Little Cherine Book 01 - BPost063
*Our protector has already killed. They seemed to be shocked at the death of one of them. That is why they are not approaching. I think they shall soon decide to attack. We cannot withstand the attack en masse without help.*
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We could sense their dismay as they replied, *We cannot help.*
*Yes you can. The protector was too weak to withstand their attack, but as soon as I joined it with the healer, we were able to fight and kill one of them. I invite you, come join our protector, help strengthen it, with yourselves and your healers. That way we might survive.*
*We regret we cannot. If we stay and lose, then all our Worlds are condemned. It is with a strong regret I/we bid you farewell.*
I could not answer, my soul was too heavy with disappointment and dread. Nor could I insist, since failure would mean the total extinction of their specie; any decision to stay and fight must come from them, not due my pleas, however desperate the situation may be for my own specie and loves. I turned to Cherine and Sam, hoping I was successfully hiding my fear.
*Take my healer with you, it will respond to the needs of any of you. Send back to me all your healers. Whoever has a healer, from whichever circle, I must have them all. I cannot return with you. Do not worry about my body, if it dies, let it die, when this is over we can grow a new one. Uh, before I forget, ask doctor Maria to preserve new sample tissue from all of us. The protector, your healers and I, we have to stretch ourselves around the whole planet. I will not allow them to harvest our people at will. Cherine, can you maintain your link to me while I remain here?*
*Not all the time, but I will get help, I think Dommi might nearly be ready. Maybe the son of Tasso and also maybe Natalie. I will also teach all of them to bring out their healers and send them to you. Why send your healer to us? It is the strongest, the most knowledgeable. Let it stay and help you.*
*No!! If anything happens to any of you, of any of the circles, my healer can help - none of your healers have that ability. Think love...anybody dies now, there can be no World to hold them. Those parasites are bound to break through and feed off souls. I will not have one of ours meet that fate.*
*Robbie, we dare not let your body die. Maybe your strength here is your link to your body.*
I thought of the cord and how the void attacks if the cord is broken. *Good point Sam. Okay, take it home, call for help from the doctor. She should be able to help maintain it with the assistance of my healer. Go now - they are coming. Get me the healers, quickly.*
*Keep ours Robert. We will send the others. I love you.*
*And my strength is your love for me, from all of you. Tell Wendy, she need not fear, the protector is on our side this time, I will live to hold her sweet body to me. All of you. Christ!! The old man, Socrates…and Savva, teach them, as fast as you can. We need all the help we can get. Go!*
The girls saw the green cloud swooping down on us and they rushed off to get me the help I needed. I interfaced with the protector/healers. I outlined the need to protect the planet once we have the assistance of more healers. However, at this moment it was important we look to surviving this first attack.
We had stretched out to almost a thin gauze, a curtain, or like a net thrown across the river to catch and contain small fish. I felt our tactic was wrong. We shrank into a small concentrated ball of brightness. The mass mind, if that was what it had, must have seen this shrinking as a reaction of fear and swooped down on us, covering us in a thin layer of green stinging biting sparkles. We fought while I kept my senses tuned to what is going on outside. Soon as I realised we are in the center of the attacking cloud I gave the order. Our attack was an explosion of size, scattering and breaking them up. We were writhing in agony, but we were also able to claim tens of thousands of their sparkles as they dispersed. They re-gathered in a cloud at a good distance from us.
There still seemed to be millions of them scattered around when I saw Cherine appear. In a panic we rushed for her, a tendril reaching out and getting a sparkle that was diving for her. We enveloped her and as she melded I saw how we were strengthened. We were still fighting - thousands of them would concentrate in a dive, but it was as if they were testing us, trying to learn what our strategies are. I decided on a change. As one group dived we retreated, opening a deep well for them. As they rushed in we closed over them. Trapped within us they stung and tried to rob us of our essence while the protector imploded/exploded them
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Cherine explained that days have gone by and she cannot stand seeing me wasting away. She wants me to return for a day while she stays, so as to help my body recover. She had brought with her another six healers who were even now being shown by her healer how they can help the protector.
I saw we were in control of the situation and I judged it would take a while before they attacked en masse again. It distressed me to see them still picking at the souls of the newly dead. I pointed it out to Cherine, but she replied that their fate is no worse than that of being consumed by the void. I prayed that she was right and reluctantly returned to my body.
Even with the help of my healer it took an hour or so to fully recover. I realised the damage is not normal. The healer confirmed that the damage comes from the stings of the sparkles and the energy I have been expending in our fight.
“What is it like Robert?”
“Their sting is as painful as the sting of acid, Dommi. Luckily the effects are not as bad, though they are draining us of our energy. The main mass is staying out of reach while they attack in the thousands, or hundreds of thousands. I would guess the plan is to weaken us until the main cloud can come in safely. If they are planning this, it suggests they have met resistance before. I hope not. I hope the aliens are right. They outweigh us too strongly for us to fight them if they are intelligent and capable of planning strategies.”
“Have you come up with any strategies Roberto?”
“I used one trick Alki.” I explained it to him. “I do not think they will allow me to play the same trick again. There must be billions, more likely trillions of them. I cannot keep thinking up new strategies while only killing off a million or two at every attack. We need something more effective or we are lost. They are draining us too fast.”
“Can you break yourself up into a number of spheres?”
“I have no idea Meli. Hold on. The healer says yes. Why?”
“If I was writing this as a story, maybe what I would try is to bluff them. Make it look as if we are getting weaker very fast. Then we break up into a cluster that begins to drift apart. We even allow them to destroy one or two small spheres. They will then attack. Suddenly, when the time is right, you are no longer alone. All of us join you - you said that when Cherine joined you, you became stronger. We will be in their center, but this time, instead of expanding, we send out spikes or nets that capture and kill millions. Could that work?”
“If we were strong enough it just might. Thank you Meli, we will try it. Sam, what are you doing?”
“You have to stay here a couple more hours dad. I am going to join Cherine. She should not be left alone...look at her body, it is weakening faster than yours did.”
Of course I wanted to return immediately, but they all fought me, even Alki and Marian. Socrati had been listening without speaking.
“Roberto, when it is time for you to return, take me with. You can teach me. Then when you have to return here, I can be there to help the young ladies.”
Nicko arrived. He had been and seen me wasting away. Dommi had explained and he had left, troubled, but not seeing a way he could help. Hearing Alki demanding to also come, or at least after Socrati returned, he also volunteered. He then told us of the news being broadcast on all television stations worldwide.
“Over the last weeks, since these green things came, thousands of people have been dying every night in their sleep. It has become a major problem as the same is reported by governments from all around the world. Nobody knows what is happening, what is causing so many sleep-deaths, as they are now calling them.”
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“Shit! I can’t stop them Nicko, not yet. I am not going to refuse the help of anyone. You all know what the aliens said about them attacking Earth? They were obviously speaking the truth and we have to concentrate on stopping them, we cannot allow it to happen. I have been worried that they might send off a portion of themselves to feed while the other half keep us at a distance, forced to concentrate on defending ourselves.”
Rosie said, “We must warn the people.”
Nicko said, “Oh my Rosie, you are so sweet, but I have to tell you, it would not work. Who would believe you? Nobody! Not the governments. And anyway, what could they do?”
I was not thinking clearly, my body still recovering was taking up most of my energy. “Actually I wonder if there is not quite a lot they could do. For instance, I think it is difficult for them to penetrate our atmosphere. Maybe even a good thunder and lightning storm could kill them. If people stayed indoors it might help.”
Nicko insisted, “Robert, even when the government knows there will be a terrible earthquake, they do not warn their people. They think the panic would kill more people than the earthquake. More important, if they warn the people and a few hundred are killed in the panic, but then the earthquake is not so bad, they will be blamed. They cannot be blamed for the deaths from an earthquake. You think they would look at this in a different way?”
Alki forcefully said, “Nicko is right. Something else, even if they believe you, what do you think would happen? They would say you do not have the proper military training. They would place you under the orders of idiots who know nothing about the void. Forget about warning the people and exposing Cherine, this is our battle.”
Sadly I gave up that hope, for the truth is, the responsibility terrified me, but allowing others to lead a fight they know nothing about terrified me even more. “Alki, I fear you are right. Come Socrati, it is time, I cannot wait any longer, I have to go, something is about to happen.”
“One moment dad.” I looked at Tina. She smiled nervously. “You all say I look like a gypsy. Maybe we need the cunning of gypsies. Why are they not attacking Earth yet? If they are mindless insects, is it not because they are lured on by something that attracts them more powerfully? I think they are trying to get past you to the alien Worlds.”
“What are you saying Tina? That we let them?”
She flushed with anger. “You do that and I will never respect you again! Dad, they are like lambs with no power to defend themselves. That should not stop you from listening and thinking. Maybe, if I am right, the knowledge will help you create another strategy.”
I swooped on her, threw her up in the air and as she returned to my arms I kissed her. “Thank you my darling daughter.”
I quickly lay down and moved, drawing Socrati with me. We emerged into the protector.
I was right. A small cloud, no larger than a solar system was racing towards us. The rest were splitting into four and racing to bypass us on our flanks. Their distance gave me a short time to think, but I did not have long.
Cherine, Sam and Socrati tried to help, but there did not seem to be an answer. In frustration Cherine shouted at us, wishing she could bring a giant vacuum cleaner and suck them all up. We laughed, but an idea came. I called to Sam to go back, to bring as many of them as she can get, we need to dance. That girl of mine, she is remarkable. She must have thought I had gone nuts, broken under the pressure, and yet she dashed off and did as I told her.
Fifteen of them returned. I told Cherine to gather the little ones and Dommi, they must form our Kaleidoscope World. She recalled the words of the alien, reminding me how vulnerable our World would be. I answered, ‘exactly’, and she raced off to the center of us, pulling the girls with her. They danced, blazing in their glory and exploded into our World. I enveloped it. I called to the others, some to join us, adding their strength, and others to dance and blaze as they have never done before.
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The damn things were insects. Or had the same reactions. They all closed in, swerving from their paths. I told the dancers to be ready to return to their bodies instantly on my command. I reached in and contacted the I .
*I Robert am in command, you will obey me during this time of war.* The I agreed. *You too will disappear upon my order, release the parts within an instant and they must return immediately to their bodies. No exceptions.*
I got Socrati, Nicko, Keith, Alki and Sam to form globules of concentrated energy from the protector and we became a wheel with five spokes radiating out from me, spinning at high speed. Soon as I saw it was too late for the Sparklers to change course I gave the order and our World and the dancers disappeared.
I did not wait. Spinning we attacked, moving forward at great speed. I knew that our molecular structure must be almost non-existent in earthly terms, but the Sparkles were no denser. We ploughed into them and through them like an ethereal scythe and killed tens of millions even as the rest were spun out into the darkness. When we came out the other end, still spinning, I swung us around and returned, placing us back in place as guardians of the direct route to the alien Worlds. Mindlessly the Sparkles swarmed back to their distant position, re-forming their green cloud. This was further confirmation for me, if they were intelligent, they would not have returned from the distances we had thrown them behind us and would have continued on their way to the aliens, their target.
My mind was deafened by the mental whooping, shouting and glee of the others. I had not looked, being more preoccupied with analysing the Sparkles. I saw now, the cloud ‘seemed’ almost visibly slighter smaller than it had been, though I could not be certain that I was not just seeing what I wanted to see. Even as I sent them an image of my stupid grin, I sensed Cherine re-establishing her link. I relaxed, it meant that her body had not been too badly damaged for my healer to cope with.
I made sure they each took turns returning to their bodies. It was Dommi who came to force me to return, to take my time off. My body was in a bad way. I lay without moving, a dozen hands massaging me as my healer worked on me.
Usually I could expect a hot chicken soup. This time Claudia shouldered her way through them with a double mug of coffee and cigarettes. They all protested, Cherine upset more than the others, this going against her instincts. With help I sat up and gratefully took the coffee and waited as Claudia lit the cigarette for me. As all non-smokers do, she thoroughly wet the filter tip, but I did not mind.
“I sense elation. We have not won yet. What is the saying, you can win a battle and still lose the war. Every time they take a breather, they are able to feast on more souls while we stand by watching. With the energy from those souls they are building up their numbers again.”
Alki was feeling jubilant and emoting his pride. “It is not the battle we won. It is not who wins the war. Robert, you have shown we are true humans. We fought against impossible odds, as we will continue to do, and not just to save ourselves, but to help aliens who would not even stand by us as we fight for them.”
“Is that what you truly think Alki? I thought I was the dreamer, the artist. I am sorry to puncture your balloon. We are fighting to save ourselves. The Sparkles know we are here. If we let them through, they would consume the aliens and return at least twice or three times as strong. Then we truly would lose the war. We cannot allow them to consume any more souls, nor allow even one of the Sparkles to survive. If even one of them does, there may be another cloud of them again within our future. If that happens, we will be vulnerable, as I am hoping we will someday have thousands of Kaleidoscope Worlds existing permanently in the void, as the aliens do.”
I felt the effect of my words on them and was regretting them. It was only necessary that I know, I should not have deflated them. As I desperately tried to think of something to say to inspire their confidence again, Nicko moved from the back of the room and stood in front of me.
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“Robert, I have known you as a kid, grown up with you. You were a sad little weakling that I befriended and protected, many times without you knowing. That familiarity caused me to feel a contempt that made it difficult for me to understand why men like Alki stood by you, acknowledging you as their leader. I envied these beauties you have gathered to yourself and wondered what they saw in you, could not help thinking that if they knew what a real man like myself is, they would not be with you.
Even the battle we fought together in the void, it did not rid me of my sense of superiority, my feeling that I too could have done as well or better if I had been in charge; after all, hindsight makes all ideas seem obvious.
All this until now. Your comment shot through me like a spear. I saw the many times you have shown yourself to be far greater and better than I could ever be, I saw what they all had been wise enough to see long ago. Only a great man would have rejected the praise and adoration and said what you just did. Robert, I greet you now as my true leader and never will I doubt you again.”
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 has grown soft in the head.
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.”
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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 are 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.*
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*Yet the Sparklers find you again. Is it because there are so many clouds of them, or are they able to track you?*
*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 - and I liked that he showed the courage to say it at such a time. 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.
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*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’.*
I teased back, *You have really disappointed me. I thought for a while that I was so lucky, that I have a special and lovely daughter who loves me as a father.*
Earnestly she answered, *If I should leave and there is a battle and you are killed, are those the words you want to leave with me to remember you by?*
*God that was a low blow Sam.*
*No it was not. Every time I leave here it is with that fear.*
*It was still a low blow. If you have that fear then you should not play with me. In answer to your question, yes, I would want you to remember me by those words, for you would say to yourself, he loved me so much he could even make that kind of joke because he knew that I knew how much he loves me, and you would feel the warmth of my love still burning within you.*
*You have a combination of the Irish and Paphitiko gift of the gab. Why didn’t you pass it on to me? I can see I am going to need it when dealing with you.*
It was good to laugh, even without a body. *I give you great beauty and an amazing mind and you are still not happy?*
*You actually seem to enjoy it here. I think you love being in the void.*
*Damn and damn and damn!! I cannot believe how stupid I have been. Get Cherine to return here as soon as she can.*
Cherine appeared, but kept quiet as I was trying to puzzle it out. I gave up and sent her my question. I reminded her of Ydra, of our return and the time I told her I wanted to return to the void someday as it held great power. I had grown to think I had meant the dancing. I had been stupid. I had not listened to myself. She paid me the compliment of not getting pissed off for the urgent summons and gave it thought.
*I can’t see what you mean about there being power. I thought ‘void’ means absence of…everything.*
*You want power? Tell me, where does the power come from to create our Kaleidoscope World? *
*I thought it came from us.*
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*I do not think so. How can we become greater than we are, the energy has to come from somewhere. I think we tap into something when we implode and the World appears out of a worm hole. Our World is something far greater than the sum of our parts.*
After a while she disappeared but returned quickly. She had thrown the problem at Themi and Keith.
*I am bored Cherine. Would you like to dance? With the protector and thirteen healers, I do not think we would be in any danger.*
*We are sitting facing the greatest enemy mankind has ever known and you are bored? Actually, it would be sort of exciting to dance, just the two of us under our own green stars.*
I truly pity all those people who do not have a Cherine in their lives - and it sometimes scares me to think what she will be like as an adult. Our soul dance, for the first time ever, was languorous, seeming to last forever as we followed an internal rhythm and if we’d had bodies it would have been called sensual. At first we skimmed past and around each other, not even a stray mote touching, but teasing, achingly close.
When our first swirling that brought the contact happened, it was but an exchange of only a handful of motes and yet the reaction was like an electric shock, pulling at us to dive and meld into one. The outer glow of us was made up of motes of love and we danced in orbits that swung away and then back to the point of a light touch, a caress of love. Both of us drifted within an erotic dream, the exchanges of love simulating (προσομοίωση) our exchanges of scent, saliva and other nectars of lovemaking.
Our coronas grew pregnant with motes received from the other and we sank deeper, our orbits tighter as we yearned for the ultimate exchanges that would bring us into the loss of self and the creation of one being. We knew to hold back from that self-defeating union, but the ache, the desire became the dance and our reason for existing.
We may have continued, lost in each other, forever, if the protector had not called to me. We saw family and friends had joined us.
There was a general confusion. A demand to attack held back by puzzlement. A small portion of the cloud had driven itself to within close proximity and had then fixed itself within an orbit that did not approach closer. We watched for a time and then I decided to try an experiment. There was an immediate howl of protest.
Cherine quietened them. She asked me why and I had no answer, except for the fact that I wanted to. She pointed out the dangers, as if I had not thought of them. When she saw I would not change my mind, she decided she is coming with me.
*Cherine, they are here for a reason. This is the first time they have approached without trying to feed or attack. Not that I think they see it as an attack, their purpose is to get past us to feed off the aliens. They probably, if they have a mind, see us as the attackers. War should never be conducted without continual attempts to understand the other side and to negotiate. They made the first move, we must reciprocate.*
*Think Robert. What brought them here? Was it our dancing? If so, then both of us should go out together.*
*Never!! I will not put you at risk.*
*And I. I will not allow you to put yourself at risk, we all depend on you. If they kill you we are all dead. Not just us, all of mankind.*
I had to give in. If she was right about our dancing bringing them, then it was necessary for her to be with me. We drifted out of the protection of the protector, remaining close but far enough for them to see we had exposed ourselves to them.
There was a swirling within the cloud that almost sent us scuttling back for protection. Slowly the cloud parted, creating two clouds that orbited each other. I would have pulled back, thinking they were parting for the purpose of targeting us separately, but I noticed an oddity. The one cloud was no longer the same green as the other. It had a more yellow-green hue, a sort of rich lemon colour.
650
We watched, fascinated as they recreated our dance, even to the point of exchanging Sparklers as we had exchanged our motes of love. They went further. The final act of their dance was to meld back into one cloud.
Cherine condensed herself into a sphere, veins of colour shooting to her surface as she tumbled around and then she danced in an orbit, circling me without touching. I drew myself in, till I too was a sphere and danced. I told her to come into me, careful to keep herself from touching or melding. She did so and we became one to the outside world. I told her what I planned and she was ready.
We snapped back to our bodies, leaving a dark emptiness where we had been and returned again as two separate beings, dancing around each other again.
They were like a disturbed swarm of hornets, flashing as they roiled within their cloud and then they receded and returned to their main formation in the distance. Fascinated we watched as the main cloud tumbled with explosions of streamers of Sparklers arching out and returning. Again they parted and a cloud of them dived for the lights of the souls of mankind on Earth.
Without any hesitation Cherine and I sped to a position below them, dancing wildly our interference. The protector had been torn by indecision, obeying my order to stay where it was, while being ordered by the others within it to follow us. The diving cloud of Sparklers continued their dive in our direction till, at the last second, they pulled up in front of us. A Sparkler shot out and approached. I sent a tendril, mostly motes of love from Cherine and I, to within close proximity of the Sparkler. It touched the motes and we felt the searing acid pain as our motes were absorbed. The Sparkler waited, but I was not about to repeat that performance.
There was no movement. It seemed to me we had reached an impasse, that there was something we or they had not understood about the other and now neither of us knew what to do. It turned out I was wrong.
The Sparkler pulled back, leaving in the space it had occupied the motes it had taken, though they now had a greenish cast. Carefully I extended a tendril and touched them, tasting their oddness. They stung slightly and had lost their quality of love. Cherine was scintillating with her anxiety and I calmed her. I kept the green motes close to the tip of my tendril, not allowing them to become part of the heart of me. I would need to know more about them first, before taking such a risk.
The Sparklers returned to their main cloud and we thanked them by dancing, a dance of joy that we hoped they would understand. We returned to the protector and found the aliens waiting. They had not entered the protector, waiting for me to return. As they explained, there would have been no purpose to them joining if I had been killed.
They were very confused by the actions of the Sparklers when we told them of all that had occurred. They looked at the green motes I still held and I was asked to give a few to them to return to their World. They wished to examine them and I saw no harm in it. I gave them about half and the rest I asked my healer/protector to examine, see if they can understand what they represent.
The Sparklers continued to absorb the souls of the newly dead but otherwise they kept their distance, no longer attacking those dreamers who visited the void in their sleep. There were no more attempts to bypass us. As the months passed we grew closer to the aliens as we began to understand them and appreciate some of the qualities of their characters. Sam spent most of her time when in the void, with her friend-to-be. When she told us that he no longer is a friend-to-be, has now become a friend, I accepted it. After all, I knew this friendship will last at least a couple of hundred years, or else Samantha's motes would not still have had his taste in them.
As time passed, I began to allow the others to come and dance. They stayed within my protector and often a group of Sparklers would approach to watch. Sometimes they too danced, so that they looked like green reflections of what was happening within the protector. I ventured out more often, with or without Cherine. When alone, they ignored me. When with Cherine or one of the other girls, we were always met, though no new exchanges were made.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)18th April, 2019
* posted on Steemit: 18th April, 2019
@nikosnitza
If you wish to have your name added above, I would be honoured.
