Little Cherine Book 04 - BPost034
“Oh Jesus!!!”
“What is wrong Robert?”
“The fire-worlds we killed!! The migration must have started there!”
2431
Whatever seems obvious to Robbie becomes fact for him. He was so upset that he was trembling. Seltwe cut in quickly.
“May I finish first Robert? We also came to other conclusions you may find relevant. One; the attackers must be cowards. They did not want to face their enemies. Two; the fire-world draws a lot of energy. It could be depleting their own galaxy of the energy they need to survive. If they were stupid, they may have allowed it to suck the energy from their own suns. Three; we think their civilisation must have collapsed within the first million years. May we now discuss your own conclusion?”
Numbly Robbie agreed, even as he plotted our fastest return.
Seltwe added, “It seems that most, if not each alternate reality of ours has an adjoining universe of the attackers. That adjoining universe is not an alternate, for it seems to have spawned a different species.” He sat thinking for a moment, hardly aware of us waiting. “Robert, you are trying, as we are, to build up a picture of the enemy out of hints and clues. One of the first clues led us to believe their science is based on genetic manipulation. Have you thought of the reason for any science to develop in that direction, largely to the exclusion of machines as we know them?”
“Not really.”
“We think their universe could be short of metals. Any world with intelligent beings that lacked metals would have to develop biological machines.”
That made Robbie perk up.
“Here is an interesting supposition, though you must please not take it as fact; it is only a wild guess. Imagine a planet that is very low on metals. At least it does not have them in sufficient quantities to mine. Now here is my question. How much metal do you have in your body Robert?”
“Just traces I think. Iron in the blood is one I know”
“Would you be healthy if you did not have any?”
“I don’t know enough…my healer says no.”
“On a metal poor planet all life, including plants, must be in fierce competition for minerals and metals. The body does not return to the soil all the minerals and metals it uses. Even an infinitesimal loss over hundreds of millions of years adds up. Perhaps it is not space they have run out of.”
“Seltwe, with all respect, I am not a creature of the material worlds, but something about your theories seems wrong to me.” Solomon looked very apologetic. “Even if their planets are metal poor, surely it would be easier for them to secure all they need from their own space? I cannot imagine their suns do not have metals. What of those suns that go nova? Would their space not be peppered with metal from them? What about suns that cool down and collapse upon themselves. Surely they would be a source?”
“The technology to harvest that metal would be daunting Solomon.” Robbie nodded his agreement and us girls were amused to see in his mind that he was not agreeing because of any scientific knowledge he has, but because of science fiction novels he has read. “It would be extremely difficult to genetically engineer biological machines that could survive under such conditions.”
Robbie stood up to stretch. He looked around. “This is all fine and I would love to arrive there and find out what the truth is. It does not alter the fact that I killed two fire-worlds in realities that are inhabited. I cannot chase after a fire-world in a reality that is already dead and leave our people without protection. I suggest we return immediately.”
This upset both the Sparklers and Anadir, even me; I felt it was important we first confront the enemy here where we would not be risking innocent lives. When Jade timidly tried to speak she was ignored as various parties tried to make their points. Finally Cherine called out to Robbie, “Robert, since when do you ignore your family?”
Startled he turned to her and everyone went silent. He turned to Jade. “I’m sorry love, you had something to say?”
With all eyes on her now she became afraid, certain that she would be thought foolish and presumptuous for interrupting scientists and grownups, but she was forced to speak. “Dad, we could carry on while you send the protector back to those realities to check if they are being invaded.” She blushed and looked down at her feet.
2432
Robbie stood still, his eyes on her until she looked up. “Would you go with the protector my love? I’d like you to report to me on your findings. The protector may want to stay and fight to save lives if it goes on its own. It will obey you and return if you are with. That means you might be away from us for months. What do you say?”
“By myself?” Her spirit was soaring, ecstatic that he trusted her and accepted her suggestion.
“No. I’d say take Cassie with, but when the two of you are together your impish humour gets the better of you.”
“I promise dad, it won’t. This is important!”
“Your decision then.”
She looked at Cassie and then at Dommi. Dommi stood up and went to her. Cassie stood up also, her face frightened.
“Jade, will you be the protector of my daughter, will you bring her back to me?”
“I…will.”
“Then take her with you. I suggest you take one more person with you. Also a Sparkler and an Anadir scientist.”
“Who?”
Dommi looked around and Aganthi stood up. “I’d better go mother.”
Robbie grinned. “Aganthi mou, are you calling Dommi ‘mother’ or do you mean you better go mother the two imps?”
“Both Roberto mou.”
“All of you, before you leave, exchange memories with us.” He looked at Gina, Wendy, Candy and Meli. “The four of you wait for last. Aganthi, you and the girls, you keep their secret.”
I saw the eyes of Gina as she stared at Robbie and I felt her sweet heart as it soared with love for him. She too is learning she has the best and most thoughtful father in the world.
Things had moved quite a bit too fast for the Anadir and the Sparklers. They had expected a few hours of debate and a child makes a suggestion and is being sent off on a mission of her own before they’ve had a chance to discuss it. They were prompt to offer themselves though. Robbie asked that they agree who travels with Jade between themselves.
“You will not need to fear anything. Jade will watch over you and treasure your lives.”
To the Anadir this went against every instinct of theirs. Little girls are to be guarded, to have a girl guard them!! I’m certain Robbie said it on purpose just to mess around with their minds.
The protector appeared.
“You will take them. I will provide a pod with a stasis sheath for their bodies. Confirm to me that you accept Jade as leader.”
He smiled. “Where she does not conflict with my prime.”
Robbie was silent for a time and when he came to a decision his face was grim, every feature taut. Even Jade nearly cried out. “For the duration of this expedition, Jade is the leader and her instructions will be accepted by you as being prime orders.”
The protector blanched and we thought it would rebel. It turned to Jade who was staring at it with fear. “I accept.”
Even Cherine has never been shown such honour. Dommi protested though. “It is not right Roberto mou. She is still a child, the burden of responsibility you place on her is too heavy!”
2433
“She is a Cherinian.”
None of us will ever forget how Jade felt.
The Anadir and Sparklers silently watched as we exchanged memories. Before Robbie had done so, Solomon stood up and disappeared. Sol returned in his place.
“Me too Robert.”
“You too my love.”
When she was finished and Robbie too had exchanged, the four girls took their turn. The imps, even Aganthi, found it difficult they were laughing so much.
Robbie took Aganthi aside, his arm around her as he spoke to her softly. “Watch over our babies my love. They need someone with your street smarts. I had to give Jade the authority, it will make her strong, but I depend on you to be suspicious of everything and guide her.”
“You must have the biggest flower shop in the world Roberto mou.” She grinned at him as he laughed. “I thank you Roberto, I am honoured to be sent with Jade. She is special.”
His last words were to the protector. “Time your return so that you are back here within hours. I cannot bear to be apart from my loves for too long.”
“If Jade allows it.”
“Aye.”
They left and no one had the heart to continue with the discussion. Everything paled in significance before what Jade is doing. Robbie stood up. “Let us all go to the taverna to eat and drink. It will help make the waiting bearable.”
As we arrived, Cherine took Robbie aside. As they stood on the beach we saw Robbie lift her in his arms and she kissed him.
“I am so proud of you Robert. That must have been the most difficult decision you ever made.”
“I am a lucky man then.”
“How?”
“I know now which is the most difficult decision I’ve had to take and also which was the easiest. Loving you was the easiest.” Boing!! He’d just snared her heart with another string!
She looked at him and frowned. “Robert, you’re scared!”
“I’m terrified. Six years old and she is already on her second important mission. She’s getting to be just as bad as Sam is. They way things are going they’ll soon end up running things and I’ll have to retire to some beach.”
“Can I come with to your beach?”
“Without you there it would not be a beach. Just nasty grains of sand that irritate me by getting into my pants and shoes.”
She laughed, delighted, and they took time to just stand there, his warm arm holding her to him while they felt their love for each other. That love reached out and touched each one of us so that us girls ended up hugging each other too.
As we lounged with bellies full, Robbie tilted his chair back, balancing it on two feet while drinking coffee with a cigarette in his fingers which he allowed to burn at its own speed, sending spirals of smoke to float on the slight breeze, and he decided to do what he does now and then. Robbie, not very often, will out of the blue tell us some anecdote. Usually it is something alarmingly corny or taken out of context so as to make a point the author had never intended. The unpredictability stops us from acting like children and switching him off - not that any of us has even thought of doing so yet.
2434
“Do any of you know about the argument the wind and the sun had?” We saw our friends pay attention and smiled to ourselves. They have not read our fables and myths and enjoy hearing them from us.
“One day the wind and the sun got into an argument about which of them is stronger. Though both of them were gods, they did tend to squabble worse than little children do. As they argued, they looked down and saw a man wearing a tattered long coat walking on a long and empty road. Mr Wind said, ‘I’ll prove I’m stronger by tearing that coat off him.’ And so he huffed and puffed and grit and dust flew everywhere, but the man grabbed his coat and pulled it tightly over his face, with his elbows locked over his chest. Mr Wind began to get angry and so he froze his breath and huffed and puffed until the very earth seemed to freeze. The colder it became the tighter the man wrapped the thin threadbare coat about himself. The poor man was leaning over as he held his coat, trying to make headway against the terrible wind. Finally Mr Sun laughed and said to Mr Wind, ‘my turn to try now.’ Mr Sun then beamed down upon the man, his kindness melting the cold of Mr Wind. Slowly the man warmed up and finally, basking in the lovely warmth, he took off his coat and carried it over his shoulder.”
Robbie pointed his cigarette end at his face and stared into the glowing tip. He took a last puff and ground it out in the ashtray. Everyone stayed silent, waiting.
Solomon chuckled. “Is that it Robert?”
“That’s it.”
“Hmm, so what you are saying is that by the sun feeding the man with energy he won the fight?”
Robbie’s chair fell back onto all four feet as he burst out laughing.
“Solomon, if I wanted the Sparklers to come closer, how should I go about it?”
“You only need to ask.”
“But if I did not want to ask? If I wanted them to want to come closer?”
“You could do something that interests them.”
“I’ve noticed that when you are here and we play music they come closer. We’ve never played a Viennese Waltz for them.” He stood up and bowed to Dommi, offering his hand. As she took it and stood up, music began to play. She stood ready as he placed his arm around her waist, her hand on his shoulder. Holding her other hand they danced for us. Our fumbling bumbling Robbie danced a waltz and Dommi’s skirt flew as she was twirled and swirled and their feet moved together just inches apart. All of us sat there entranced by this side of Robbie we have never seen before. As the third waltz ended, he swung her out from him and bowed to her. As he’d predicted the Sparklers had gathered above us.
“Solomon, let the next ones be for your Sparklers, I’d love to see how they interpret the music and dance to it.”
The Blue Danube Waltz came on and the Sparklers danced just metres above the water before us. How ephemeral their beauty is, the mass movements as they split into two groups and revolve and dance to each other, creating patterns of lights dancing to music! I looked over at Robbie who had tilted his chair back again, his foot resting on the rung of my chair. He had a look that I can only call greedy, tinged underneath with a tiny sadness. I wondered, but kept out of his mind. So much of what he is comes from him being a normal human who became a Cherinian, unlike many of us girls, and he needs these moments when his soul is free to reflect on the path his dreams are carrying him - and us.
The pod appeared, sinking to the ground. Robbie did not move, but the pod opened and the sheath that surrounded the bodies dissolved. Within minutes they stood up and our girls stretched their arms over their heads. Not like children at all, Jade and her team walked over to us. She stood before Robbie.
“Robert, we…”
“Do not tell me, show me.”
She did not cringe, even though she knew that showing meant he and we would see not only the good, but also the mistakes, any silly arguments and so forth. When she had shown us, our hearts swelled with pride, only Dommi and Robbie hiding a secret sorrow at how the girls have matured. Not once had they been the imps. Aganthi had shown more childish pleasure in their trip than the two little ones. Jade had been too weighed down by the responsibility.
2435
They had not found signs of an invasion, even though they had only searched within a couple of light years from the Earths.
“We could not examine the whole galaxy, it would have taken too long and I reasoned that you did not expect us to. Was I right dad?”
“You were right. You have all done well, thank you.”
It was only the next day that he took the three and gently chided them. “I was impressed by how thorough you were. One thing worries me my loves.”
They frowned, trying to guess what they had done wrong. He cupped Jade’s chin and made her look up at him.
“When you reported, you called me dad.” He paused, letting them come to the wrong conclusion. “I sent my daughters out there, not Solomon. How could any daughter of crazy Robert be so serious? Why didn’t you have fun? You should have also enjoyed your trip my loves. Even when you are working, however important it is, you must enjoy it. Being a little irrelevant, naughty or cheeky, even just telling a joke, they are necessary, however important the mission. As a matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say that the more important the mission, the more humour is needed. It helps keep your mind from getting driven into a rut of fear, allows you to look beyond the practical so that you look for the unexpected. Ask Sam, the crazier she gets, the more effective she is. Did you know that for the first years of her life she did not study anything but my craziness?”
In a little voice, Jade said, “I didn’t want to disappoint the protector, make it think you were crazy to trust me.”
“The protector!? My sweet babies, the protector is nothing, just a robot that is still trying to become a human being. If you act out of logic only, it may admire your thinking, but that is all. If however you confound it, act on intuition, then it will not dare compare itself to you, for it cannot do that. It yearns to and with time it will learn. Maybe then we will have to lean more towards logic eh?”
They laughed and he hugged them, murmuring, “I’m so very proud of you girls.”
None of us had noticed, not even Dommi, that in the storerooms below us there is a space without explanation or lists for it. During the trip, not one birthday or anniversary was forgotten and that is where Robbie, with the help of Alki and Marian, had hidden the gifts. Not just from him to us, but also for us to give to each other. The presents from us to him had been chosen by his fellow conspirators and he does not know what are in the packages. That way he has kept all of us happy and feeling special. Another way, is he keeps an eye on us and anything we yearn for he makes sure it is included in the next delivery. It is so weird to think that only eight days have passed for Alki and the others.
During our tenth month he called us to a meeting. Just the family that is.
“I’m looking for an imaginative idea. We need to do something to make Tasso feel good. If it could also involve Tim, so much the better. When we return they must be heroes.”
“How can we do anything from here?”
“That is where the power of our imaginations must help us. In two days time we are supposed to meet all of them in Meli’s world - if they can come. I want this done before then.”
Not even Meli could come up with a good idea.
Maria asked, “Roberto, will the baby Cherine and her Roberto know?”
“We could play it either way. The ideal way would be for them not to know.”
“But she must or else she might stop them and fight to protect them.”
“Okay Maria, something happens, Cherine and Rob are caught by surprise. Within that instant they could be killed, but Tasso and Tim step in. They get hurt protecting her, but that has bought Cherine and Rob the time they need to fight back.”
2436
I did not even try to think up a clever idea. My role in life seems to be more in the line of letting others come up with something creative and then work out how to apply it. I was very happy that Maria was taking an active part and wanted to help her become more involved, using her ideas or gifts.
I suggested, “Can we move on our planning in baby steps dad? So, we let Cherine know what to expect and what she must do. Obviously she must invite Tim over for work so that he does not bring his wife. What if Maria attacks them from a distance? Cherine and Robert fight her off, but she is weakened by her fight, Cherine I mean. Then a creature or person makes a personal appearance in the house to kill her and the two men save her.”
“Maria, you work on it. Is Sam’s suggestion workable?”
“Nai. The protector will take me back there?”
“Since Cherine and Rob will know, we can do so. Otherwise they would feel you. I hate doing it in such a way that they know though. The more people that know, the less likely it is that a secret stays a secret. Girls, this must never be included in a storytelling.”
They all acted affronted, but in truth, we were all deriving too much pleasure from feeling Maria. She has not been able to use her gifts in any important way and this was making her feel more like family than our love does.
She suddenly grinned. “Can I steal an idea from a movie?”
“From anywhere love.”
“Roberto, I can go back there without her knowing. I am not linked to her. You never felt me on my world. Her Roberto, he does not know how to reach out to the attacker like you do, he cannot use the void energies. So, I attack them, leaving baby Cherine and Roberto nearly unconscious, or maybe they better be unconscious. Then two men appear in the house, but they are holding special ropes for the neck? Like in the movie, to strangle. When Tasso and Tim fight back they have a knife and cut them. Soon as this happens I let baby Cherine and Roberto wake up and they win the fight. That way also Roberto and his baby feel good?”
Oh-oh! We were forgetting something!
“Robbie, you gave Tasso special powers! What are they?”
“Good point love. I was hoping someone would remember. I have not given him powers to destroy matter, only the mind. Only I can block them which means I’ll have to come with. I was hoping not to. Before anyone asks, I do not want to teach you.”
“You don’t need to dad, not if you trust Solomon.” Jade said.
“How’s that for a secret, with only trillions knowing!!” He said it with a laugh though.
Maria shook her head, in disagreement. “No. Wrong way. You must block Tasso so that he can only use his own abilities. Otherwise when you take back the powers from him he will think he is useless again.”
She made sense, which meant Robbie had to go with. Cherine, Dommi, Aganthi and I realised he is afraid to!! We blanked our minds to stop the others from knowing. Cherine let slip to us that she knows why. That was all the clue I needed. The prophesy!
“Robbie, can the protector be taught so that you can stay in control here?”
He was tempted. I felt him struggle with himself. “Sam, did you know that most people have a protector?”
“What!?”
“Most people have named it.” He paused to see if we would guess. “They call it ‘experience’. It is there to protect them from themselves. My protector, I have to protect myself from it. By the way, shouldn’t we begin calling it a him?”
“Only directly! Not yet Robert.” Cherine was vehement, so he acquiesced.
2437
Dommi decided to break the tension. She laughed, “You’re giving me a headache. Let’s take a break.”
I grabbed Cherine, then Dommi and turned to Gina, who’d had no intention of following. “Gina love, don’t come with us. I need some privacy.” I hesitated a moment. “Aganthi, it might be a good idea if you come with. You’re smarter than I am at this sort of thing.”
I knew I had everyone curious now, but our privacy would be respected.
Cherine turned to us, her eyes brimming. “I’ve never felt him afraid before!”
Dommi quickly cut in. “He’s not the only one. I do not want him out of my sight. What if he leaves and returns to find in his absence we turned against him because we were not strong enough to fight whoever or whatever attacked him through us?”
“Attacked him through us?”
“What did you think it was Aganthi? For all of us to turn against him at the same time? It can only be an attack against him.”
Cherine said in a very small voice, “I cannot go.”
Dommi hugged her, “Of course you can’t. I vote we squelch the whole idea for now. We’ll find a way later to make Tasso, Tim and Maria feel good. Our priority is to stay together.”
It hit me. “That is why he sent Jade?”
Dommi shrugged off my comment. “Our problem is, how do we convince Robert? If he realises why we are doing it, he will either become more frightened or else he will become obstinate, not wanting to allow us to give in to fear.”
Glumly we sat, not one of us with an idea. Aganthi looked at us, tears streaming. “I have an idea, but I will hate it.”
We did not pressure her, all we did is hold her to us.
“Sell him flowers. We must not do it though.” She could not tell us who though. We tried to guess so as to take the guilt from her. I was not satisfied by any name I could think of. I saw the others were not either and Aganthi saw it too. She shrivelled, “Dommi, please don’t hate me.”
“Hate you? How could I love?”
“Lavender eyes. Goldi. If she told him we must not do this now, he will stop. He will think she has some new gift and sees we must not.”
We all shrivelled. To ask an unborn child to lie! Who could do this?
*I’ll do it. Later when you are all sleeping.* She gave that silvery laugh of hers that tinkles in our minds like a moonbeam, silvery and beautiful. *I won’t really be lying, I don’t want any of you to go. I’ll also tell Maria she must stay for me, I need her here, she gives me strength.*
Aganthi burst into sobs, hunched over. When her sobs cut off and her eyes closed we suspected and looked. Goldi was in her mind playing with her. Quietly, in awe, we pulled away. Not one of us spoke so as not to disturb them. When Cherine and Dommi twined their fingers in mine they sent me so much love that I too cried.
I have read a lot of books; I have also watched our neighbours, so I think I have an idea how normal people live. That leads me to the conclusion that all of us, from Robbie all the way to me, are a rather strange family. I think that one of our problems with this trip is that we don’t have Alki and Marian with us. Well, perhaps not Marian, the way she’s turned into a convert, I think Robbie can do nothing wrong in her eyes.
Robbie took a wild jump. We actually felt it, even the trees trembled, their leaves rustling as if the trees were asking each other ‘what happened!’.
2438
Robbie let out a whoop of joy. We had jumped back a million years and the fire-world was close enough to be found. He watched it for three attacks and then made another wild jump. This time we could not find it. We jumped halfway back, but it was still not in sight. He returned to the last world and followed it. Two worlds away it took a turn, off in another direction. We saw why. Ahead of the path it should have come from was a field of meteorites, some as big as the moons of Saturn. We followed it until Robbie saw it was on a straight path and we jumped again
Before we knew it, the time arrived for Cherine to give birth. Since I have not mentioned it, for the last three months she has aged herself and looks fifteen. We all gathered around her, Lynda holding her one hand while Rosie held her other.
“Just think mum, you are giving birth to my daughter!”
Cherine smiled back. “And your sister.”
I’ve had a thought for a long time now and I better mention it before Goldi is born. I’ve been recalling the discussion we had about having babies, Robbie saying he could not handle any more girls. We all saw the sense and when I asked for a baby, because of the special circumstances and because of my love for all aliens, they saw this is the right time for me. We could not help feeling sorry for Robbie though. Then he goes and plays the trick on us with Lavender eyes and astounds us by asking us to have her! A girl he designed! Jade was not enough?
As he says though, not one child comes that is not welcomed and loved. Goldi did not arrive with baby blue eyes as is often the case. From the second she opened her large eyes they were lavender with minute darker lines in the pupils. She has definitely been designed to captivate hearts. Even Ordinx crooned over her as he has not for even his own son.
Within an hour of giving birth, Cherine had reverted to her preferred age (with a sigh of relief). I still was lactating and had agreed to breast feed Goldi. After all, she is my daughter too. The first time I fed her she did something I’ve never seen a baby do. She first placed her hand, so tiny and delicate, over my breast and caressed it. She gurgled with pleasure and only then her lips took in my nipple and she suckled.
It makes one wonder. They say, about Normal children, that if they are shown too much love they grow up into spoilt brats. Why is it that Cherinian babies and kids are shown a hundred times more love than a Normal can imagine and yet none of us are brats. Is it because our own hearts are permanently swollen with love? Could it be the way we are brought up, treated as equals most of the time, we also learn that to receive is a responsibility and to give is a gift received? I suppose being born with empathy helps.
Yesterday we were attacked and did not realise it until the attackers were gone. Robbie wants to return and there was some argument from the Anadir. They felt it may be dangerous. We had not known the female Anadir are also compulsive protectors of children. It appears to be that if a child cannot be guarded by a male, females will do so with the same single-mindedness. They are all upset that Robbie is willing to put us, especially Goldi, at risk. His only answer was that life is risky. We are on our way back.
We arrived six days before the fire-world would. There were souls on guard and soon as we arrived we were attacked again. The joke was they were trying to use gifts or powers that any child among us could nullify. They were also seriously depleting the energy that binds a soul, so Robbie was forced to take action.
They also attacked the pod within their reality and the machines were buzzing away in consternation. Solomon took care of them while Robbie took the protector and me to open a dialogue with them.
Robbie kept me and himself behind the protector while he tried sending them messages. I’d played a hunch and made my soul look small, as a soul of an infant. I saw that Robbie was not getting through to them so I danced and played around him, warned the protector to watch out for me and playfully dived away and over to the attackers.
2439
Poor dad panicked, but the protector advised him to wait, not to take action as it could endanger me. Four of the attackers approached me, but they did not try to harm me. I sent a tendril with love motes and the feeling of a trusting child. One of them must have volunteered for it came forward and accepted, tasting me. It tried to send me a message ‘shooing’ me away, trying to get me to return to my parent. I ignored it and dashed in happily. It reached out and enfolded me, to protect me I think from any of its fellows that might lash out in alarm.
Robbie sent the protector behind him. He sent out a very simple message. *My child.*
*What manner of creature are you that brings its child to play when under attack?*
*We were under attack? We thought you were playing with us!*
*Playing!!? Is your species so devoid of sense?*
*If I show you my power, will you be insulted? For I regret your attacks, if those were what your energy beams were, are but a tiny fraction of what I would consider an attack. I need to settle this for I have urgent news for your people.*
He took in the protector and flared. The sight of him was enough, the beam of energy that shot out, directed away from us, though shattering in its power was entirely superfluous.
*Samantha, come to me.*
*No father. If I leave they will think you mean to attack them. I am safe.*
*Out of thousands of planets you are the only one we have found that has mastered the void. First, please advise your people to stop attacking the pod I keep in your reality. It is not there to harm you. We are after something far more dangerous. Do you know of what we call the fire-world?*
*We do not, unless you mean our sun.*
*No. This is a creature that comes from space. It is as big as a small planet and appears to resemble a black hole. It has been sent to destroy all life in this galaxy so that it’s masters can use this galaxy without attacks on them. Tell your astronomers, those who watch the stars to look for it. Within six days it will arrive and kill all on your planet.*
He went into detail, explaining why we could not save them, why we could not even stay.
*If we survive journey’s end, we promise to return here to within one day at most of our departure. Have a delegation meet us here. We will collect samples of your tissue, of your plants and other forms of life directly from your planet. As your people are killed we will collect your souls. Soon as the fire-world is gone we will release the machines we carry in the pod below. They will reconstruct your world and when we return to our time we will create new bodies for you and your souls will be replaced within them. That is the only way we can cheat death. I cannot tell you how deeply it grieves us to force you to face such a painful end, but if you are willing to trust us you will meet it knowing that it is but a pain to be borne for a short time and then life will resume. Your new bodies will all have prime health and you will live longer, which should help you re-establish your civilisation. That is all I can offer. Please go now to find the monster I’ve warned you of so that you know I speak the truth. Will one of you come forward to taste of me so that you know what manner of creature I am?*
*It must be an old race that you are. There are but a few of us who are able to come here. If we return to tell our people they will think our minds have sickened. There is no hope for us then.*
*It is the same on our world. Do not despair, nothing changes. We will still help your people. They will not need to know what we are doing. It is a pity though, this way they will fear their dying, not knowing hope is not lost.*
Another volunteered and tasted of Robbie. While this was going on I spoke to the one that held me. I asked it if it would be my friend and be there to meet me if I return. I was emoting so much love and eagerness that it accepted with what I took to be a laugh.
We left as quickly as possible so as to be able to return to a time earlier as they have a very large population. Solomon sent off a Sparkler to bring about twelve billion Sparklers for collecting their souls.
“Please do not think I criticise Robert, I only ask. Do you foresee an end to this mission? It seems to grow longer and longer.”
2440
“No offence taken Ordinx. I am also dismayed at the thought. My family and I miss our world and long to return to our friends and loved ones. I cannot turn my back on what we are seeing. I cannot!”
“We rejoice that you cannot friend Robert.”
“Friend? I thought you only called Sam friend.”
Ordinx laughed. “She is the first and will always be special. I miss visiting you in my little girl body.”
“Come. I promise not to make love to you.”
“No, it would not be fitting now that I have a mate.”
“Come as a young male.”
He laughed. “You would chance it? I can be quite charming.”
Robbie backed off. We all stared in shock at him. He turned his back on all of us and walked away.
“I have offended him?”
Gently I explained, “No Ordinx, it is the prophesy. It hangs over our head like a sword and we do not know whose hand holds it.”
He was pained to think that Robbie could think he would do such a thing and we soothed and explained our fears until he left, no longer offended, but saddened for his friends.
I turned to Dommi and Cherine.
“We could end up spending years here. We cannot live like this. If the prophesy is true, it cannot happen here. How would we leave him, we are protected from the void by this” I waved my hand around at our spaceship-world, “to turn our backs on him here would be stupid. We have until we return home.”
Cherine disagreed. “It is far less likely that there is a power so strong back on Earth. It could be a creature we meet out here. Something so powerful that it could wrest this from Robert. We do not know what exists out here.”
“Cherine, he did not foresee death for himself and the four. He said they will suffer. That means they will stay alive.”
“What if it locks Robert and the four within a sphere of power and keeps them alive forever?”
I felt horror. “I sought to find a way to soothe him, but you have given me a dark gift in return. Now I too will live in fear.”
Cherine cried and I wondered at this child who sees so clearly and yet is able to stand strong for her man.
Sobbing she replied to my wonder. “Not just him Sam. For all of you. Always.” That had all of us crying.
I was alone with Solomon under a privacy shield.
“Have you or any of the Thinkers come up with any suggestions?”
“We see a glimmer of hope.” He smiled. “Robert would be amused that a Sparkler sees a glimmer, I miss his silly play on words and double meanings.” He recollected himself. “If his prophesy is a true one, then there is nothing we can do. It is unbelievable that all, his family, the Anadir and Sparklers would turn from him. Sam, for this to happen his adversary would have to be so powerful that we cannot resist. If it is so powerful, why does it not kill him?
We have discussed this with the Anadir and Ordinx asked the question, ‘What if he is proven to be evil, so evil that none of us, even his Cherine, can bear to call him friend?’.”
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)14th October, 2019
- posted on Steemit: 14th October, 2019
If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 04, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:
