LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 01 - post177

Was I supposed to sit through that nonsense with the stoical hard face of a leader? I do not know. I am only Robert, the idiot, the fool who cannot even win an argument with a ten year old chit of a girl. As Robert, I broke down and cried, hugging my friend who had grown soft in the head.

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649

As I sat in the lounge being pampered, my thoughts kept returning to Cherine, my singular little lover who, on her own merit, has grown into the position of second in command. None have disputed she is the right choice. All she lacks is a bit of creative imagination at times. None however can claim to be braver or more tireless in her devotion to...well, not to her duty, she actually cares little for that. It is her determination to have me safe whenever she can, to be by my side when she cannot. I have also noticed how she is changing, our family and friends also now a reason for her fighting by my side. I often wonder what she can possibly see in me to deserve her devotion, but I agree with her about our loved ones, each of them is worth making sacrifices for.

They were all treating me as fragile, so I was truly pleased when Wendy came and sat on my lap. I had nearly forgotten the sweetness of holding a warm little body. “You kept your promise Robbie. The one you told Cherine to tell me two months ago.”

“Two months!”

“Nearly. You did not realise?”

“There is little sense of time up there. At this rate we could end up fighting for years. Alki, you have been paying my expenses? Looking after my girls, even though I have done no work?”

“You insult me. How could you say that?”

“If I had the money, it would have been my honour to pay for you. O Kyrios Alki is right, you insult him.” Tasso’ wife nodded her agreement and I hope they felt my emoting.

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to insult anyone, I just feel guilty. You are always there for me Alki. Business-wise you made a poor decision when you employed me.”

He tried to soften the mood with humour, safe in the knowledge that I would not misunderstand him. “So okay, I fire you later on.”

“He would not dare Robert. My company would snap you up in seconds.” Nicko was teasing Alki and I saw now the easy friendship which has grown up between them. I needed a change of subject, even if only for a few minutes; something practical so as to ground me.

“How is your business going Nicko?’

“Oh we would have gone bust by now if not for my father and Alki - the entire internet scene has suffered a collapse…temporarily, I hope. They each bought out some of the shareholders and invested some working capital. But did Dominique not tell you? She used a million dollars of her capital to save me. She is now a minority shareholder. She refuses to be a director, maybe you can convince her? When this is all over I mean.”

“Not a chance. I want her to stay as sweet as she is. Boardrooms are not for sweet girls.”

650

The pull to return, to see what was happening, to ensure my Cherine and Dommi were returned was becoming irresistible. They sensed it. My healer warned me not to go yet. I was about to ignore it when Meli and Wendy clung to me with tears and the others rushed to me. I gave in when Nicko volunteered to go check for me. He returned with Dommi to tell me Cherine had attacked a swarm on its way to Earth. She was now back in position, with no damages to report. He told me she is enjoying herself and I should not worry. I looked across at Marian. She smiled, shrugged and offered to go be with her daughter for a while.

“Where is Themi and my mother? My sister, she is well?”

“They have been here for days. They needed to go home for a short rest. I think your mother will be upset to have missed you.”

“I better phone her.”

Laura answered the phone and squealed with joy when she heard my voice. She called her parents and as my mother took over she jumped. She had assumed the age of six and I laughed as she clambered/tumbled onto my lap, sweet Wendy and Meli quickly making way for her.

She waited until I finished talking with our mum and threw her little arms around my neck. “Robbie, I been learning my arithmetic. If you have half and half you know what you have?”

“One whole?”

She nodded happily. “So, I was thinking, I have been your half sister two times. Does that make me your whole sister?”

“Only if you really want to be.”

She turned to Meli and Wendy and in a very proud voice told them, “Robbie is my whole brother.”

She was the best medicine, five minutes with her and I began to feel more like a human and less like a war computer. This was part of what I was fighting for. With Laura on my lap and Wendy and Meli to either side, the other girls all watching me closely, I spent the next hour learning to smile and be Robert again. I realised I had become too much like the protector, identifying too closely with it. That was wrong. I need my human craziness.

When it was time for me to go, I helped out this time by putting my body back in the hospital bed, ready for them to replace the drips. I got a kiss from each, with a wet one from my whole sister, and I left.

I wondered aloud why nature would make the Sparklers so beautiful - I’ve decided to change the name, ‘Sparklers’ sounds right to me. The others reacted with shock. I laughed, they had stopped seeing the beauty, the green cloud and the Sparklers now only a vision of horror, fear and hatred. Again I wondered aloud, could their beauty have a reason - as it is with our butterflies? Cherine was now taking me more seriously than I was taking myself. I explained to the others, the more we understand of our enemy, the stronger we become. The more we hate and loathe them, the weaker we are. Cherine has been through this sort of thing with me before, but the others were not so interested. Even Alki just wanted to find a way to kill them all so that the emergency will be over. He decided it is the artist in me speaking, so I decided to drop the subject for a while.

I told Cherine about Laura becoming my whole sister. She first thought of it as an amusing anecdote, but feeling the depths to which Laura had touched me, she sent back her joy for me. I ordered them all to return, to stay as long as it takes for them to remember who and what they are.

On such strange twists does the future depend on being created as it was meant to be. Samantha came to be my companion in my vigil. As we talked we sensed, then saw the glowing forms of the aliens. I sent a greeting and asked why they were not gone.

*We are gone. Those that remain are the volunteers. Every time we flee we lose a number of Worlds as a sacrifice to give the others time to become lost within the boundless darkness.*

*Yet the Sparklers find you again. Is it because there are so many clouds of them, or are they able to track you?*

651

*We do not know. If these leave and you are attacked again, how would you know if they are the same or a different cloud.*

*For all your great age, your quarantining us as being too immature to be your companions, you actually know less about the enemy than we do. All those aeons you have lived, they were for nothing? You have no curiosity? Have you, as a species, lost the ability and the wish to learn?*

They replied, *You speak with the bitterness of youth. We have not come to argue. We have a question to ask.*

*So you do have some curiosity left in you. Ask then.*

*You have realised the swarm seeks us out. Why do you block it. Why do you risk your own world.*

My anger flared, showing me it was still strong within me. I felt we owed them nothing, not even an explanation. Still it is difficult to be rude to one of such great age. *We do not do it for your sake. The stronger the enemy gets, the weaker we become. You do know that every time they feed they increase in numbers?*

*That is a cold answer, but honest. We waited for them, but they did not come. We wondered, were your childish claims not bravado but fact. We saw your last skirmish. Without loss of one soul you were able to destroy hundreds of millions of their kind. This has never happened before. It took a while for us to consider, for it is true that time has slowed us. We decided, since we have remained behind as sacrifices, our lives are forfeit. We lose nothing by helping you. Do you still wish for us to join you.*

*No.*

*Robert! Why?*

*They will not help us, they will become our weakness. They are still arrogant. When in the middle of battle I do not want to wonder whether my allies will decide they know better and follow some plan of their own, destroying us.*

*I think you are wrong Robbie. They are aliens, they have a different way of expressing themselves. Have you noticed how their questions are given like statements? It does not mean they are not asking.*

*You are the one called Samantha.*

*Yes.*

*I am the one called friend-to-be-of-Samantha. I see you are already a friend.*

I gave up in disgust. I would have shown it too, but then recalled the visit from the future. If she still then considers them friends, I am probably wrong.

*Will you join us strictly on our own conditions. No arguing, no making plans of your own. You just obey.*

Some of them flared in obvious anger, showing I had insulted them. Only the speaker remained calm, his attention remaining focussed solely on Sam.

*What Robert said was not meant to insult you. We have a long history of battles. Our kind learnt, for one side to be victorious, they must have a strong leader who is obeyed.*

*Then it shall not be an insult, whatever his intentions. We will obey. We will not make our own plans. We will not abandon you in the midst of a battle.*

His ‘whatever his intentions’ endeared him to me. I realised he has a sort of dry wit, the kind I enjoy. I accepted their offer. I explained how we are strengthened, what we will need of them. They promised to return. As they left, Sam sent me an amused chuckle.

652

*The first ones, they are often angry with you because of your sense of humour. Yet you accepted the aliens as allies because my friend showed he has wit. I fear you will never live this down. Of course I will tell, this story is too delicious to keep a secret Robbie, you must write of it as it happened in the diaries.*

My thoughts had already wandered. *Sam, I want Andreas and Britta brought from Cyprus. If we leave them out of this they will be hurt. How can we ask them to believe we must each fight for our existence when it is needed, if we keep this war a secret from them?*

*Your mind flits around like a butterfly. How have you survived this long?*

I sent her a lascivious grin. *By choosing the loveliest flowers to surround myself with.*

*You can be totally impossible at times.* There was amusement and fondness in her, so I chuckled.

*You think we should wait for our new allies or shall we have some fun and stir up that bunch out there?*

*You call…okay. My opinion is we should wait. The stronger we are the more damage we do. We do not want to waste too many of your brilliant ideas on killing but a handful each time.*

*If you were Diana I would have said ‘that is the Cherine part of you’. Where do you get it from?*

Wryly she replied, teasing me *From you. You provoke all of us, trying to turn us into ‘Cherines’.*

Next Post 178

^{For those readers who have not understood, when they speak using telepathy, what they say is enclosed within stars, and the thoughts exchanged are in italic.
e.g *Hi, I bet you are wishing you could read thoughts.*?}

I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love. Yes, most of all, always of empathy and love.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)
^{18th July, 2018}
* posted on Steemit: 18th July, 2018



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