend you are jubilant and celebrate with Cherinians who can sense you while you are grieving and furious? That is the situation we found ourselves in.
Jubilant when we saw Freddie filled with a very confused and frightened crowd. Not even worried about the massive job of taking them back to their world later. Busy because we had hundreds of millions of children crying and needing our comfort, plus, who knows how many babies who needed to be cared for. Happy because we saw the Akiard kids, who had watched all we’d done, show a wish to help.
5159
Grief-stricken and furious because of Robbie and me. Robbie read what I wrote and he decided he had to know. He split off a part of himself, enough for it to be aware and able to return to him if it survives, and when he was in a city where the explosion was the strongest because two missiles hit it almost simultaneously, he left it there. It has not returned. Cherine is furious and also weeping almost hysterically. Robbie should have thought of it. It brought back to her what she did, killing a Robert who was aware and loved her. She accused him of being worse than her because he killed a Robert just for the sake of carrying out an experiment.
We have kept our problem to ourselves, not sharing with anyone outside of the family, not even the nearest and dearest, and they are worried why we are like this. We held on for everyone else’s sake, but once the jubilation settled into a deep satisfaction from having done a job well, we returned to our homes and blocking everyone outside we let go, crying and hammering at Robbie with our emotions. I accepted part of the blame and for a short while I suffered, until Aganthi told everyone that just because I asked a question it did not make me responsible.
I do not know how he did it! When I say he was hammered by us emotionally it is almost an understatement. Emotions directly shared are far worse than having to endure physical blows. And yet, despite it, he managed to keep a part of himself working at the problem. He could not live with half truths, he had to know for certain. He later said he knew I would come up with ‘what if’ scenarios. In the middle of it all he left his body and became the void.
Going back in time he watched from just above the explosion. He got rid of all energy within the area and extended his senses as he’d practised when trying to sense molecules exploding in the void. As the mushrooms grew, distorted by their sister explosion, he intensified his attention on anything coming over into the void. He sensed something and captured the area so that it could not dissipate. Without interfering, wryly smiling within his thoughts at the knowledge that if he failed we would put him through an emotional wringer again, he waited. What he was seeing reminded him of something. This was how the shadow Robert had looked!
Just in case it was needed, he sent in some energy for it to feed off, but it did not react. He waited for hours and he was rewarded by the sight of it stirring. Ever so slowly the motes drew in and it then seemed to rest. Robbie did not mind waiting now. He had put at rest a terrible fear I’d awakened in him. The soul had survived a double nuclear blast. He will not have to fear losing us in a similar situation - well, maybe we’ll have to experiment close or within a super nova, that kind of power is too different for us to take anything for granted. Oh dear, it seems I should not have written that, for I am now (again) in everybody’s bad book.
Our sudden explosion of joy was not that successfully concealed so we had to explain. Allan’s first reaction was to berate himself for not thinking of doing it. The rest were angry with Robbie and sympathised with us. Cherine got heaps of loving from everyone as they empathised with her feelings.
We could not keep so many people in Freddie and we could not return them. Their Earth has to be healed first and then, with the help (once more) of the Unation ships they have to be helped to build up their civilisation. It turned out the problem was not as acute as we’d thought, not with two Jesus entities plus their local magicians, but it did take time and a lot of energy before we could take them back to their world.
It turned out that Bruce never came to this reality. It is amazing that the presence of one Normal had made such a big difference. Boy, is he going to be tickled pink to hear how important he has been to saving a world. As for us, it helped heal a lot of our wounds that Normals have inflicted on us over the years. Robbie will not have to remind us for a very long time of how important Normals are to us.
We were enjoying a meal at the taverna when crowds of our ‘guests’ began to gather. They soon formed a solid wall around us. The man we had spoken to, with another four of them approached, respectfully waiting just off the patio. Robbie went to them and asked them to sit with us. They in turn asked him to stand where all their people can see and hear.
“We have come to apologise.”
“Please don’t. No apologies are needed. I saw how every one of you did all you could to save lives.”
“We are not talking of that. We apologise for doing to you what we did on our world.”
5160
“What has changed? I have been too busy to prove to you the points I wished to make.”
“What happened here made your telling more real. We saw that it is not just a story made to glorify you. We reasoned that if you spend your life doing so much good, it does not make sense to accuse you of being dishonest. We are still not comfortable about the numerous alternates of Jesus, but we have decided to accept what you said; these are the alternates that failed.”
“May I make a suggestion? Would it not be more politic to say they are the alternates who are searching to find other ways to serve their Father?”
All five smiled. “Agreed. May we comment without you thinking we mean to insult you?”
“Please do.” Robbie had to put up with a number of silent teasing comments sent to him by us about his insensitivity to insults and so on.
“When you forced us to link, giving us healers and thus opening doors to other abilities in us, we could not help feeling it was…illogical of you. We were your avowed enemies, why give us such powers?”
“Just because you were my enemies, it did not mean you were not people of honour. I respected you and trusted you to do the right thing during an emergency. I felt that how you used your gifts later, that depended on you. I was comfortable with that.”
“One favour from your ladies please. Could they do another telling for us? It may help us understand why we misunderstood you.”
Robbie laughed. “It would probably serve to help cause new misunderstandings. Give us a few days and you shall have a full telling. I hope you no longer think of yourselves as being abducted and are willing to consider yourselves our guests.”
It took another quarter of an hour for them to exchange pleasantries and part. As soon as they were out of earshot, Robbie complained. “I’d looked forward to the challenge and visiting all those realities. Why do people give in so easily!”
Allan could not resist answering, “Maybe it is your charm?”
I could not resist acting excited and then explaining seriously. “It could be that Allan is right! Think about it. It is a strong possibility that each of our guests, as is true with everyone else, must have been a little girl in at least one of their previous lives. That must explain your charm.”
Cherine giggled. “That is one of your least plausible theories ever Sam, but I like it, so I’m going to buy it. That means everybody will fall in love with Robert.”
I added, “It also explains why he has to be the protector of all life.”
“Oh god, yes!”
I then sat back and let everybody have their fun at his expense. With a mental tickle he promised to get even. I asked whether he meant he owed me one and that made him laugh.
When Robbie agreed to the telling, I do not think he took into account the fact that we had nearly one and a half billion people in Freddie. The Sparklers had to help us again so that they could all hear and see and feel. It was a great success and kept everybody’s mind off their problems for a while. They were not too happy to find out that they are such a new reality and it made them feel very strange.
We all expected to finish with this world, cruise around a bit for Robbie to give our guests a sightseeing tour and then happily return home. Little did I know what was waiting for me. I cannot begin to tell you how distressed it made me.
We were discussing how we have been spending so much time in Freddie and we then talked about where the trips took us to and that led to us discussing who had been with us. Then Tina said, with astonishment.
“Have any of you realised that Allan and his family have been on more trips with us than anyone else? They have been with on almost all our stays here!”
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)31st January, 2020
- posted: 31st January, 2020
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