Little Cherine Book 08 - BPost027

“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!”

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5161

Allan was not fast enough in blocking his automatic thoughts and Cherine blanched. Before she could block us, we all dove into her mind to find out what had upset her. I think I went crazy for a while.

Cherine and Dommi were super-fast with Robbie right behind them. They found and grabbed me, enfolding me within their combined love motes. Cherine kept on repeating that we will not allow him to do it, that I must come back to my senses, that they all love me. Soon all the girls were in my mind and I had to return so as not to upset them.

Once I began to calm down, Robbie started to become furious with Allan because of his fear for me while, at the same time, he was touched.

This is what we learnt. Allan has been coming with to protect us. He expects that Robbie will come up against a situation he cannot handle and is prepared to sacrifice himself by going back to the next plane to save us.

As if that is not bad enough, he has planned further than that! He intends splitting himself just before he does, so that his family do not lose him And so that he will still be with us to save us in the same way again if it becomes necessary.

He Will Not Succeed.
If He Tries It, All Of Him Will Be Drawn And He Will Be Lost To Us Forever.
I Know!

Allan had confided his plans to his loves and they had accepted it as being a good plan. That explained why they have not been sharing with any of us as they used to.

After I explained how he was wrong, his girls were not as complacent about his intentions and Allan promised them and us that he has scrapped his plans. I think he too was shaken by what I told them. It had never been his intention to commit suicide - that god-like creature would no longer be Allan.

I hugged him to show him I am sorry for giving them all such a fright and that I love him for wanting to save our Robbie and us. I could not help wondering about the endless hours of thoughts and fears he must have had to deal with as he waited for an emergency to force him to act and my heart went out to him. When he was flushed from all the love he was receiving from all of us, I left to be alone. My loves would not allow that and followed, holding me as I relaxed my self control and got the shakes.

The problem is that my fears of being dragged back to that place are no longer rational and his plans have reawakened them. How am I going to deal with them?

I have come to realise that our Samantha feels safest when at home on our Earth. I rushed the return of the refugees to their healing world and we are back in Athens. As we’d hoped, Sam is much better, though she remains quiet for hours and then goes to the other extreme, pushing everyone to the limits of their imagination or else teases us until it feels as if she is going to cry. She asks us to please be patient, that she will settle down. God, I hope so.

Efineh hardly spends any time with Irfan, her devotion to her Samantha keeping her by her side. If nothing else, that will force Sam to regain a more balanced attitude to her fears. She loves Efineh too much to accept her sacrifice for long.

To carry on for Sam for a while. On our return, the ‘guests’ (as Sam calls them) were returned to their homes. We heard they upset their supporters when they took a much more moderate attitude and asked them to be tolerant of us, explaining that we cannot be tools of Satan as we have devoted our lives to saving others. They did explain what they now understand about the alternate Jesus’s. Whether it will help in the long run I do not know, as ambitious new leaders with extremist views are bound to replace them, but for now it has defused the situation for us.

One of our pleasures that Sam wanted to be part of was a secret meeting with Bruce and Sally. When we showed them the nuclear war they were distressed, until they found out it was a different reality. He could not believe his presence had made such a difference and Sally was justifiably proud of her man. It is good for us to feel so much love and happiness in friends.

5162

The change in sentiment released the governments from their paralysis and most other problems melted away. Two of them remained to be dealt with. The court order from within the United States our attorneys handled. They challenged the order on the basis that I have been officially declared leader of a nation, despite not having territory of our own on Earth. The plaintiffs pointed out that we do not have similar rights to other national leaders as established through the centuries, that we resemble the gypsies and just as their leaders are not a law unto themselves, subject to the laws of the nation they transgress in, so is it with me. With amazing speed China offered territory within their boundaries to me (officially to the Cherinians) and soon we were inundated by offers from most countries. Our lawyers argued that we do have territory on Earth, that it is commonly accepted that land and buildings of embassies and consulates are accepted for all intents and purposes as being the lawful territory of the country that they represent, so we have land. I ignored the case from then on, because I now had a new problem to deal with.

At this stage of our lives China is a major force. Despite the European Union, which is showing signs of falling apart, the Chinese are still a larger and stronger market. China is also a major exporter (the largest) of high technology equipment and thanks to a strong domestic market they do not have to target their products for any other single market (read, ‘USA’) so they remain in control of what they produce. The coming of a Cherinian market had damaged most economies, but the Chinese were quick to take advantage of new pockets of opportunity that opened up.

Not entirely apart from economic considerations, but an important aspect on its own was the political power distribution. Europe (by this time it includes almost all of Eastern Europe - those that used to be part of the USSR), Canada and the United States having been acting as if their interests are common when dealing with Asia, the situation being exacerbated by the obvious attitude of the Chinese, for they still harbour dreams of a Globalist economy, with them (and maybe us Cherinians as their partners) in control. All our talk about empathy and loving others is only Cherinian politics to them; it pisses me off when I am told they consider us as having invented a tool that is similar to ‘political correctness’! I would go ‘grr’, but Samantha insists I give them time to understand. Quite rightly, she tells us that we need not concentrate on how the government is reacting, as long as the man in the street grows to understand us and dreams of being linked as a Cherinian, the dinosaurs will fade away at some future day.

If I accept the offer of land from the Chinese, I will be helping them score points and upset the other powers. If I do not, thank them, but point out we no longer need land, they will feel insulted.

As an aside. The Rumanians came up with the cleverest idea, looking towards Rome for an example, they offered to make land available on the same terms as the Vatican, which meant the land would not really be ours. Greece then offered an island. I sort of liked the idea. Trouble was, I’d be inheriting the locals and I’d have to guarantee they would have equal rights and so on - of course they offered us one that has no tourism and is almost touching the coast of Turkey. Not an offer anyone amongst our Terran Cherinians takes seriously.

I asked for advice from Hettie and Eddie, our attorneys, Alki, Elias and so on. I could not ask Bruce as his prime duty is to his own country. His advice would be good, but I’d be putting him in a difficult spot.

Sam acted as if she was oblivious to my problem, so I did not ask her. She must have this time to take care of herself.

Cherine was amused that I have dealt with so many alien worlds in a high-handed manner and am now floundering in petty political details. I suppose they do seem to be exactly that to her, as her interests lie in other directions.

Once I had all the Terran advice I could stomach, I asked our alien friends. I did not like any of their solutions either. Basically I do not want any land. I do not want us to have a specific spot that belongs to Cherinians. All the people of our world must feel free to become Cherinians without feeling they then are no longer citizens of their country. Establishing a ‘country’ of our own could prejudice their legal standing and emotional ties. What also scares me is that it could lead to all the nations becoming one, which I am still convinced is a terrible idea for any world where there are good and bad people who will try to abuse the situation.

When I need to think, I need to walk. I’m not an armchair thinker. It has been discovered that I often walked on the beach in Cyprus and the government cordoned off the area and the United Nations created a task force to patrol it and defend me! How can I go there to think, with dozens of people recording my every movement?

I walked on the beach in an alternate Cyprus and after countless coffees at the local taverna and many hours of walking, I came to a decision. This was it. I will act as any Robert of any period in my past would have. I might be laughed at, but it is not important enough to deter me.

5163

I asked the Chinese for a secret meeting and they responded by requesting that I bring all my family with me. We jumped to Hong Kong and they flew us by helicopter to a villa in the countryside in mainland China. I found it interesting to see the peculiar shape of anti-satellite-spy equipment, the very stuff China denies owning, surrounding the area. Even the helicopter pilot could not use radar and had to fly in by old fashioned eyesight.

We were made welcome and I realised their hospitality is a gesture meant to show us that they have studied us. Each of my loves was offered exactly her favourite drink, pastries and food. I had a cup of cappuccino at my side the whole time with a golden cigarette box kept full and a jade carving that held a lighter. Their gifts were just as thoughtful and Diana went bananas (in her mind) when they gave her a number of boxes: a thousand year old egg (meant to be eaten?); a statuette from a grave that is close to four thousand years old and a fossil older than any she has. Jade was given an ancient warrior’s sword. Rosie a rose bush with pink buds whose petals are edged in a purplish black. I think you get the idea. To each of us that which would please or flatter us most. Okay, I’ll mention one more gift, the one they gave Cherine. They gave her the originals of most of my canvas paintings I’d sold in the past.

From our side, we gave them a Chinese artefact of great age that we had collected from an alternate world where mankind died out from a plague. We sensed they felt we had outdone them, but I felt I’d scored just about the only point I would during this meeting.

The President pretended he could not speak English, even though he has done so on television, so I pretended I could not understand Chinese. They have grown accustomed to dealing with ‘barbarians’ (even after communism they still think of us that way, secretly in their hearts) and were pleasantly surprised when I did not come to the point, but spent over an hour making small talk, asking questions that showed I am aware of their dreams for their country (thank you Wing and Charlie).

“In matters of states dealing with each other, we Cherinians, speaking mainly about myself, are as children compared to your people. I ask that you keep that in mind and forgive us for any gauche errors.” I paused a few seconds. “I need your advice on how to deal with a problem I have.”

“You are modest. A man who has dealt with civilisations older than mankind and been accepted as their leader cannot compare himself to a child. However, if your problem is such that we can give our humble advice, we will gladly do so.” I liked what they said and I am certain I will end up using it, explaining to everyone, again and again, that I have only been accepted by all the species, exactly because I am like a child - as long as our friends don’t feel I am insulting them.

When dealing with westerners, if my thinking becomes too intricate, bogging me down in details, I’ll sense them thinking, ‘cut the bull and cut to the chase’ or something similar. The Chinese however love such thinking, even if they cannot afford to indulge in it anymore in the day to day running of their country. Thus I could ramble through all the aspects of the problem as I see them without fear that I was boring them. I even felt their pleasure that they were gaining insights into how I think. I bet it confirmed for them that I am childish and simplistic.

“I need to find a way to show you honour for the generosity of your offer without accepting land from you or anyone else. Is it possible?”

They talked amongst themselves for a long time, apologising for keeping us waiting every now and then. Candy still prefers the age of five so I placed her on my lap, enjoying the feel of her slight weight and the warmth of her childish body. Gently I asked Sam, *Have I made a complete mess of it?*

*You cannot sense we are all pleased? It feels as if I have the father I knew as a baby back.* I smiled at the memories of her studying me, hoping to learn to be as crazy as me.

The President chuckled. “I’ve had an idea that would make a good joke for our people to laugh over for centuries to come.” They all fell silent, waiting to hear his idea. “What if we insist they have to accept land from us and we give him Taiwan? It would solve our problem honourably and he would then have to deal with them.” They all had a good laugh, some of them glancing at us apologetically.

The President added, as if he genuinely were sorry. “It is a pity we cannot. We must show we are friends.”

I felt the girls grinning within their minds. They knew he had said that deliberately, knowing we understand him, using his pretence to show us they will not attempt to trick us and are friends. I appreciated his humour and cunning.

5164

Since I was scrupulously avoiding reading their minds or sensing their true emoting, I had to keep on reminding myself that everything they said has a double meaning - if not triple.

Up to this point our meeting was a success in the sense that both groups learnt a lot about the other side which could only be good for all of us, but the President, despite his humour, was sticking to the fact that there is no way either of us can pull out without loss of face to either side. To them, the idea that a great nation like theirs should be seen to lose face was unthinkable. It looked like I would have to accept the land. I was toying with an idea. Perhaps I could ask them to change the terms so that it is available to us for any purpose we chose? I would then have to find a way to convert it to something considered by all of us as humanitarian. I suspect they would not have found it an acceptable alternative.

The Chinese translated for us their deliberations and their regret at not finding an equitable solution. Before I could reply, Sam warned me that she suspects they do have a solution, but are playing games with us, wanting to score new political points. She warned me that we must not allow them the opportunity to do so, or else we’ll find ourselves with our problems compounded. She sent me a question mark and I told her to go ahead.

“May I speak? It would not insult you to have a young female propose an idea she has?”

“Please do. We know of you Samantha and are pleased to listen to your words of wisdom.” Sam blushed (deliberately, hamming it up).

“We needed help and you generously offered it. For that we are all grateful, whatever the outcome. It would not be honourable of us to ask that your offer be withdrawn. I would consider it insulting and would not blame you if you also do. I have an idea though that entails a small loss of face for us, but in the end will bring honour to both sides.”

It was amazing to watch their faces so tightly controlled betray them. They would not believe our little Sammy had such a solution. To be honest, neither could any of us. She waited, making them ask her to continue.

“I suggest you make the fact of our meeting public knowledge. Announce that you asked us to meet you as you were worried about us. Explain why it would be damaging for Cherinians to accept land and tell the world that you advised us of the dangers. As friends of the Cherinians you felt you had to advise us not to accept the land offered by you, but that you wanted to also make an offer that symbolically would be of great value to all Cherinians so that we would not feel you were trying to avoid giving us a part of glorious China.” Again she paused, teasing them - or else, just playing their game, I’m not sure.

By now the President had given up all pretence of not understanding and had silenced the interpreter. He gestured for Sam to continue even as the others mumbled amongst themselves, wondering what it could be she wanted them to offer. What could be so valuable it would bring honour to all they asked each other.

She asked a question instead. “If you offer us something the world has tried hard to get from you, would your offer not be seen as exceedingly generous and eclipse the matter of the land you offered?” She gave a naughty smile. “Would it not also upset those you refused, maybe seen as a sort of insult?”

“Taiwan?” Someone guessed.

“No. You are a civilised people and will not go to war with your brothers, I am confident you will find an honourable answer through negotiations. After all, it does not matter if it takes another hundred years, China has endured for thousands of years and can patiently wait for the right solution so that you are joined as family, not as by conquest. What if you declare you are allowing Tibet full autonomy in our honour? They will be allowed to live according to their own customs and religions and your army will withdraw. They can even have their own government, the Dalai Lama if they wish, but it will be answerable to your government and they cannot make foreign treaties with other nations without your prior approval. Announce that you have given advance approval to them making agreements with the Cherinians. Is that not a gift that will take away everyone’s breath and make the world praise you - even if they do not wish to?”

Well, our sweet innocent looking Sammy certainly set the cat among the pigeons. I was amused to find that she was thinking this would be a perfect wedding present for Efineh and Irfan - if she could pull it off. If our Samantha wants something that badly, I knew she would get it.

5165

They were caught off guard and astounded by the concept and they also hated it. They had spent too many decades defending their right to take over Tibet for them to give in easily. Sam was determined to get her way, convinced that if she did not succeed now, we would have to wait until the whole world is only populated by Cherinians. She negotiated point by point until she had the most of what she had asked for. All my girls and I grew weary of it so we listened more to her thought processes than to what was said. I was puzzled. Not once did I feel she’d had a brilliant idea and yet she was beating polished and sophisticated politicians at their own game and making them want what she wanted. She used every advantage she had, talking about how the Sparklers and Anadir will admire them as statesmen and humans. She used every emotional leverage while shooting down their arguments with logic. She has never performed like this before and we are all in awe of her. Cherine is emoting so much delight and pride in our Sam that it makes Sam want to cry.

When the Chinese made their announcement, they mentioned Samantha by name and we were told by Hettie that spies soon warned most governments that Samantha is the dangerous one, not Robert, if they have to negotiate with us. I can see how Sam gets what she is from Le’sase and paradox or not, I sure am glad they came into our lives.

* * * * *

This is Sam. I’m certain what dad said was meant to be complimentary, but it also made me sound stubborn and that I always demand I get my own way. I’m not like that, I’m too sweet to be like that. I just had to fight to save the Tibetans, the opportunity was too good for me to allow it to be wasted.

When Irfan heard, he felt so exultant that I thought he would burst like those fireworks they banned. My Efineh felt him and the love she sent me was almost more than I could bear. Though Robbie read my secret thoughts, I could not have told them it was my wedding gift to them, it would have trivialised the pain and suffering of the Tibetans.

We did our best to make it clear to everyone that we consider this a wonderful gesture by the Chinese, but the media insisted on talking about the ‘intervention’ by the Cherinians that forced them to relax their hold over Tibet. One of the strange clauses I had to give in to get what I want, was that the Tibetans can vote to have the Dalai Lama (the one I admire, with his strange sense of humour, not the one they ‘created’) as their leader or not, as they wish, but any current Dalai Lama will not be allowed to enter Tibet. If he is the ruler, he will have to rule from abroad. I’m hoping they’ll relax that rule within a few years. Not that I understand why they insisted on it.

I told Cher that I think it is time for Efineh to return to her world and the next thing I knew everybody was pleading to be allowed to come with. Latreia even suggested, when I resisted, that they come in disguise as our servants. That gave me a good laugh. We compromised. Robbie agreed (after asking Jeskine, Orgg and King Meesartus) to take everyone to their reality to help while the three of us go back to our headquarters in the land of the Orati. My problem is that I hate the idea of missing out. To be actually involved in saving the Neans, that is special. For a couple of days I agonised over it and then Efineh came to me with Irfan to ask if they could go there first. What will we do afterwards, they’ll all insist that fair is fair and now I must allow them to come with. I’ll think about it.

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty One

When it was reported we are leaving for the reality of Orgg and Jeskine to save the Neans and help establish them as the local Robert and Cherine, we were flooded by requests from scientists to children, to be allowed to come with. We also received a request from a few governments. They want us to ask the Wirms to stay behind. Their statistics have shown a major drop in crime since they came and they definitely are the most popular aliens ever. They are even busy making a movie about a little girl who is dying from a form of cancer still not curable and a Wirm comes to her and…the usual sentimental tear-jerker and I’m certain we’ll all want to see it and cry a little. I know the story is sort of based on fact, because the Wirms suffered a lot when they first arrived. They had not been capable of imagining so much pain could be suffered by any species. Once they learnt to handle it as well as any compassionate and empathic creature can, they found themselves drawn to those who needed them and most often it was children, for they still believe and trust far more than any adult can. To children, the Wirms are like something out of a fairy story and they delight in the companionship of a Wirm. The Wirms all have healers now and the fact that so many children have been healed of both their physical and emotional problems has made the Wirms welcome wherever they visit.

5166

Jeskine asked that some Wirms come with us as she believes they will be of great help with the Neans. The teachers currently on our Earth need an extra two weeks which Robbie gladly agreed to, as he is busy stocking up Freddie. The store rooms which have been mostly wasted all these years were soon filled. To understand why, try to imagine, as an example, how much toilet paper is needed when you have one and a half billion people on board for a few days. Since we cannot foresee where we will find the next calamity, he wants to be prepared. Three Hetties made the stock available. (Are you wondering where all that stuff went? Robbie created self-contained loos which he threw into a sun after our visitors left.)

Apart from our close friends, Robbie made a rule that only new Cherinians who have not been on a trip in Freddie can come with. As for Normals, since taking them in Freddie wins them over more effectively than anything else we can do on Earth, we decided to make space for at least fifty thousand of them per trip. It does not matter what figure we settle on as being the maximum we can take, we will always end up taking more than we planned. It is a small price to pay for having empathy.

A small Seychelles island was booked for three days for a private party and we jumped there to relax and have some fun. It turned into more of a love-fest with all of us continually hungering to make love. It was not a restful holiday for Robbie, but he puts on an goofy grin and says, ‘I’m not complaining’. The new generations of Cherinian born among us are a mystery to us. Those who are still virgins in the old sense of the word do not pressure Robbie to become his ‘woman’ and are prepared to wait for the ‘right’ time. It is not due to any lack of interest in sex, they have their share of orgasms.

Candy seems to be our perpetual virgin. Even though she has been penetrated a number of times, it is so rarely and far apart in time that each time it is as if it is her first time. She has her special place in Robbie’s heart and that is mostly what she needs from him - except when she is feeling playful and naughty. Then she has the sweetest way of making his (and our) life hell.

Despite dropping her block, Angelica is still the oddest one of all of us. She has not made any cosmetic changes to herself and has developed her own style of dressing. We do not know whether sharing his creative motes affected her, but she is definitely creative in how she changes shop bought clothing. The first time she wanted to make changes, she found a woman in Athens to change her clothes for her, but insisted on staying to watch how she does it. Since she only looks like a child of eight to ten the woman allowed her to watch and even talked as she worked, explaining and teaching her. She bought a sewing machine, but rarely uses it since she finds it easier to use magic to make the changes she wants. She explained that for the magical alterations to be done professionally she had to learn how to sew and what to be careful of. Silk, for instance, follows different rules to cotton. Whatever, when we go out we see all the other girls watching her and exclaiming over her clothes, a few even asking her where she bought her clothes. She enjoys telling them she designs her own clothes because she finds it funny when they do not believe her.

Angelica told us she wants to visit Stonehenge plus certain other spots that we looked up on the internet and discovered are considered power lines for magic. She also wants to go to Ireland (Eire, as she insists on calling it). She also told us that when we return, she intends spending some time with John in Dar and says she will get him to take her to the old woman. Robbie tried telling her the magic they use is not the same as that of Jesus, but he faltered as he was talking and with a red face stopped. We all showed our disapproval by refusing to talk to her, verbally and mentally for a day. It hurt her most when her mother did it and she apologised to Robbie. Of course he pretended she had not done anything that he noticed. For the first time, with his arms around her, she wept.

Jeskine, Orgg and the kings visited the teachers during their last day at school and they returned very pleased with the manner it has been organised. During their stay, the teachers did get to go into towns for a day, a couple of times, but otherwise they have been in a controlled environment so that they do not learn much of the ways of our world that could be damaging. One of them asked if a food machine could be programmed to produce ice cream. Of course we have already done so, but do not intend making any food machines available at this time - though it might be a good idea they have some for emergencies.

This time we have stayed less than four months on Earth and I personally feel I’ve barely had enough time to adjust to being back. Still, we are all excited at the prospects of temporarily living in a world with Neans.

5167

When we arrived, only the kings, the teachers, Jeskine and Orgg were allowed to go to their planet. They will have three days to prepare their people for an invasion of not only Terrans, but also aliens.

I chatted with Arthur. He is definitely getting stranger and stranger! He told me that he had an imaginary chat with me (as per usual, via his computer) as he lay in bed trying to sleep. In this chat he pretended he was no longer interested in me. I asked whether he did it to make me feel bad, but he could not say why he did it. He told me a few of the things that were said, obviously amused by them. Apparently I said to him, ‘don’t expect me to beg, no Cherinian will ever beg for love’. He replied that I should have heeded the saying that characters in a story should never love their creator. I asked, what about the creator, he should also not fall in love with his creations, but he said that it is traditional, that all writers fall in love with their creations, so he had acted normally. In general, he said, it was apparent that I got the better of him in our argument (I took the higher road he said) and he moaned that it is unfair that he cannot get the better of his creation even in imaginary conversations and wondered whether I had influenced how ‘I’ chatted with him in his imaginary chat.

We landed just outside of Afhani and walked through the city, arriving four hours later before the entrance to the palace. The streets had been packed with people and they exclaimed repeatedly when they saw our alien friends.

We were pleased to see Mintus by the side of Orgg and Jeskine. By his side was a woman. Big boned and saved from being plain by the hint her face gives of a strong personality. She was introduced to us by Mintus, his face reflecting his pride and love for her, as Pironal. Robbie says that since she is female I should write her name as Pironalle. I thought he loved the English language, Pironalle looks sort of Frenchified to me! Anyway, Cher touched her and gave Robbie her thumbs up.

“You have changed Orgg, he speaks like one of us now.”

“Not us Mintus, his link to Jeskine did it. Now that he can show you he is intelligent, are you surprised?”

“No. He showed me that, the first day I met him. Is he an odd Nean, or are they all the same?”

“Just like us, they range from stupid to…it may no longer be relevant Mintus. I was going to say their brightest are not more intelligent than an average Sap, but once they are linked they will all grow.”

“Our trading will not be that profitable anymore.” He smiled. “Not that it worries me anymore, I am not a trader now. Not with a lovely wife to keep me home.”

“You are a lucky man.” Robbie turned to me. “We better collect all the people waiting by the nest.”

“Let Vincent go, it would not look good for you to leave now.” I knew he wanted to skip the speeches and avoid being present when they speak of him, so he sent to me. *It is said that once you are no longer suffering you no longer know what it is like to suffer. Where is your empathy?* I did not dignify it with an answer.

Meesartus is clever. He knew that he would be met with exclamations of disbelief if he spoke of all he saw so he had the Teachers speak first. They told their people of how their new knowledge will improve life for them, make more food available and so on. Once the crowd was in the right frame of mind, their king took the platform. He surprised us. He barely skimmed through his experiences and concentrated mostly on what he has learnt about Jeskine and Orgg. The two of them squirmed, made uncomfortable by the wonder in the eyes that stared at them.

“There is much to tell you about our travels, but I could not do them justice. I suggest you all ask our guests, Cherine and her family, to tell you their story. They have a way of telling it that makes you see all the wonders they have lived through.”

We had not been asked or forewarned so the girls wanted a day to prepare, but the crowd chanted, asking for the story to be told right now. They gave in and the officials got off the platform so that all could see the girls.

5168

The girls have evolved a way of doubling or splitting their awareness so that one part of their mind is concentrating on telling the story while another is receiving directions from Meli or Wendy. They’ll even argue points while they are performing. Only Wendy is unable to do so while she sings. They took into account the stage the civilisation of their audience is at and the story was simplified. They understood the love of drama such a people would have, so they amplified aspects they often play down and skimmed through events that would not mean much to them. All Cherinians were just as fascinated and we noticed that most of the Normals, over the days of the telling, exclaimed over their sudden understanding of things they had not understood before. This telling will I think affect the way they do it in the future for all who hear our story for the first time. Sorry, I am forced to repeat myself because it is repeatedly true.

A number of Normals from our reality gave way to friendly persuasion and had too much to drink. One of them became belligerent and attacked a couple of locals. Jeskine soon healed them, but it upset many. We told Meesartus that they are subject to his laws and he held court. The man apologised, but some of the locals who had been present spoke of him as an evil man. When they had ended, Meesartus sat looking at the accused for a while without speaking. He first addressed those who had made the complaint.

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Partly the stupidity was his, but much of the blame is yours. We know that our liquor is strong and are used to it, but our guests are not. If you demand I punish this man according to our laws, then I will be forced to make new laws about our liquor, forcing the distillers to dilute it. Is that what you wish?”

In their hearts they would have rather the culprit be heaped with gold than have their liquor ‘spoilt’ by new laws and so everyone was pleased when the king was ‘too soft’ on the foreigner and ordered him to compensate them. He has to buy one horse for each of them. Meesartus grinned at us after he’d pronounced sentence, knowing he’s handed us a problem. How can we buy two horses when we do not have any local currency?

Robbie called for a family meeting. “Meesartus intends offering us two horses, but I’ll not have it. We earn them. I think it is time the imps show us their true mettle, do they deserve the notoriety for originality all species ascribe to them? You will earn the money to pay for the horses without breaking any local laws and, more importantly, without breaking ours. I do not expect you to labour in the fields for them. Show the inventive spirit you do when thinking up your pranks.”

The twins have recently been ‘family-within-a-family’ with the imps so Robbie is including them this time. Cassie and the twins looked baffled, but Jade grinned. “Are we allowed to ask for help from one person? Not a local, but of our choice.”

Robbie gave it some thought. “Not Sam?”

“No.”

“Okay, just one person and once only.”

The four of them went off in a huddle, scheming and tossing away ideas faster than I can think them up. We considered them to be under a privacy umbrella and did not peek.

Led by Jade they jumped back to Freddie. I’ve had to edit and move their writing to below the above explanation so that all is in sequence.

Arthur, this is the twins, Cassie and Jade. Can we chat with you?

5169

The imps started off feeling a little dejected, certain they would be laughed at, but their high spirits soon took over and they went at it with their normal gusto. Permission was granted, Maria agreed to work for a share in the profits, asking to be paid in kind (dates). The first twenty cakes were prepared in the taverna. The locals have a sweet tooth and soon they had a queue outside their shop and Maria could not prepare her meringue bases fast enough. The girls came up with a smaller Jeskine Slice and a huge slice ( a quarter of the cake) named the Orgg Slice. The Orgg slice turned out to be much more popular.

Within days they had enough to place a deposit on two horses, the trader agreeing to them paying the rest off over ten days. The imps ‘convinced’ Maria to give Robbie notice, telling him she enjoys working in town, causing some merriment. Her husband plays tavli with the locals all day, so she had to employ a couple of young lads as waiters. The best moment for the girls was when the two kings and their wives entered their shop and ordered Orgg Slices. Meesartus complimented them, saying he expects them to soon be wealthy. King Pwembwe asked whether they could open a shop in Sisama (his capital city - a literal translation of ‘Sisama’ means ‘ a place of rest’). The imps searched our internet for other simple recipes so as to expand their range. Jade painted on one of the walls a depiction of the desert, the crashed nest, a shattered platform with two dragons fighting in the air and added in the distance three pyramids. People came to eat there just to stare at her painting.

5170

“What are you going to do with the shop when we have to leave?”

“We are training Pironal. As soon as Maria tells us she can handle it on her own, we’ll give her the shop.”

Robbie nodded, pleased. “Well done girls. I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah! The imps strike again!” Goldi called out and everyone laughed, including Robbie.

We had brought maps with us and we marked on them the spots where Sparklers have found Neans. They also gave us the populations and we gathered for a meeting because we were worried.

“I think it would be safe to say the Sparklers have found at least ninety percent of all the Neans. Adding them up I come to a population of three hundred thousand roughly. I’d expected at least double that. From abandoned camps, we estimate that as recently as fifty years ago their population was close to seven hundred thousand.”

For the first time the truth of it seemed to sink in and Orgg looked glum. Jeskine took his hand and she must have spoken directly to him, for he smiled at her and soon perked up.

“Should we plan to move them into larger groups to reduce inter-breeding of relatives?”

“We can suggest it to them later. As Cherinians they will not have a problem, but if they wish to treat with the Saps as a nation they will need a centre. I think we should plan our actions in stages. For instance, a number of the females are expecting. We know that their rate of miscarriages is very high. We should not wait to convert them to Cherinians. Jeskine, why don’t you group your first volunteers and handle that as a priority?”

Throughout our discussions, all of us, Terrans and aliens, even King Meesartus, were careful to defer all decisions to Jeskine and Orgg. During the years they’ve spent in Freddie with us, they’ve had many opportunities to learn as we rescued or helped others and Robbie had always been careful to include them in his planning or his teaching of other Roberts and Cherines. They both tend to take longer to decide, preferring to mull the problem over first. It is not a bad thing, they should make less mistakes than we do.

“How many healers would we need?” Jeskine asked.

“If we are to send a healer to every expectant mother and foetus within one day, about six hundred would be enough, that is, one healer for every ten females. Most of them should not take more than half an hour each. I would like to return to my body within ten hours.”

Robbie took one thousand three hundred healers with him. Though Jeskine and Orgg set their healers to work also, they went with, as souls, so as to see firsthand. We were glad to feel the change in Jeskine when she returned. She is now committed with a fervour she had lacked before. There is nothing like doing good, helping others, for committing a person to doing good.

That night Robbie was feeling very amorous (to put it mildly) and he amused us when he asked, “May I make love first to the best part of me?” Jade’s wiry limbs were soon twisted about him and we felt how her softness excited him. She may be strong for her size and have a heart that is as brave as any heart can be, but she is also extremely affectionate and tender-hearted, adoring all of us and our Robbie. We waited for them to make love twice before joining them.

It is a strange thing. Even after all these years, we still sense an irrational feeling of guilt in Robbie. It is almost below his levels of awareness. It is as if he feels guilty towards Jade for having created her. He knows it is stupid, how could she be anything but glad she exists, but it is one of those things he and we have to make patience with until that something inside him matures. Jade does not mind, she only sees it as proof of what a wonderful soul he has and loves him all the more for it. I was lucky. She fell asleep in my arms and while I enjoyed the soft warmth of her against me it was mostly the happy emoting in her sleep that made it heavenly.

Next [Book 08] - Post 028

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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