Little Cherine Book 04 - BPost033

“One thing struck me, Robert. All the buildings, in the majority, that seemed to be dwellings belonged to two categories only. Having been to Earth and seen the differences, this struck me as being of importance. The two categories were very similar, the one only slightly more comfortable than the other.”

Previous: Book 04 - Post 032

2421

We had all seen pictures of the humans, worked out their sizes and under it all we saw that even the differences were less important than the similarities. That made it scarier for us. It made us realise that this could happen to our Earth.

Over the days the information we garnered grew, though not our understanding. They had obviously been a vital people, their art was just as beautiful, even if strange to us sometimes. We found no literature though. How could this be? There were art galleries, but no libraries. They had what we thought were sports stadiums, we found bars and yet their eating places were dreary looking places. We found the unmistakable signs of a strong military presence. Every street, every block, had a number of cameras; internally, the buildings had cameras and doors still showed signs of the security systems. These Robbie examined and then the Anadir scientists. They came to the same conclusion. They were computerised and an iris scan was needed which had to agree with data in the computers for the doors to open.

Those who visited the wild areas, so as to examine the various lifeforms, reported that the variety is abnormally low, so Robbie decided that the civilisation, at some time, had extended so that it covered their entire planet. As their numbers decreased, he thinks they tried to re-seed the wild, so that it reverts to what it used to be before their species became dominant.

Everywhere we went we were hounded by the machines and we were also attacked by them. Robbie went into a rage and finding the central computer that still ran them, supplying most of the intelligence they needed, he disabled them, making them drone around like lost bumblebees. That night he explained and apologised.

“I will wait for as long as you need to stay. Soon as you have the information to make up your own minds about why they died out we will leave. I will not be joining you on planet again.”

“You have the answer already Robert?”

“More of an intuitive guess, which I suspect comes out of a fear I have.”

“You intrigue us. Will you explain?”

“No. Come to your own conclusions and then I’ll discuss it.”

That night, just us girls with him, he was not so reticent. “All the signs are there. I may be reading my own fears into what I see, but I think not. The first clue was the lack of libraries, or should I say, proper libraries. We found small depositories of books on their computers, but it was all saccharine stuff; no philosophy, no stories that examine the soul and mind, just stupid shallow stories. They were obviously intelligent, so the first thought was, why? I think their government got rid of all books that encouraged their people to think for themselves.

The dwellings were another clue. Apart from a handful of what we would have called mansions, built on what must have been enormous estates, all the rest belonged to one of two categories. I suspect again that they were split according to the role they played. The enforcers of the law and the sheep.

Isn’t it sickening girls? Here I am, I’ve spent hours on warning you, like some typical fuddy-duddy about how I see things going on our world, the growing number of laws to protect us from ourselves, the growing dependency on governments to decide everything for us and our apathetic reactions to having our rights violated and removed, for our own safety, we are told. Now I find myself face-to-face with the results of what I feared and I cannot bear it.”

“I don’t understand Roberto, they must have had a farming community, miners and so on. Surely they would have been a hardier breed? They could not be controlled as tightly as people in a city are.”

“In the old days Dommi, people on farms were hospitable, did not fear strangers. As the cities became worse, life there would not be worth living for those who wanted to be their own person, so they would have spread out into the countryside. I think it would have been easy for the government to convince them, the farmers, that they needed to be protected. Anyway, as the farms become more automated, working according to economies of scale, the governments would have forced everyone to live in the cities, where they can be controlled.”

Cassie told us, “The Anadir are examining a possibility which does not make sense, Robbie. They think the majority of the world population, before they retreated to their three centres, died of starvation! It does not make sense, for this is a lush world with lots of plant life, yet hardly any of them are edible - for the locals. How could life evolve that way?”

2422

Meli distracted him from answering, by adding, “Perhaps it is not only the universe that cannot escape entropy Robbie. It could be true for all species too, however great their civilisation.”

“That has been agreed by all Meli mou. It is why I have so desperately been trying to bring together as many species as possible, binding them by love and not by political treaties and needs. With friends and allies like the Sparklers, for instance, who are used to thinking in terms of millions of years, perhaps they will be able to help drag us out of our own entropy when we face it. By becoming a thorn in their side I have tried to ensure that not only do they return to a more vigorous way of thinking and living, but also are there to help us when we need them.”

Every time I think I have grown, see myself as possibly someday becoming what he wants me to become, he humbles me. He encompasses within his vision tomorrow, a hundred years from now and…a million years! How can I learn to think like that? It is not the ability to think like that which is so difficult; it is the ability to care about what may happen in some dim distant future and care enough to plan for it from now.

We left that system very soon, after we had shown the machines the planets and explained (once the Anadir and Sparklers had agreed to the causes of their death). The cause? They mostly died of starvation and malnutrition, for even what they did have for eating, was chemically created or treated. Robbie was right, they can serve as an example, if we are willing to think for ourselves, instead of blindly accepting everything our media tell us, just because they state that some scientists said it is so.

I must record here what the Anadir learnt about this world, for Robbie was not as close to guessing the complete truth as he’d thought - at least, not in the details, and in something as important as this, I feel the details are even more important, for they might help us save our own people. I say this, for I see what happened to them already happening on Earth.

What first shocked the Anadir so that they committed themselves to searching out the truth, is that they learnt that from a planet filled with people with a variety of vibrant societies, all rapidly growing their technology and economies, within less than twenty years they destroyed themselves, so that the few who were left died out within the next century.

They had to search for privately hidden books and found history books and articles, with the last of them dated just five years before the great collapse. Luckily a few of the articles provided facts plus some conclusions and theories with regard to the planned destruction of their world.

No, the destruction was not planned by aliens who had secretly infiltrated their world - even though there were those who claimed it was so. It had been planned for by the wealthy and powerful of their own species - with the true leaders being the financiers (they also have banks and financial institutions; as the Anadir told us, many species evolve their economies along lines similar to ours).

Those who created and implemented the plans considered themselves to be a species apart, superior to the common people. In a sense it could be said that they were right, for any people who hand over their freedom and future, and that of their children and future descendants, are deserving of the contempt with which they were viewed by their own community and national leaders.

The Anadir explained that many species have started in the same manner ours did - they themselves did not evolve in this way, which might explain why they survived to grow out into space and also gave importance to philosophy and ethics, which led them in a healthier direction.

Here is how it starts (I’ll write of this species as mankind, since that is also what they called themselves):

They evolved from animals and in the beginning they only gathered as families. Then families found it expedient to join forces and they became tribes who lived in villages. They chose or allowed the most powerful to be their leaders, thus setting themselves and all their descendants in the mindset that there are those who are leaders and must be obeyed, and thus are above the rest of the tribe.

Villages became towns and cities, and tribes became nations. Nations became empires. The larger the society and the populations, the higher their leaders were elevated, so that they not only considered themselves superior, but at various times in their histories, were worshipped as gods.

During this time their leaders were only able to conspire, scheme and plot to conquer their neighbouring countries. But then the big change came about. The first steps were taken in developing technology for mass production and suddenly new ideas and inventions flourished at an ever faster rate.

2423

At the time of technology still taking its first steps, the power structure had already changed without most of mankind realising the truth. Throughout the preceding centuries, governments, princes and kings, all found on an occasion that they needed to borrow from the financiers and in return, as they thought of it, they had to pay for them with not only interest; they had to oblige with a small stream of unimportant seeming concessions.

I admit to a certain admiration for those who considered themselves the elite. Even as the first machines were developed, the financiers were already extrapolating and examining where the changes would take mankind - and how they can use it for growing ever more powerful.

They grew even wealthier and with certain laws passed to their advantage, they avoided having to pay taxes. Some in government may have resented their immunity, but I imagine the answer would be something simple, such as, ‘pay us what you owe us and we’ll pay taxes’. No government was willing to cripple itself, so they turned a blind eye to all the elite were doing and to their ever widening loss of power - when a government cannot govern according to their own or the interests of their citizens, but must do so according to the wishes of a small and secret group, any power they consider is theirs, is only thanks to the small self-deceptions the elite permit them to indulge themselves with.

Long before it became obvious enough for scientists and other men of learning to recognise what was happening, the elite did. They saw that the world population is increasing day by day and they began to prepare for the day they must rid the world of at least eighty to ninety percent of all the people. Why could they not do this earlier, why did they not persuade their governments to impose controls on the birth rate through a scale of taxation, before having to take such drastic steps and causing so much intense suffering? Because they were practical and knew that before they can achieve the technology needed for them to survive in comfort, they must have a large and growing population (market), so that companies can grow big enough to spend immense sums on developing new products and weapons.

On one matter I am not clear on how it happened. Within the early part of them taking over the economies of all the nations, their existence and plans were leaked out to the general public. Those who made the information public were not attacked. They were ridiculed. What I do not know is whether it was the elite themselves who leaked the information, using ineffectual dreamers so that they can make it seem that no sophisticated intelligent person should want to be identified as part of those who are warning of the dangers to all mankind. As a matter of fact, they convinced the public, through ridicule, that they should not even consider the arguments put forth, not even the proven or provable facts. On our world they are called ‘conspiracy theories’, but on this world they were called traitors and were charged with planning to destroy civilisation.

Since the public found themselves confronted with the choice of believing either those who provide them with jobs and lend them money, who help by building hospitals, an education (indoctrination) system for their children and other social cushions for helping the unfortunate, or else, with believing those who only demand they rebel because of their theories - since most never bothered to read what the threats are and what evidence there is to back these claims, they tended to believe their leaders who told them that the charges are untrue and not based on facts.

It seems the world populations reached a ‘target’ number and as their technology provided them with all they needed, the elite began to take the first concrete steps for ridding themselves of the unwanted billions. They had drugs developed that were supposed to help the mentally ill, and kept on broadening the definition of who the ill are, but at the same time they clouded the minds of those who used them and made it difficult for them to think. Of course they charged for these drugs and their pharmaceutical companies grew not only immensely wealthy, but also powerful, for they had the leverage to influence and buy the influence of those who needed financial backing during their efforts to become leaders of their governments.

Of all the manoeuvres, the most obvious one, which should have sent alarm bells ringing, was their program to genetically modify the base foods upon which the entire population of the world depends. Any cautious person, using commonsense, should have asked themselves, ‘what will happen if the new and untried genetically modified foods fail? How do we survive? How do we feed our children?’.

With the excuse that the genetic modifications are for ensuring increased yields, or to reduce the susceptibility to various diseases, they used their influence with the governments to have laws passed so that they reached the stage when over seventy percent of the world population was eating food grown from their modified seeds and then they announced a worldwide crop failure due to some new strain of bacteria or insects and so on. They reassured the public that they will have to tighten their belts, but they’ll survive until the newly modified crop comes in. It was as they said it would be and though a few hundred million died, the majority proudly claimed a victory and that their efforts, commonsense and self-discipline has seen them through a difficult time.

2424

Then they announced that the next crop also failed. There were no reserves now and those that starvation did not kill, various newly released strains of bacteria and viruses decimated.

The elite planned for a few hundred million of those not belonging to their group to survive so that they can do the work. They ended up losing over half of those they had wanted to preserve, for finally a large number of them rebelled, or their spirit was broken and they committed suicide.

The rebellion was fuelled by the need to survive without becoming enslaved, but also by what I call the ‘dog in the manger’ anger. It was now known that the elite kept naturally evolved seeds for themselves and their lackeys and when they planted them, a rage swept through the people and they blindly destroyed everything they could, include the heavily defended farms.

Within four years the elite group collapsed and as I mentioned, over the next century their species became extinct, only their robots and computers surviving.

We all listened to the Anadir describing the causes for the destruction and extinction of an entire species and there was a heaviness in all our hearts. Most of it was caused by our gift of empathy, but a small corner of our hearts was fixated on the fear that something like this can happen to our own planet - for we too have seen the same strategy being implemented. I won’t comment on what my loves felt, but for myself, I admit to feeling sickened that though I consider myself intelligent, I had, until recently, allowed myself to be blinded to what is happening to our planet and people and even when I’d learnt the truth, I did not take it seriously enough for me to be determined to do something to save our world.

Sol asked Robbie, “Can the Cherinians prevent the same happening to the Terrans? The little I know of your people already enables me to foresee that such a cleansing of billions of lives will destroy those who commit the crime. Neither they nor their descendants will be able to live with such an enormous burden of guilt.”

Robbie never hides the truth from us, so he spoke his real thoughts. “It could be touch and go…if, on returning, we begin a crash program of linking as many as we can from all over our world, and we have to rely on them, I would say we cannot prevent it happening - there would not be enough of us for the governments to fear us. However, there are other actions we can take. For instance, what if we start an urgent program for growing our crops in other realities and when they announce the failure of their genetically modified crops, we announce that we have enough naturally grown crops and make them available to all the masses, excluding only the armies…no, we’ll have to supply all without favour, but we must not allow the governments to be the distributors, with the help of hundreds of millions of Anadir and Sparklers, we can make our deliveries directly.”

Dommi suddenly spoke, her voice determined, but also coloured by a savage glee. “Those hundreds of millions of volunteers, they must not be present only for the delivery of food. They must also become known as Cherinians and let the governments think they are Terrans. With a billion of us and with our popularity with the masses, we will be a force they will have to worry about.”

Robbie waited a minute or so, just in case someone else had something to add and then he spoke, “I am pleased that not one of you asked that we make a display of power to frighten them. The world may see all of you as children, but you have already proven yourselves to be more mature than them. I’m proud of you, my loves.”

With our ability to travel in time, time becomes flexible for us, but psychologically, our delay in studying the extinct species left us feeling we have dawdled, so Robbie now moved faster. He also feels that at the rate we have been travelling we could take hundreds of years and is impatient. Soon as the fire-world left a system he would estimate the direction and jump us there. If he had made a mistake we would return and try again. We are now finding planets and the fire-world a number of times per day. Even the scientists do not complain, they see they already have enough new wonders to puzzle out over a century and are also eager for us to reach the beginning or birth time of the fire-world.

2425

Mr ‘A’, though obvious, I had not thought of checking the fire-world!! Thanks. If it has grown smaller it is not by enough for us to see the difference. That means we are still in the early part of our trip!!

Your comment regarding the prophesy caused much excitement and Sam was deeply touched by you making a point of mentioning her by name. All my loves say they trust you and are pinning their hopes on you. I should be more cynical I suppose, but I feel the same way. We have been gone from Earth for nearly four months now; four days their time. If we include the time needed for preparing to leave, it is roughly one year later, which explains why Cherine and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary.

When we learn how to find you, we will do all we can to help your people. Won’t that be amazing Mr ‘A’, for us to be able to say that you imagined us into existence and we were able to help your people?!

Next time, if you can, please tell us how you are getting on…personal information, that does not betray you, is always appreciated.

* * * * *


I see Sam has been skipping all the days when we do nothing, just lounge around being a family, my loves studying or playing and we spend warm gentle nights of loving each other. I sympathise, it gets difficult to write much of small happinesses, even though they accumulate and grow into one large happiness that sweetens our hearts.

We have also taken a tour of our spaceship-world and I was upset to find in one part that trees are dying. Perhaps I chose trees that need a different climate or they lack something which I did not know of. Once the area is clear I’ll replant with shoots from trees that grow successfully here. I notice that pines grow well and in certain areas so do Eucalyptus, but I would prefer to have a larger variety, such as elms and oaks, beech, aspen, teak and ebony trees, if they’ll grow here. We also want to grow a much larger variety of fruit trees, especially fruit like tamarillos, paw-paws and maybe, if possible, cocoa beans, which are not only good for us to eat, but also contribute to fruit salads and even normal salads (tomato, onion etc.).

Aganthi is experimenting with our eucalyptus trees, trying to extract the oil. I’m not aware of why she wants it though.

We have visited the Anadir within their own eco-niche, but mostly meet them at the taverna. It also gives everyone a chance to swim and lie on the beach - yes, the Anadir are also swimming, but I don’t think the Sparklers will want to, even when using material bodies.

The girls insist they want me to swim and when I told them I do not enjoy cold water, they insisted I warm it. I cannot of course. There would be too much condensation. I have formed a small pond which has warm water and I join them there as often as I can.

Candy wanted to know why we do not have any frogs. I explained that as far as I know they need mosquitoes and flies to thrive and I did not want either of those insects. Bees I have plenty of - I am curious what their honey will taste like. I’ll find out in a few months. Perhaps I should have brought a few dragonflies, as I like them.

2426

In a dense part of the galaxy I achieved a new record; we found twenty seven attacked planets at the edge of a spiral and have remained within sight of the fire-world as it travels (backwards) between spirals, which I guess means it will take a long time to arrive at its previous victim planets. I am trying to move us as fast as possible and that means I am not able to be as observant of my loves as I wish to. I am starting to think that there will not be as many inhabited planets as I’d hoped for. We have found just over one thousand. Without viewing their deaths, just the thought of so many worlds, so many people dying, it makes me feel sick. What kind of creature could plan such a monstrous plan of extermination?

I’ve taken over again. Not a good idea letting Robbie write. He becomes more introspective and suffers, which means we all do.

It is weird to think that there is a man somewhere who thinks I am only a part of his imagination, a creature without substance, and yet he sends me messages that he loves me! Mr ‘A’, when we meet, I think I will love you very much.

The Anadir say that being able to examine the universe from different angles, at distances countable in lightyears, has forced them to re-think a number of theories they had - they also say many of the Earth theories about our universe are wrong. I think it must be interesting being a scientist; it must be wonderful to make new discoveries, to have that sudden burst of excitement when something new is understood.

As my Gina grows within me, I find Irene and Noelle are spending more time with me than all the others. My mother, Diana, also watches over me and my love for her grows almost daily. She seems to think ahead for me and has ensured that I suffer almost no discomfort as my baby grows. She, and the twins, spend hours massaging me - almost worth having a baby just for that! I know that Aganthi also watches over me, but being Aganthi, she is trying to keep some distance, so that the love for my Diana mother grows. Even if she used the gift of my birth mother, she could not hide her love from me, but I do appreciate what she is trying to do for me - and Diana and the twins.

Gina and I have been communicating for some time now and recently she has been talking to the others and Robbie. The day she did I felt him melting inside him and when he said he has stopped the world so that we can go dancing, I was not too surprised. I knew he wanted to meet Gina again. We are not willing to risk imploding, as that could either send us to our World or bring it to us - if the last happened, how could we get it back to our own reality again? We would have to return there to dance and implode, as we dare not let it exist in this reality. Not if we end up fighting a war here.

Gina remembered Robbie and was more than willing to let him hold her. She brought much joy to all of us, at a time that it is so very much needed, and when I saw her drawn to Lucy, I felt it is special and it made me very happy. Lucy is nearly ready to become a Cherinian, she has grown a lot, but she is also the loneliest among us. We all spend time with her, but she is conscious now of the fact that she is not part of us in the ways that count. She has been loved by Robbie, he knows and adores her little body, but still she senses that there is something more she needs. Dancing I suppose has helped her see this. If Gina is to be a close friend to her, I think she will feel closer to us and happier.

We’ve all been trying to find a name for ‘lavender eyes’. We feel she should have a name that suits her, which means we have to find a real fairy name for her. We do not have the internet here so we cannot do a search. I think the closest we have come to finding a name for her is the suggestion by Alexis; she offered ‘Goldi’ which sounds nice and suits her. Cherine and Dommi promised me that ‘Goldi’ will also be daughter of my Gina. Wow!!! I have just turned nine and I’m already looking forward to becoming a grandmother! Poor Natalie - wait till she hears she is a great-grandmother! ‘Goldi’ will be my daughter and granddaughter and to Gina she will be daughter and sister! Just as well this sort of thing is not too important to us. Though it is important to Robbie I sense, even sexually, knowing that he is loving our daughter, made of us, all his loves, will make her very special to him. (Hee-hee, he was reading as I wrote that and started getting an erection). Not fair, he pinched me for revenge.

Chapter One Hundred Thirty Three

After the machine world, Robbie must have set the part of him that witnesses to report anything wildly different, but I can’t guess what criteria he used. He gave a cry and had to jump back a world as he lay on the grass with his knees drawn up in misery. We returned to the time the fire-world was closing in on them.

2427

There was such a strong reaction, Sparklers shooting in and out of our spaceship-world; Anadir hunched in misery as they watched the windows. All us girls tried to cling to Robbie as we cried. Suddenly, as the fire-world attacked, Robbie was fighting to control the machines. Solomon jumped to them to try and explain. It was a chaos of grief for all of us.

To explain. This was a world of beings that are the closest to being Cherinians that we have found till now. They had taken a different direction from us though, one that added to the pain in all of us. They had all chosen to eternally be children.

Their world is temperate, their population small enough to be able to sustain itself without farming. If they used clothing it was only for the purpose of playing or decorating themselves.

We watched as they played, oblivious of death already having claimed them as its own. They looked like tiny koala bears, but their faces were closer in appearance to ours - if we ignored the fact that they did not have ears protruding from their heads. Their eyes are large and almost black with streaks of a brilliant dark blue. Their voices were as the voices of us children. They sounded like a schoolyard, voices calling, chattering, laughing and giggling. No screams of anger or pain, not even when they fell and hurt themselves. They would just sit or lie, looking embarrassed by their awkwardness and their bodies would mend quickly.

They did not seem to have the ability of changing shape or size at will, but they could and did create imaginary creatures of incredible beauty for them to play with. Not that they only played. They took turns doing the work that needed to be done. Food and water had to be channelled to their groups; cooking and preparations of what they seemed to consider delicacies (chocolate and sweet substitutes?). They enjoyed playing with each others’ bodies and sex was something very tender but also joyous. We saw a few of them pregnant and they did seem a little larger, but the difference was not enough to make them look like adults.

When the first flame licked their world and the first of them died, we all screamed with pain. When we saw the rest, all over their world, instantly aware of what had happened and in a panic seeking shelter, Robbie had to will the shell of our world impenetrable, as there was not one of us, of any species, that did not want to go to their rescue. Solomon appeared, quivering with his urgency.

“Robert. Where are their souls!? You must become the void and see what happens to their souls.”

Robbie was busy fighting the machines that were trying to escape their pod. He sent Solomon to them and only once they had accepted they are not to interfere did he leave us.

As the void he watched their souls arrive. He watched as the void flicked them, first trying to send them to their own world and then to other spots of matter. Robbie followed and saw, again and again, that it tried to send them to matter that was enclosed by an atmosphere and had other souls. That meant they were being sent to planets that were soon to be attacked by the fire-world. Robbie quickly returned. He explained.

“I think we all agree that soon as we can, on our return trip, we must stop here, collect the souls and tissue samples. We can set the machines to repairing their world and then back in our time we bring them back. Those who have already died and those who die while we are here will be lost forever. I cannot return us to the time we are here. I will not risk it. So we must leave right now.”

Even as he spoke their world disappeared from our windows and we were jumping to other worlds. Solomon risked jumping while we were moving and told the machines of what we plan to do. That brought them surcease from their own despair and made them determined that we must succeed, we must win our battles so as to return here. Solomon found out that they are still in contact with their people back home and a promise has been given that they will have ready for us billions of specialised machines to do the work.

“It is amazing. They have most of the gifts we have, they can even teleport and yet they have not learnt of the void!”

As Dommi spoke, Robbie was striding up and down, vexed by his own stupidity. We tried reaching out to him, to calm him down, but he would not let us. Cherine did not join us. She stood up and strode up and down with him. As he would turn suddenly so would she. It was almost comical to watch and finally Robbie turned to her.

“What do you think you are doing?”

2428

“You are thinking you have been stupid, that you should have checked what was happening to the souls from the first world we saw dying. That is why you are walking up and down. That is why I am also. I should have thought of it. I am Cherine.” She tossed her head back and gave him a haughty look. He stood there staring at her and as fast as a mamba he reached out and pulled her to him, his face now filled with his laughter.

“Yes, but you are my Cherine!”

She let him hold her a moment and then pulled back. “How dare you!”

“What!!?” He looked more puzzled than hurt.

“How dare you call me your Cherine!!”

He stared at her, totally nonplussed, no words coming to help him. Suddenly he lifted her, raised one leg and put her across it and gave her a play smack. When he put her back on her feet she stood rubbing her bum, pretending he had hurt her and he laughed.

“Cherine, you really are impossible!! After eleven years!? You still hold it against me?”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s not my fault you took so long to make the same mistake.”

I did not reach back into her memories, this was personal and only if they wanted to explain would we learn what they were talking about. Her diversion had worked of course and we were all grateful to her. They did explain and Dommi took Cherine into her arms, smothering her with love, even as she was laughing. Wish I could have known her back then.

Gina is ready to come out to us. We have stuck to the Cherinian six months as I had wanted to communicate with her and she cannot afford the years needed for her to grow up. If we are going into battle, my little girl should know and understand what we are facing and why I am risking her life. She knows by now and has soothed my worries and guilt, so her coming is only a pleasure to look forward to.

We do not have our birthing bed with us, and I will not need it. I had, during pregnancy, only aged myself to about seventeen and my hips are very narrow, so I decided to opt for a caesarean. My wives and their healers have learnt by now what needs to be done; the healers are experienced and when Robbie also sent his healer into me, I lost any trace of fear I may have felt.

I did not feel any pain and it was almost anti-climactic when I saw them holding her above my tummy. It did look messy and I felt squeamish about them seeing me cut open, seeing my insides, but that was only for seconds and I forgot all in the joy of seeing my firstborn. When they put her in my arms she soon latched on to my nipple and I cried when I felt her feeding. I have been present at so many births and still was caught unprepared by the emotional turmoil I found myself in. I know a lot of women on Earth do not breastfeed their babies and I find it amazing. How can they throw away the opportunity to experience these wonderful feelings - even if it does become painful at times. It creates a wonderful sense of rapport that is precious to both mother and child.

Within minutes Gina urinated over me (she had waited for my body to heal first). I heard her voice, chortling with glee, I showered you first! That set everyone off, but this time at least I felt they were not laughing at me, just with delight that my little Gina already has a sense of humour. Robbie is the happiest I think.

The birth was as none has ever been before. My daughter was born under a sky of green stars that watched and welcomed her with great joy. Anadir and Gillian were there too and each in their own way (…oops, nearly said ‘showered’) showed their love and joy also. I so wish her pappou Alki could have also been with us.

I only had her as an infant for nine days, when she decided without warning to join us as a ten year old. She sat on my lap as I cried and only went to the others once I had had my fill of crying, looking at her and filling her face with kisses. My daughter not only loves me, but during our months of contact, she has also grown to be my friend! I had not thought of that possibility while she was in me and had not expected it will fill me with so much happiness.

2429

She has never shown any fear of Robbie, but now she went to greet him shyly. He treated her as if she is a delicate flower and his arms were as tender as his face was. I felt his eyes rest on mine and I looked and held my breath. There was so much love and gratitude in them I could not help crying again. Maybe this crying thing is because of giving birth; I don’t usually cry easily.

For the first time Gina slept with us that night as a girl, though she did not sleep in anybody’s arms, just close by us. I will always carry the picture of her that night in my heart. She looks more like Robbie I think than me and that is what I would want. To see his features on her will serve to remind me every time I see her of the man I love.

We waited for Gina to be one month old before we got together with our healers (and Robbie’s) to create the ova that will become our lavender girl, Goldi. We all agreed that Cherine should have at least a quarter so that she will be the true mother. That night Cherine opened herself to all of us as she never has before so that every touch of his was as a touch directly on our own skin, every thrust within her was within us too and her ecstatic moment of receiving his seed filled us too so that we almost all of us waited for the sacred moment of sperm meeting and entering the egg as if it were happening within us. I only say ‘almost’ because I do not think I should include Robbie, even though he stayed concentrated on sharing with Cherine also. When it happened and the first division occurred, he groaned, “Oh what have I done, she will be too lovely!”

Cherine has already decided that Goldi should be born on the 30th of May, her anniversary with Robbie. It is lucky it worked out that way, for we had not planned it in advance. I can hardly wait for that day. Gina is very amused and Lucy and Noelle are too, once they picked it up from her, to think of herself as becoming a mother when she has never even seen or felt the sperm of a man touch her and she is still a virgin - as she will remain for sometime!

Gina enjoys swimming and taking long tough walks with Robbie. He tells me she does not talk when she senses he needs to be quiet, but the rest of the time he can hardly get a word in. That problem Robbie has written of repeatedly, that most of his loves will not play as children when he is around, it is not true of Gina. She is not fazed by his penetrating eyes, the power that emanates from him, nor does she worry about his expectations. She just feels safe and comfortable having him around and loves him in a strange way. It is as if her love for him is a joy she wants to hug and hold for herself. Luckily he broadcasts his feeling so strongly that I’m convinced it is felt by the Sparklers far above. Not only does she play with the other girls, but also with Robbie himself. She’ll pull his ears or nose, tickle him (lucky girl, she is not ticklish) and encourage Cherine to tease him. My baby has made life fun again for us by bringing back a sparkle to the eyes of our love.

Gina began to conspire with Wendy and Candy and even Candy would not let Robbie take a peek, while all three of them kept on bursting into laughter and then Meli was roped in and she made no secret of her mirth, sometimes looking at Robbie at a meal, in bed or even when he is navigating and bursting into laughter. Robbie gave me a quizzical look or two, but I knew nothing either. I think he is eagerly anticipating sharing the joke. The imps are extremely frustrated and they were warned not to try and peek.

Robbie stopped, out of curiosity and to let the scientists examine the planet, when he found a water-world. Capped by ice and snow at either pole and bright blue water everywhere else it was quite a sight. We watched the people of this world with great interest. Not only had they built a civilisation underwater, but this is the first time we’ve found a planet with two dominant (sentient) species. They were at war and the Anadir told us that it seems to be a war that has no end.

The one of the two species is extremely beautiful; sleek, fast and with colourful markings. Their movements are like watching an underwater ballet. The second species are ugly. They look like they have warts all over them, pointed sharp teeth and about a dozen tentacles. When a battle degenerates to physical one-on-one confrontations, those of the first species nearly always win. They are far stronger and ferocious when fighting.

All of us, even the Sparklers, are attracted to the first species and root for them, to the extent that we are able to take sides, for the killing and wounding we find sickening.

Apropos of nothing, as far as we could see, Robbie reminisced.

“When I found myself with Eddie at his camp, when I had amnesia, I took a walk by myself among the trees. Eddie realised I was gone and came looking for me. I was lost in a world of beauty. I could hear the doves cooing above me and when I caught sight of one, a cool light beautiful grey that did not seem to belong to the brighter or darker colours of the tropical jungle, I would stare at it as if entranced. There were many little monkeys that clambered all over the branches overhead, jumping and swinging between the trees. Ferns around me grew taller than me and I think I was overcome by the variety of life; plant, animal and insect.

2430

Even amongst such beauty I found one flowering plant that grew on a tree so beautiful, so delicious a scent did it give off, that I reached up to cup a blossom to bring my nostrils to it and breathe in the perfume.

Eddie arrived just then and shouted at me to stop. He put his hand on me and drew me away and then angrily told me off for walking by myself. I replied softly that I had not been in danger and I am not afraid of snakes. He told me there are things far worse than snakes. I did not believe him, not with understanding, just with logic I accepted that he is more experienced than I. He then explained about the flower and when he told me that the perfume and beauty of it are for the purpose of attracting me to touch it and if I had done so, the poison on the flower would have entered through my skin and killed me, I flippantly replied that it is then the same as any woman. Underneath though I was terrified; I had been but inches away from death. Thereafter I became more wary and did not walk on my own.”

The Anadir understood, but Solomon was puzzled.

“Are you saying the dancers are the aggressors?” We had named the first species the ‘dancers’.

“Solomon, I can understand the girls, but you too? Have you not watched the two species carefully? Which of the two are more intelligent? The ugly ones I’d say. They are more organised and have developed weapons. The dancers have only very rudimentary weapons. Which species usually initiates the attack? The dancers. What about the badly wounded? The ugly ones take theirs back and if they cannot heal them, they kill them. The others leave their wounded for small predators to kill over a couple of days. The dancers are magnificent and are warriors. The warted ones, they are the defenders and to be honest, if the fire-world was not arriving I would place my bets on the warted ones winning by exterminating the dancers. Take a few hours to watch again, but we have to leave soon.”

He would not stay for us to watch the fire-world attack. The younger ones could not understand how the fire-world can kill this world, but Cherine was crying and when I saw she was recalling her visit to Venice and the seafood restaurant, I knew she too had understood.

A few days later Robbie called our friends for a discussion.

“This is not working. We cannot spend thousands of years backtracking the fire-world. As fast as we are moving we are still in the early part of it’s journey. I have wanted to bear witness to all the worlds that died, but I think we have to now make larger jumps.”

“How would you know where to go?”

“I’ve been keeping a graph and I think I can guess my way back in leaps of thousands of years, even up to a million at a time. Something else has crossed my mind. Perhaps it will make sense to you and it can be explained to me, for I cannot understand.

Surely for a species to let loose such a creature it must have a plan? What species would plan ahead in the millions of years? I had thought that perhaps they have colonised all the worlds available to them in their own galaxy and needed more space. Why such a slow method if that is so?”

Seltwe replied. “We have also considered the matter. We do not think even a species such as the Sparklers, who are able to plan over great lengths of time, would use such a plan. Too many things can go wrong over such a long span. May I present our conclusions?”

“Please.”

“If other galaxies are being affected, then we think each galaxy must have a fire-world - though it is unlikely. For them to believe they could clear a galaxy within an acceptable length of time we also postulate that in their own universe, their galaxy has a small number of worlds bearing life. If we were to create a creature such as the fire-world we would also program it to die soon as it finishes its job. We would only need to watch the tail end that reaches back into our own universe and we would know when the creature died and that would mean we can now begin migrating.”

“Oh Jesus!!!”

“What is wrong Robert?”

“The fire-worlds we killed!! The migration must have started there!”

Next [Book 04] - Post 034

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)

^{13th October, 2019}

• posted on Steemit: 13th October, 2019
  
  
  
  
  

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