Little Cherine Book 02 - The Doris War - post 03
Themi, with my mother, Natalie and the two baby boys were the first to arrive. My mother wrapped me in her arms. “Thank you Robert. You gave us a double gift last night.”
Themi had come early more out of concern. “Are you certain I will not be a risk to you anymore?”
“Themi, you are now a true Cherinian. They would really have a difficult time breaking through you. There is nothing as strong as a Cherinian who is filled with love and really happy. We will discuss strategies and make plans once all are here, but you need not worry any longer. You do not resent my tricking you?”
“Resent? You must be joking. If you had not I would have still been a cripple. Now I even have my brother, a second chance to make things right with him. Robert, I do not know how much you know of my profession. We would not hesitate to trick a patient if it would cure him, so please do not fear there may be any hard feelings. How did things go with Theresa?”
“I think you only need to look at her. Isn’t she lovely Themi?”
“Are you keeping detailed records of all you have done Robert, I mean with regard to helping unravel mental problems.”
“No I haven’t, just a broad general description. I think you are making a classical mistake Themi. You are thinking that I have some sort of genius for this, I do not. As your gifts develop you will find yourself able to do all I have done. As a matter of fact, I bet that if you went back into private practice now, you would quickly acquire a name for yourself as the best in the world, just as is happening with Dr Maria.”
“Thank you. You like throwing out these casual suggestions to disrupt the lives of your friends. I will resign tomorrow and devote my time to helping those in the asylums, the ones all others have given up on.”
Those not listening closely laughed, thinking he was making a joke, then they realised he was serious . I felt a little pain in my heart at my thoughtlessness. “Themi, I was not trying to...”
“Do not apologise Robert, you have not forced me to follow my good conscious, not that it would have been a bad thing. I have enjoyed teaching young minds, but have always wished I could spend more time helping people with problems. Otherwise I find knowledge turns into dry dust, losing its true meaning.”
“Let’s first have our discussion tonight before deciding on making any changes.”
“Welcome my friends. Most of you have already picked up that we are here to discuss an unpleasant problem. The meeting will not be held here. I ask that all of you join me in the void, there please proceed to our World, the meeting will be taking place on the emerald isle.
I am leaving our protector and my healer to close off and guard this area. You will all please come back into this room. I am sorry if it is necessary to pack you like sardines, but the smaller the area the protector has to watch over the more effective it becomes.”
They all proceeded directly to the isle while I called for our ‘I’.
*You sense something important is happening. If you wish you may join us and maybe contribute to our survival. If you wish to do so you must take a form and be present physically. I would suggest you take the form of a young person without any special attributes to make you stand out. That will make everyone think of you as being more mature - at least until you open your mouth. If you talk to them the way you do to us, you will cause the family great humiliation.*
I saw the isle had changed. The beach formed a half circle with a tiny island in the centre. Meli gestured to me that I must jump onto the small island. I shook my head.
“Get everyone onto the little island then I can walk up and down the beach while talking to them.”
“I’m sorry, I forgot you hate standing still.”
“Just join it to the beach. We do not need pretty waves right now.”
I faced them all and saw a stranger in the back.
“Friends, as those of you who have your own Worlds know, a personality is created out of the melding of your souls and it then runs the World for you. Ours has decided to join us. Please welcome him or her, I’m not sure what gender has been chosen.” I gestured to it and it was forced to come forward.
“Thank you Robert. I would prefer to be thought of as female. I have noticed that our females are far finer and better developed than the male.” Everyone laughed, thinking it was making a joke.
“Josephine, would you like to tell them of the warning you gave us?”
“I would prefer you do the talking thank you.”
“Fine. I called you here for it seems we are facing our first challenge from our own planet. We are being watched and this is the only place where they cannot listen in to whatever plans we make.
There are a group of people with gifts and it would appear that their gifts are not similar to ours. They have entrenched themselves within society by acquiring wealth and a broad political power base.”
“I apologise for interrupting Robert, you have visitors who request permission to join us. They are Solomon and Ordinx.”
“Are you trying to give us a heart attack?” I smiled, “Of course they may come. Meli, please see to... welcome friends, I see you have designed your own bodies!”
I brought them up to date.
“Their gifts are not based on love and empathy. Their gifts are those that give them an edge on Normal people. They are the kind of gifts that have ensured them the wealth and power over mankind that secure them from any progrom - I would say very unlike us!” There were a few nervous laughs.
“I have to ask this, being the person I am. Is there anyone here who would rather join them? They seem to be, in an ecological sense, better equipped for survival. If any would, I promise there will be no reprisals from us. You are free to leave - we only ask that if you are tempted by the promise of power and wealth, please do so now. If you stay, we expect total commitment.” I waited, but the only feelings I sensed were those of hurt that I could expect them to desert us.
“I am sorry, I feel your hurt, but I had to ask. We have to be together not only because we love each other, but because our beliefs are the same. I would rather be killed than become like them.”
“Do you have any idea what sort of powers they have?”
“None. I think one of the things we will have to do is make a list of what kind of powers it would take to be as them. For instance, the first one I can think of is an ability to influence Normal people, affect their beliefs and thoughts. They must also have a variety of powers that enable them to kill. From what Josephine said, based on her gifts, not direct knowledge, it would seem they are also able to affect the soul. Otherwise, how would they capture ours?”
Socrati stood up. “I am worried. This sounds to me like a war between sheep and wolves. They will have no compunctions about killing us, even the children, while we do not kill. Do we also become wolves to fight them?”
I sensed the dismay and answered quickly. “Socrati, loving and having empathy does not mean we cannot kill. You all know that I have killed. I cannot speak for those born Cherinians, but I think the rest of us can. If not all, then most of us. Alki, Tasso, Savva? I think you all could. The rest of you, I suggest those who could not kill, even to save their loved ones, you must let us know.
Socrati, I do not know whether there are children who will attack us; if there are, then I cannot kill, as my protector would attack me. If they have the ability to appear as children, I have a sneaky suspicion they will do so, for they will know our weaknesses…then I do not know how I can fight them. Any suggestions?”
I had started off so positive, convinced I could and would kill to protect my loved ones and had talked my way around it till I was faced with my inability to do so. The same dismay I felt was felt by all. Sadly I looked at them and felt my heart breaking.
“It seems we are not going to realise our dreams. I only see one alternative. Meli, you must teach me how to help bring your world into our reality so that we can all go there.”
“I don’t know how Robbie.” She was almost in tears. Henry stood up, his face angry.
“I will kill. If they are children but evil, then I will kill them. I will not let them kill you.”
I shook my head. “Thank you Henry, I know that a number of you feel that way. Tasso, Savva, you can both confirm for me, if Henry is attacked by a child, will he delay trying to kill it because it is a child - will that hesitation lose him the battle?” They nodded in agreement. I sat down and wrestled within myself. “The way I see it, the protector is the key here. We need it, but it also becomes our greatest weakness. How do I convince it to fight children?”
Solomon answered me. “It has already killed millions of children. Did you think that the Sparklers you killed, all the souls they were holding, were adult?”
His words tore at me. Dizzy with the pain I hung on grimly. “It is not the same Solomon. When we killed we thought of you as mindless insects. Parasites. If we had known you, there is no way we could have harmed even one of you.”
Charlie stood. “You are all thinking of the physical death. What concerns me is the soul. I suggest we imitate Robert, taking it one step forward, if the Sparklers will help us. Solomon, I understand you have solved the problem and no longer damage souls when you collect them. Good. Then each of us give a strong part of our soul to a Sparkler to care for. If one of us is killed, that sliver can be returned to a new body.”
“Charlie, if they have been watching us for some time, then they know of our tissue banks. It would be foolish of us to base our survival on them not knowing.”
Cherine got up excited. “You may be wrong Robert. They will not know of all of them. Or even if they do they may not be able to go to them. What about the ones on the alternate world.”
Alki took over. “Roberto. Let us start to break this up into small steps.
First thing we all do is exchange slivers. Each of us must have a sliver of every other Cherinian.
Second. We deposit a sliver of our souls with the Sparklers.
Third. Elia and I will draw cash and we open as many tissue banks as we can. This world and the alternate. Robert, can you do so also by travelling in time? That is good. Even if they know what we are doing, we do not speak of it and never mention where and when these banks exist. Only the protector and healer of Robert need to know.
Fourth. This I see as our biggest problem. If we all go back to our normal lives, they can pick us off one by one. For an indefinite time, perhaps for years, we will all have to live together, staying in sight of each other at all times. I can provide a building suitable for us to do so. Between Elia and I we can provide the funds to keep us going.
Fifth. No more pregnancies. No new members.”
Tasso called out, “All the actions you mention are of a defensive nature. No battle is won that way Kyrie Alki. We need to learn who they are, find out what their weaknesses and strengths are. I know that unfortunately Robert will not allow us to attack first, but once they attack us, we must also attack them. If they have the political powers you suggested, then they will use ordinary people against us. If they send the army of a country to attack us, do we kill them?”
Dommi added, “Roberto, if what Tasso says is true, then who says they do not exist on the alternate world also. That means the other Robert and Cherine are in danger. They do not have a protector, we must bring them all here. It would be a good thing to do for us also, Roberto, having them with us would strengthen us in many ways.”
I heard what Alki, Tasso and Dommi said and I felt an anger growing in me. I turned to Arsehole. “You are made up of all my family. You know us, our strengths and weaknesses, what do you suggest?”
“The obvious one would be to have you all withdraw from your bodies and come to me.” It put up its hand to stop me. “However, I have come to the conclusion that you are right. You are not ready, you need to live longer, gain more experiences, mature. I accept that the same is true of me too. I hate to say this. Robert, you are the Killer for the Cherinians. You are the only one who is able to overcome your empathy and kill if your loved ones are hurt or in danger.”
My mind blurred with the agony I felt within. It was right. “How do I prevent the protector from stopping me, especially if they attack me as children. Despite what you say, I cannot kill innocent humans if they are just tools of the enemy.”
Sweet Cherine fought herself and offered, “Robert. You all have this empathy from me. What if I kill it, change it into something more aggressive?”
“Then we no longer will be what we are. We will then have lost the battle before it started.”
Nicko spoke, “Alki, Dad, we must create a number of homes all over the world and keep them ready, fully stocked with anything we could need for years to come. Perhaps it would be wiser of us to employ a number of non-Cherinians through Panamanian companies to prepare the homes so that we do not betray where they are - if we really are being watched all the time. If Normal humans are used against us then we may have to jump to a new home, but if the enemy attack directly, then we fight, or else we’ll only lead them to our safe homes.”
“You must all wait here. Cherine and I will jump to the alternate world and bring the others to join us. Then you return home to our bodies. I hope they cannot hear our mental communications and until we find out they can, on Earth we only talk of important matters using mind-speak. Alki, please begin putting into effect your plans of action. Savva, will you be able to resign without leaving our home again?”
“I think I would be of far more use to us all if I do not. I have to risk it Robert. I might be able to send fire power to help or might hear of anything being planned against you if they use official means to attack us.”
“I appreciate your reasoning, you are brave to offer. Savva, if they are able to get one of us they might be able to force their way into your mind and know all we plan. Anyway, I refuse to lose even one of you. We fight together. Maria, please prepare a letter for Savva and anybody else who needs one showing they are ill and cannot work for a period of months.
We have one other weakness. There are a number of children, babies, who were not born as Cherinians. They cannot be protected as effectively. Do we find a home for them? Would they then be attacked?”
“If I was them and I was ruthless, yes I would. They know you would sacrifice yourself to save them.” Alki spoke with certitude and I kept quiet. I could not tell them yet that the Robert they knew would no longer be. I had to change to ensure their survival. Cherine, Dommi and Wendy looked up at me and then I saw all my girls had understood. I saw tears, but not one of them spoke in protest. I had to quieten the pain in them.
“When this is over Dommi, Cherine, you may operate on me as you did before. You will have me back.” The others sat silently, some taking longer than the others to understand.
Ordinx spoke into the silence. “I suggest you all return together. Solomon and I would like to stay by your side for the duration of this war. We might be able to provide some help. Josephine, you will be staying here?”
“It is not time for me to return to Earth yet.”
We said our goodbyes and I went to our Arsehole. “Until proven otherwise you deserve a name of dignity. We will call you Adam. I know you prefer to think of yourself as a female, but we need the feeling of a male, a warrior. Do you agree?”
“I thought the Amazons were the fiercest warriors?” it replied with a smile.
“They used to cut off one breast so that it would not hinder them when using the bow. I’d prefer you as Adam, if you will accept.”
“You are worried and do not see that I was trying to be humorous. Of course I agree Robert. The name may not be apt, Adam was the first man, I am not of mankind in that way.”
“I think you may end up becoming so. We will talk about this another time. Goodbye Adam.”
“Goodbye Arsehole.” He grinned. “We have to have one, so since I am Adam now, I suppose you will have to be it.”
“It is apt, since I will have to deal with all the shit.” Adam laughed and faded away.
I checked with our protector, it had followed our discussion and was troubled. I promised to talk with it later and grabbing Cherine we jumped to the farm.
Their joy at seeing us was short-lived. They rushed to find Cedric and gave him the job of watching over the farm, provided for a monthly amount to be deposited in his account and we dashed off to little Cherine and her parents. We had greater difficulty in persuading them until Cherine opened her mind to the little one and she made her parents obey us.
“No need to jump back to the farm, we might as well leave from here.”
“I am not ready Robert.”
“What now?”
“I want our Wendy. They could attack her here.”
I found myself pondering the ethics of it and stopped myself with a laugh. “Three Wendies in one house! I’ll get her.”
“No Robert, we get her and her mother.”
We did not explain, we just jumped there, grabbed the two of them and jumped back. We ignored the screaming and all jumped together back to our home.
Seeing our Wendy with her mother had me cursing myself for not thinking of this before. The little Wendy looked at Candy and thought she was seeing double. They were almost exactly the same age. They were instantly friends and became as twins. It took the mother longer to adjust, but I left it to the girls to explain and convince. Finally I heard weeping and went to check on them.
“Robert, Wendy’s mother, Sylvia, she already has Aids.”
“Why is she crying, haven’t you told her we can cure her?”
“She is crying because Wendy had to convince her we were telling her the truth. She let her see what her father did.”
“My healer is in her, she will be well soon. Her heart I leave to you. Wendy love, it would not be fair to change the name of little Wendy. What do we call you?”
“My Wendy.”
Candy spoke up, “No, this is my Wendy.” And she hugged her twin.
I had no time for this and let them settle it. I went into my mind, dragging Cherine and Sam with me. We spoke with the protector. I explained all and asked if it would stop me from attacking the enemy if they appeared as children. It asked to speak.
*Cherine, Samantha, Robert, I do not have the option of making up my own mind as you do. You can listen to your emotions, your heart as you say, and then decide that logic forces you to do otherwise. I only am made of the emotions, I come from the heart of Robert. The prime directive in his heart is that all children, all, are precious beyond anything else. I would be forced to attack Robert should he try to harm what I perceive as being a child.*
*Even though you know they are not really children and are evil. Even if you know they would kill us, the real children?*
*I spoke of the mind and the heart. You speak of knowing, that comes from the mind. I am forced to act according to the instincts I was given.*
Cherine asked, *If it is a choice between saving them or me?*
*I may be forced to destroy the other child, but then I will also destroy myself. Call upon me Cherine only as a last desperate measure.*
*No. Then I cannot call upon you.*
I was feeling dazed by the speed of all the changes and though I knew it was silly, I had an idea and tried it. *If you had a prime directive to protect all humans and their art, and aliens infected all the marble in our world. You could destroy the stones, but if you were faced with destroying a statue made of marble, could you not see that statue as being marble and destroy it? Remember, if you did not you would be allowing the marble infection to destroy humans.*
*Your analogy is meaningless.*
*I know. What I am trying to say is, if a wolf wears a sheep skin, it does not become a sheep. You are able to see the soul within. If the soul is of an adult and the soul is evil in that it wishes to destroy a child or a Cherinian, then the sheepskin disguise should not influence you. Your prime directive is to stop harm to a real child or to a good person.*
*Understood. If you attack a disguise, Robert, I will still be forced to attack you.*
I sensed Cherine wanted me to wait a moment, so I did. As soon as she was ready, she told me, *I want you to respond to my question immediately without pausing to think. Just give me the first answer that comes to your mind. Ready?* I sent her a nod. *Something cataclysmic happens and you rush out to save people. Unfortunately, you can only save one person at a time. As you arrive, you find that only two people are still alive; the one is an adult male you recognise, for he is considered the Albert Einstein of the medical world and he is expected to be saving millions of people in the future, and the other is a sweet little girl of about three to four years old. Quick, which one do you save?*
*My instincts demand I save the little girl, but I think I would…damn it Cherine, I’m just as much of a robot as the protector is, I’d save the little girl.*
*Damn it Robert, then why can’t you at least give it free will?*
*Ask it Cherine.*
*He is right not to. I am not human in all senses. I could develop my own agenda, have my own needs. Would you risk having a protector, with the power I have, as an entity independent of Robert and his heart? If he tried, as I am now, I would have to try and stop him.*
Everyone had been listening in. By mind-speak I asked them to be careful, not to discuss what they heard aloud. Then I asked them to alter their body age. They must all choose an apparent age between seven and nine. Those who could not we would do it for them. Once it was done I changed myself.
“Anybody getting hungry? Shall we order…” I stopped, for the protector had flared, visible and hurting our eyes.
“What the hell!! What was that?”
I informed them, my voice trembling from anger. “It was a missile. The attack has started. The protector has thrown the missile into space where it exploded without harming anyone.”
As the missile had been seen by a large number of people, they mentioned it on the television news. The American base claimed that some electronic circuitry had malfunctioned and the missile had taken off, but the in-built safety features had forced the missile to veer into space where it exploded harmlessly. There were assurances that this could not happen again.
I raised my hand to quieten them. “If anyone had any doubts, I hope this has taken care of them.”
I decided to take a risk. We had to. Once all the stores were closed for the evening I used Natalie to prevent anyone seeing us and Cherine to disable all electronic alarms. We drew cash from a number of accounts and jumped into the local Alpha Beta supermarket. We piled food into trolleys, a couple of us would jump with the trolley home, empty it and return. We all took turns, as providing food for so many people was going to be a mammoth job. We even took all the cases we could find of bottled water and cold drinks. When we had finished I grabbed a number of cases of wine and beer and a few cartons of cigarettes. Cherine grinned at me and emptied the store and their stockroom of all the chocolates and biscuits we like. She remembered my liking for halvah and collected a number of slabs.
Giannis was our human calculator, keeping a running total.
*Gianni, how long will this last us?*
*The basics, about two weeks.*
*Everybody start again. Get dry stuff. Rice, pasta, tinned foods, long life milk, cereals, sugar. As much as you can take. We have huge freezers at home, grab cheeses, salamis, tarama, anything you see. Henry, take the barrel of olives. Get all the bread, we can freeze it, not that it will last long. Nicko, we will have to go for more fuel. They are bound to cut off our electricity.*
Sam said, *No. Our built in tanks are full. If we bring loose drums they could use that to set us on fire.*
*Fine. Have I missed anything?*
*None of us need medication. How about entertainment Robert? We have to keep everybody occupied.*
And so it went. There was a possibility they would have our phone lines cut off or monitored, so we got a number of pay cards and mobile (cell) phones. Everything we took we paid for. There are going to be a number of store owners upset, but glad we were honest - and they will be richer.
*We got everything we could think of. It will carry us through nearly a month. Just as well we are all child sized, this way everything lasts longer. Now starts the hard part.*
*You mean the waiting?*
*To hell with that! Now we have to work out how we identify our enemies and attack them. Alki, Elia, you too Wing, I am certain you have already thought of it, and I hope you have worked out how to liquidate all your assets. With you stuck here they will destroy your businesses.*
I saw Alki had already thought of it, but the others had been too caught up in the situation.
Wing asked, *Robert, you want me to sell the tissue banks? What of our tissues?*
*It is our only hope. If we sell them, there is no reason for the banks to be destroyed. We must make a show of putting up our own banks - which they will destroy. Our tissues are there under false names, it makes it difficult for them to identify ours. You did use different names for each bank, I hope you did not take any shortcuts and use the same names?*
His feelings were hurt and I apologised. *Wing, you must keep in mind I am responsible for all these people. If I have to ask a question like that, just answer honestly, if I have to apologise to each of you all the time, we lose valuable time. I’ll apologise afterwards for hurting anyone’s feelings.*
He smiled and nodded.
*All of you, I want you as part of this conversation. Protector, have you checked if we are being spied upon electronically?*
*There is a satellite watching this house most of the time, we have windows of time when they cannot see us for a short period. There are no microphones in the house or the surrounding area. Houses next door are just the usual families.*
*Use Cherine to disable a satellite. That will show them we are aware and serve as a warning.*
Sam called out urgently, *Wait! Protector, can we place a trace that will show where the information ends up?*
*I am doing that. Robert, I do not destroy?*
*Agreed. With you now surrounding us, are they still able to hear us?*
*Unknown. Tell me what their powers are and I can then answer.*
Dear visitor, if you joined us now, at post 03, welcome.
You have missed the introduction and first posts, which give some important explanations so that you can fully enjoy the story you are reading.
If you wish to read it, this is a reminder, you can go to the top of this page and use the link to return to Post 00.
Each post has/will have the next link at the end of the story. Also, from post 00 onwards, all you need to do is alter the url, increasing the post number by one.
If you enjoy the story, I do not ask that you resteem or upvote; those to me are just bonuses, a sign you enjoyed reading The Doris War. All I really want as encouragement is that you recommend the story to all your friends; those you think would enjoy a romantic-adventure fantasy story.
I would like to add a personal note, which is also a hope of mine. You may or may not enjoy my way of keeping my writing simple where I can; you may or may not enjoy the style of the adventures experienced; but, I am very confident you will each grow to love at least one character.
Is that character going to be Cherine, Dominique, Robert, Aganthi or one of the others you will come to know? I will not even try to guess, but I know you will, for I have loved each of them and written of them with love :)
Thank you.
Thanks to you ! that's a great work
I'm sorry I lost my vote power