They examined what it is that Robert loves the most about each of them and put all those qualities he loves into creating a girl born to love Robert, so that he never feels he is not loved beyond even life.
4681
I am that girl. I was not born, so I thought I never had any ancestors, that I came into existence at that moment of creation. I felt that all the people, the birds and animals and insects, they are all of one family, with our planet being our mother. Only I was not part of it and I felt not only sadness, but also a loneliness, despite being loved so deeply by Robert and all the girls who created me - plus the girls who came afterwards.
Luckily a lot went wrong because of the girls creating me, and my family nearly died because of me. We all dream of making life easy for us and our children, but those who have struggled and fought to keep their family alive, they have a far deeper knowledge of how much they love their family and friends, for the fear of losing them forces us to see just how much we love them. I ask my loves to do a telling for you of my creation and what that did to those who created me, so as to bring my words to life and give them meaning. I will speak to you of how I feel now, after the telling.”
The girls understood what it was Diana wanted our new friends to hear, what she wanted them to feel, so as to help them face their own devils, so they brought it all to life exactly as she wanted. After the telling ended, Diana gave them time to think of what they had shared from us and then spoke again.
“As you learnt from our sharing, I was wrong in my fears and beliefs. Did you know that some of the best scientists from various times and galaxies believe that all life is related, that every planet was seeded by spore from space? I don’t think the truth matters, for I prefer to think of where I am, held within a family who love me and surrounded by people from over a thousand species I think of as my friends, giving me the strength to look towards a future where all life joins, becoming one family. The slaves? They are the ones left behind, who could not change. The time of change has come upon you again, so ask yourselves, would you rather belong to the future, or belong to the past, as the slaves do?”
A while later, Robbie wrapped his arms around Diana and they jumped to her apartment. They only returned to us when it was close to dawn.
By the time the two spaceships left for their respective worlds, Robbie had discussed with our scientists his ideas and with him they re-designed the platforms and copies were given for the various governments to study.
Robbie was moodily playing backgammon with Alki, his mind though was elsewhere and he was playing very badly. Alki threw in the die and closed the tavli set without bothering to stack all the pieces in their place, and asked, “What is worrying you?”
“You know what they are going to do Alki. They will return with hundreds of government leaders and their damn clerks for drawing up treaties and god knows what else. I’m tired of trying to convince everybody that it is not the way we want to evolve, but in this case I cannot really blame them, since we have kept secret what we are and what we are trying to become.”
Intuitively he responded, “There is something else bothering you Roberto.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what…I just feel uneasy.”
Cherine asked, “Your protector instincts?”
“I don’t know.”
That night there was no loving and Robbie went to paint once we were asleep. The next day it was the same and by that evening everyone was worrying. It was quite odd, for as time passed, Robbie began to grow angry - with what he calls his stupid instincts. It was nearly five in the morning when Freddie woke us.
“Robert, the Eifil have sent all their spaceships towards the Chomchom planet. I think they are planning to attack them.”
“That’s crazy!”
We quickly dressed, for we could sense all our friends and family are also dressing so as to come to us. Dommi and Maria quickly went to the kitchen and made some coffees, five of them Greek.
Marian asked, “What is wrong”
“The Eifil have sent their fleet to attack the Chomchom planet.”
4682
“How much time do you have?”
“To stop them? Days. I now must decide what it is I want to do.”
I’d been driving myself crazy trying to understand why this sudden about-face. I tried to imagine myself growing up as an Eifil, or maybe an extreme Orati, and a crazy idea came to me. While the others talked, I tried to think it through. Finally I began to think aloud, hardly aware I am doing so.
“Why would a warrior people do it this way? Did we say anything to upset them so badly that they would be fanatically willing to destroy themselves? Why not wait until we’ve delivered the ore, with a surprise attack they could take possession of all the ore, if that is what they want…have they decided they will not leave their home planet and want to make certain their enemies cannot save themselves ? It all comes back to the most important question - even if any of the suppositions is true, why not wait until we are gone? It means that it was important they do it while we are here. Why? Let’s go back a little…and imagine what happened. The elders arrived and told them of all we said and did. They must be convinced the elders have been drugged or hypnotised or something similar. If I was them, I would not believe all that crazy nonsense they reported. Still, maybe there is a tiny bit of doubt, or else enough of the public believe the elders that the government has to be careful. How would Sebura solve the quandary we’ve left them in? I know, he would fear openly taking action against me, but he would pretend…what if the spaceships are going without armaments, a bluff to provoke Robbie so that they can see whether he really is as altruistic a warrior as has been claimed to be. Maybe they’ll just have enough armaments to disable the enemy spaceships, so that they cannot chase after them if Robbie does not prove to be as the elders claim?”
I suddenly became aware that Robbie is gone. Amazingly I sensed that Vincent is also gone, so I opened my eyes.
Jade told me, “He’s gone to check if you are right.”
“How will he know? How do you check whether the lasers can work or not…as an example.”
“Well…they had an impossible problem…”
“What?”
“If they had to wait for you to finish asking questions, they would never have ever been able to go.” The girls are very unfair; how come they did not pelt her with pillows, as they do with me, but laughing, hugged and kissed her instead!
When they returned, we could sense Robbie is amused. He refused to tell us why until he’d had a beer, with salad and Maria’s grilled lamb chops. Us girls were not the only ones cursing by the time he finished his meal and lit his cigarette. He leant back and looked at me.
“I can relax, they are not sending any diplomats to negotiate treaties with us. As for the travelling spaceships, apart from the armaments built in, there are no bombs, ammunition or lasers capable of causing serious damage. Are you certain they are not doing this just to show me what warriors they are?”
I laughed. “I was wrong? You found a way to work out that they are not armed for war…of course! All you needed to do is monitor their emoting!”
“Not necessarily. By the way, they should be arriving in nine days.”
His attitude was puzzling me. “There must be some factor I have not taken into consideration. Stop teasing, come on, we all want to know.”
He chuckled, ignoring everyone else, who were also trying not to emote their impatience and asked me, “What other masterstroke could they play?”
“I suppose you are going to tell me that Arthur wrote in the diary that they are on their way to surrender to the Chomchom - that would be brilliant of them, then the Chomchom will have to spend their money and bankrupt themselves building colony ships to save the Eifil, which means they won’t be able to save themselves!”
4683
He gave a surprised laugh. “Damn, I had not thought of such a possibility…and I thought I am the crazy one! What would you say they are planning if I tell you that they sent the elders who were here with the ships. The poor guys are emoting a lot of anxiety.”
Since nobody was sitting on his lap, I seated myself and took a moment to think. “Play your games with the others crewing those ships if you want, but not with our elderly friends Robbie. Just because they are anxious, it does not mean they don’t believe in you - a hundred things could go wrong, for instance, for all they know, you are not monitoring them because you are too obsessed with loving all us girls and by the time you’ve finished with all fifty something of us, they’ll be long dead; yup, it is natural that they have doubts.” I didn’t score on his blackboard, but I did with my loves and Alki and Marian, plus a few others, I bet.
I’d had my fun, so I spoke my thoughts. “We keep saying, when we meet a new people, and they have odd ways of thinking, that ‘they are aliens’ as if that justifies or explains everything. By trying to place myself in their shoes, what they are doing has a kind of twisted logic to it, but even then it seems to be just a bit too childish of them for it to be believable. Excuse me for a minute - and keep my seat for me, will you?” I jumped home and opening the diary checked whether you had written in this crazy scenario - you must admit, it is so just what you would write.
“No, Arthur did not write for us, so they must be responsible for their nuttiness. I hate the idea of rewarding them for playing such games with you, but the future of an entire species is far too important for us to try to teach them a lesson. I like them Robert; it is sad that not one of them qualifies for linking, but, I found all of them nice, with in particular Siafou being very likeable. Even their scientist working on the space-station, I hear the Chomchom scientists like him. Can we forgive them this time for being silly?”
“I wasn’t going to let them die, Sam. I only thought of delaying our intervention by a few days so as to make them anxious - surely I am allowed a little retribution for the anxiety they caused me?.”
Earnestly I conceded, making him laugh, “Okay, we can wait until tomorrow morning.”
Arthur has told me during various conversations that a few of his readers object to some of the beliefs and ways of life we have. For instance, they get angry when we write about Robbie smoking, and others, when we rhapsodise about a lovely souvla (lamb on the spit). Those examples are not so important, except to those who feel strongly about them. When he passes on criticisms about our beliefs as Cherinians, those we argue and debate, with alien Cherinians taking part when in Freddie (I think the fact that the questions originated in the reality of Arthur gifts them with an often unwarranted feeling of importance, attracting many who would otherwise have avoided the debates). I’m writing about it so as to jump the gun and tell them (your readers) that yes, we know a Cherinian should not fight back, that meanness and cruelty should not be resisted and so on, that we should lay down with our tummies exposed for them to do as they will with us, (sorry, I forgot the readers are paedophiles, I did not mean it in the way you want me to), but we have accepted that remaining human, each species in their own way, is important and an integral part of adapting to being Cherinians while remaining healthy as humans (note, I did not say Terrans, I said humans because the same truths are valid for almost all species we have met so far).
The evening turned into a very nice few hours because Alki was in a good mood and made a few jokes and then he became nostalgic about his early days with Robbie and Cherine and he asked if she remembers the time she first called him pappou, for he does, and still treasures the memory. It all helped soften Robbie, so he surprised Alki and Marian by asking whether they would like to go with him on a visit to the Eifil elders, so as to relieve their anxiety.
The only ones to share with them were the children of Marian, and because they were actually sharing through her and she was feeling very special because of Robbie inviting her to go with, their faces reflected her happiness - so we all found something else to keep us busy. I decided to try some of the more complex origami designs I bought from a Japanese web site. I keep hoping that with practice my fingers will magically transform into talented creators of beauty.
It was obvious that we are going to have a very late night. When they returned, we could sense how both Alki and Marian were energised by their excitement and that their minds were bubbling with new ideas. The broadcast of their emoting soon had everyone wide awake and wanting to be a part of the excitement. I can’t help wondering why it is that us girls hardly ever react this way, whatever unbelievable act Robbie undertakes and achieves.
4684
“It was as we hoped, the elders share a smaller dormitory, without any outsider being quartered there. When we made ourselves visible using energy bodies, their emoting revealed two opposite things happening. An incredible sense of relief that we have appeared and a paralysing surge of tension as they waited to learn how we are going to react to their ploy. I told them that I had wished to wait until the last minute so as to make them suffer for trying to trick me into exposing how I really feel about them, but that Samantha insisted they are our friends and I must come to them at this time, to relieve them of unnecessary worry.”
Marian laughed, “I think they were a bit disappointed it was not Goldi, they really have become attached to her, but Moumnchimna told us, with an affected tone of wisdom, that Samantha behaved as a true friend of aliens. Siafou was amused and told us that her title is a misnomer, for they and each of the other species do not consider themselves the aliens, to them we Terrans are the aliens, so if the title was bestowed for genuine reasons, it means she always does what is to the benefit of her own people. He has a bit of a twisted mind and can be rather gruff at times, but I rather like him. At least his strong sense of honour guarantees he will never lie and betray his friends.” What she was really saying is that because she perceives certain similarities between him and Alki, she cannot imagine him behaving in an un-Alki manner. Since we all love our pappou very much, none of us can disagree with her assumptions.
The elders, with a bit of help from Alki, convinced Robbie he should immediately take action to stop the space armada from approaching its target any further. They also requested that he does so in a manner that leaves no questions as to his power and courage.
Robbie told them, “I had intended returning you, my friends, to your homes, while sending the spaceships to the other side of the solar system. Are you telling me it will not suitably impress them?”
One of them asked, “You wish to do what you have done before?”
Robbie pulled Cherine to him. “I decided not to make any decisions and returned to ask whether anyone has any bright ideas.”
Coral asked, “How many spaceships are there?”
“Three hundred and fourteen.”
She asked, “Can you put each one in a stasis and would that stop them moving?”
“Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that. If they are moving when placed in stasis, will the stasis bubble inherit the speed the spaceship is travelling at? It doesn’t matter Coral, if I want them to stop moving, they will.”
“I was thinking that you should place them in stasis, take them back to their home planet and place them in orbit around the planet, with the front, the nose (?), facing the planet. Leave them like that for a day and then turn the spaceship with the elders and release it. They should then explain about the time stasis bubble and that when you release the ships they will instantly resume travelling at the speed they were travelling at when you froze them. Let them worry about it for an hour and then turn the ships so that they are facing away from the planet and release them. If they don’t find your power awesome, we’ll have to steal all their money - I bet they will find that awesome!”
Even our alien friends were amused by her sense of humour and our Normals, I am certain, will relish telling everyone on Earth of her joke, which will probably terrify everyone - about our being able to steal all their money.
Because of Coral adding that last bit about the money, Robbie accepted her first idea and insisted she goes with him. The way she is feeling and the way she will be feeling when they return, she probably will not need us to make love to her.
As soon as they were gone, Cherine called for Vincent. “Robert really expects us to wait here while the two of them have all the fun? Everyone who wants to come with can meet us and the Sparklers in the void and we’ll go to watch the Eifil planet - I’m curious as to how the people will react, but also, if any despair and commit suicide, we must be there to heal their bodies and take them back, nobody should be allowed to die because of us. Vincent, I called for you because I want to know that you and Freddie are here to watch over our bodies - all the bodies, of everyone who comes with us.” Vincent nodded his agreement, while I amused myself with the thought that if any Eifil do die and we bring them back to life, the government leaders will probably be more impressed by that than by what Robbie will be doing. I guess we will not have to steal their money after all.
4685
This is just a reminder to myself - I must ask Vincent what it is like when he is not using-creating a body for himself. Is he like a soul visiting us, or is he a sort of energy with awareness spread over many places - since he seems to be protecting all of us, even when some of us are on the other side of the planet or Freddie. Does he like being like that, like an all-seeing god (since Arthur is not like that, it proves he really is not a god), or does Vincent prefer being in a body?
For the crews and officers, plus any political or media personnel who are in the ships, there is no agonising, for no time is passing for them. We saw afterwards from Coral that Robbie had the Sparklers help him carry the stasis bubbles back to the Eifil planet. He made certain they are all facing their planet and then he took Coral down to the surface, to join us in watching the reactions - of both the public and their officials.
We are all astonished by what we saw. This is the first species we’ve seen who have computer screens, plus screens for other uses, yet there are no television stations. There is radio, but if they play music, we cannot hear it, all we can hear is the announcements from the government and, now and then, instructions for the general populace or for a section of it, such as, for instance, their civil service personnel being ordered to ensure that food and other materiel is transported as quickly as possible to their underground bunkers, to where the general population is already filing into in an orderly fashion. As the streets emptied, we looked for looters but did not see even one. As a matter of fact, all the buildings were left open, offices, shops, restaurants and so on. When we remarked on this to the elders, later on, they explained that it is deliberate. In the old days, after a bombing, if the doors were locked and the people come out in need of food, for example, if they had to smash the doors to get to the food because the owners did not come to unlock because they were injured or killed, they would do so. It makes more sense to let the people eat and calm down. They assured us that there is crime, but robberies are very rare. I wondered whether we favour that kind of crime, as a species, because of us evolving from monkeys.
As for suicides? Not even one. The only dead arriving in the void are those who are dying because it is their time, either because of old age or bad health or accidents.
Robbie decided we are causing too much of an upheaval, so within half an hour he turned the spaceships, released the one with the elders, and while it shot away, he entered the ship and enfolding them in his energy, he took them back to their planet. While transporting them, he told them what is happening and what will happen as soon as they have talked with their leaders.
The time Robbie was dreading has arrived. What we would call an admiral ship has left the Eifil planet, with their leaders and numerous officials for negotiating a treaty with us. We cannot make them lose face by refusing, so I suppose we will have to enlist a number of our visitors to help, especially those who have some legal experience.
Robbie is starting to get itchy feet, he feels we should return to our main journey, so he sent an offer to collect them and the officials of the Chomchom governments. Within the day both spaceships arrived.
4686
Our taverna has no inside eating spaces. It has a stone and concrete floor outside of about eighty five by fifty five metres, with wooden beams every so often, and grapes growing up them and spilling over onto the overhead smaller wooden slats, so that we have velvety dark purple bunches of grapes hanging from them when it is the ‘season’.
The covered space is not even close to being large enough, plus we have the problem of providing food for two species, while also keeping the bulk of each party apart from the other. Robbie asked us to prepare the seating so that we sit in the covered area, the part of it that is towards the beach - the first half of it, towards the kitchen, has trestle tables with food, the chapel side is for the Eifil and our house side is for the Chomchom, with each group seated on the lawn, using tables and chairs or thick cushions placed on body-shaped platforms of just under a metre in height, so that they can see who they are talking to from under their hood, without them having to raise themselves.
Robbie, without any of us girls, but with Alki, Solomon and Ordinx, sit at the middle of a long table, with seating for the officials, Chomchom on his right and feeding bowls for the Eifil on his left. The next long table is for us girls, plus Marian and the kids (it sounds silly, we still appear as kids, while all of them appear as eighteen to twenty years olds, but it is how we think of them between us, and the diary should reflect it). Everyone else was asked to stay away, apart from the Sparklers (as usual).
The Eifil do not seem embarrassed by what they did, to the contrary, they seem to be proud of themselves and when their most senior leader talked with his counterpart of the Chomchom and he saw that Solomon is with them, he told of what they had done. Puzzled, the Chomchom leader admitted they had been preparing their defences when they lost sight of the ships and spent nearly a full day worried about the new stealth technology the Eifil seemed to have developed. The Eifil leader found this hilarious and asking the Chomchom leader to accompany him, he returned to his own group to tell them what had been said. There was much amusement, but confusing even us, they became even friendlier towards the Chomchom leader.
It might be an invasion of privacy, but we lightly monitor everyone, even each other, to make certain nobody imbibes too much without their healer ridding them of the effects of alcohol. Both groups of our visitors cannot drink our alcohol and we did not secure any supplies of what they use - this meeting, we felt, is already enough of a risk without us helping them to relax their inhibitions.
I mentioned the light invasion of privacy for another reason - as usual, I let myself get side-tracked. We had one moment of unpleasantness and it came about because we were not paying attention. When the Eifil were served their food, one of the officials went into an instant rage and was about to strike Maria, because she had served someone else, of a lesser rank, before him. The Eifil leader who was sitting next to Robbie barked out an order and two, sitting on either side of the raging Eifil, shot him. For a second we watched this sudden execution in shock, then we sensed he had been tranquillised and was deeply asleep. It was not a pleasant experience because of our momentary misunderstanding, but at least it showed us both how determined they are not to cause a problem and that they know themselves well enough to take precautions. The one knocked out came to within three minutes and quietly began to eat and did not speak again for the rest of his stay, until the negotiations began.
The negotiations. This was the moment when Robbie showed his brilliance. Both species had arrived planning to sign a treaty with us, but Robbie opened the negotiations by telling them, “I and all my family, which includes everyone travelling within Freddie, feel you have paid us a great compliment by coming to us for the signing of treaties between your two magnificent people. I would prefer that your experts work out the terms, with our advice only being sought where you cannot agree on the wording of a clause. We have made a special meeting room for the officials to sit together during the early stages, without having to bear the scrutiny of everyone in Freddie.” Softly, he told the Eifil leader sitting next to him, “I hope you understand that I had to take the precaution of creating an energy curtain to separate the two groups, for a loss of control by any one person of either group could result in the derailment of our efforts to unite your people and planets in the effort to save yourselves from the impending destruction the other galaxy will be causing.”
“This curtain…they will hear and see each other?”
“Yes, they can even pass documents through it, if they move slowly.” For a second he stared at Robbie and then chortled and told his companion what had amused him. He had realised that Robbie understands that when they are in a rage they cannot move slowly, so he has created an energy shield to prevent anything which is moving quickly from passing through. Robbie did not tell him, but he understood that it also includes all kinds of projectiles, such as bullets.
4687
It has been a long time since we’ve had to live under stressful conditions, with the emoting of strangers disturbing us at all times. In a way it is good it happened, as we are growing too soft. Robbie had thought he was being clever and would not be disturbed often, but they called for him at least once every two hours. It seems they find it impossible to negotiate as we Terrans do, for neither side looks to compromise, to try and find a common ground. Robbie moans, but we can also sense how he secretly takes pride in what he is doing - and the fact that both species keep complimenting him on finding such wise solutions to their problems is, we worry, going to make his head swell. We’ve all noticed that about Robbie. He does not allow anyone to inflate his ego about any of the gifts or powers he has as a Cherinian, but let anyone admire a natural ability of his, his artistic talent is a good example, he then swells with pride. The only Cherinian part of his life that he allows himself to swell up over, is when he looks at us and is filled with amazement that we all love him. Then his ego takes the kind of miraculous boost that fills our hearts and makes our own egos swell.
The most senior of the Eifil leaders is named Taraamzil and the leader of leaders of the Chomchom is called Feírasis. Taraamzil has an easier good humour, but the truth is that both of them, each in his own way, is a hard and practical person who has little time for the kind of foolery Robbie likes to indulge in. They have both been told, by the other species in Freddie, that they must have patience with that side of Robbie, as they want him to stay as he is. I love him as he is and so do the girls and I can understand other girls feeling that way about him, but not when it is people like Hettie, Bruce and so on. That the leaders of alien races, even their kaleidoscope World Entities, who are mostly politicians and fairly practical and hard (in the sense that they don’t wear rose-tinted glasses, they can always see things as they really are) feel the same way about his craziness, is a big part of why Cherine and all us girls love them. A prime example, of course, is Alki. But then, though he tries to hide it, he really is a dreamer, just like Robbie.
Sorry I delayed answering. I had to call in all the family, including our nearest and dearest, and we needed time to get over our hysterical laughter. Okay, we’ve recovered and yes, you are special. Feel better now and ready to stop being negative about us finding you?
No. They don’t admire their elders, the young mostly feel contempt for the softness of their elders. Now that you’ve brought it up, I see that Robbie must hint that we would feel happier knowing that they are growing to appreciate their elders and are now using them as their advisors. Thanks.
4688
Actually, they have both been present often and they have helped a bit now and then, but I was mostly concentrating on reporting about the two new to us species.
Robbie was just starting to think of leaving as soon as he has created the new multi-platform, when our scientists asked to stay here at least another month afterwards. Apparently they have been joining the scientists in the space-station and they are fascinated by the information being gathered. He told them they can stay, but that he hopes they are also teaching the locals some of their own discoveries about the universe.
Now that the two government leaders have departed, not so pleased with us because neither of them managed to corner Robbie for signing treaties with us, but suspecting we have signed with the other (the Chomchom think we prefer the Eifil because they are meat-eaters, like us - I was tempted to tell them we prefer them because they have a nicer sounding name for themselves, but it would be irresponsible of me. Anyway, Rafista is still our favourite of this galaxy, just as Siafou is the favourite of Goldi. We’ll have to return before any of our new friends get old and die…I don’t think any of us could bear to share from Goldi if her friend dies).
What I wrote made me think of something terrible and - I’m sorry Arthur, but I did try to hide the thought immediately, but, when I am writing, most of the time my mind is wide open (I think it must be a part of the writing process, for I find it difficult to write when I’m hugging my thoughts to myself) and my loves were monitoring me and shared it before I could stop them. I had the worrying thought that since you seem to have moments of being able to share our emotions, what if something bad happens, as I earlier suggested, and you pick up from Goldi - or are inundated by her feelings and not knowing they come from her, in despair, you give up and kill yourself. Of course it was Goldi who was shattered by the possibility. I have not been writing for days now, as we all concentrated on Goldi - and a little bit on me because of my guilty feelings. Finally Dommi told Goldi that it is her job to help me and it helped break her out of her funk and guilt. The two of us are very close at this time, family within family, and I intend making the most of it for as long as I can, as I don’t often get to feel her love for me this strongly. I hope she is also enjoying how I feel about her.
All the worry by the scientists about us staying longer was without reason, for we still have the mammoth job of creating and landscaping the three-in-one platform - I am only following the convention initiated by Robbie in calling them platforms, however complex or large they may be, he told us it is so that he never allows himself to aggrandise his abilities. It is frustrating, for the word does imply something very basic and maybe a little bit dull. Anyway, we were not surprised by the request by the scientists, for they seem to miss out on a lot of interesting events and news because they are so caught up in their struggles to understand something new. Their almost constant emoting (there are always at least a couple of them feeling excited) does give Freddie a nice feeling, sometimes making all of us feel more alive or positive.
Today was a day when, by coincidence, everyone was feeling relaxed and friendly, so we did not mind people joining us for a while at the taverna. Many are not amused by the childish humour of us girls (not that Robbie's is any more mature, but out of tact I’ll pretend it is), so the Normals, who cannot share any deeper, soon wander off, making room for others to join us. A man who had chosen to be a child for a few weeks and then asked to be reverted, raised an eyebrow when Robbie happened to look his way, so Robbie gestured for him to join us.
“Ruben, you have something to say, or, you have a question you wish to ask me?”
He chuckled. “Since you have reassured us that you never peek at our thoughts, all that is left to me is to be amazed at how much can be communicated by a twitch of the eyebrows.” He got his laughs and then he asked, “May I quote someone without having to say anything more about it? I would prefer to hear your reaction.” Robbie nodded. “Alice Roosevelt Longworth, said, I’ve always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development.”
4689
Robbie, and many others, laughed. He told him, “I have not heard that one before and I like it. I just might end up using it myself a few times. Did you feel it is pertinent because of your own experience of being a child again?” He ordered the man a beer and then toasted him with, “Here’s to Peter Pan and to eudemonia - for those who cannot be like us.” It was Ruben’s turn to chuckle. (eudaemonism = An ethical system that evaluates actions by reference to personal well-being through a life based on reason). Because he did not try to push an attitude on us, as so many try to, we welcomed him remaining with us, letting him blend in so that he feels he is part of the group. I recall Socrati once telling us that before he met us, he would sometimes find himself surprised by the kindness or goodness of others. He found it surprising that he is still surprised, as an elderly man, not so much surprised because they have shown they have a unexpected goodness in them. I too still find myself surprised by Normals every now and then, who though they may not be suitable yet for linking as Cherinians, are likeable and good people.
The next morning, Robbie suddenly announced his intentions, directly to Freddie. “Please let those outside know that we are leaving…once they have either decided to stay outside or have returned. Choose another galaxy and jump there.”
“You want me to choose?”
Robbie shrugged. “Go ahead.”
“This is for collecting all we’ll need for the new platform? Then we should travel to the galaxy which is aiming for this one. You won’t have to worry about spoiling the beauty of the universe, since we can choose a planet which is about to be destroyed, perhaps turned molten?”
Robbie grinned. “I wish you had inherited some of my good points; you had to turn out to be garrulous and pedantic?”
“Robert, only one of our scientists is staying, he volunteered so that the others can come with us. We must first provide for him, in case we take longer than we intend due to unforeseen circumstances.”
We are leaving tomorrow. Robbie invited the elders plus Rafista, plus up to twenty of each local species, so that they can report how the platform is created for their use. We hope it leads to them appreciating and caring for it so that it lasts longer.
Freddie did not transfer to the void. He travelled through the galaxy at enormous speed, exuberantly flashing by solar systems he must have chosen for their strange appearances, leaving everyone gasping with amazement. He seems to be zigzagging his way out of this galaxy, swerving often so as to avoid crashing through a solar system. One of those systems for which he had to take an extra large swerve is the equivalent of about seven of our solar system, with nine suns and I don’t know how many planets - mostly giant gas planets with moons of about the size of our Earth in orbit around them.
As the systems thinned out, Freddie began to leap in small jumps of about fifty lightyears in the void, spending a few hours back in normal space each time for the scientists to make their tests and take their photographs. We were almost three quarters the way across the gulf when our scientists began to ask for us to stay in normal space, without travelling, for longer and longer. Of course we did not ask why, only did as they asked, so, just before we began to enter the incoming galaxy, they arrived at the taverna, their emoting showing they are perplexed but also pleased.
One of the scientists pointed at a bunch of grapes above us. “We think it is a solar system covered with…if we are right, they are too small to be moons. The largest one we think we have identified is about sixty percent the size of Freddie.”
“You think? Your instruments are not good enough to make a positive identification?”
“The fault does not lie with our instruments Robert, not even solely with the distance. Imagine that bunch of grapes and try to picture what the sun will look like. We identify and analyse planets from the way they affect their sun and from certain chemical markers which are measured against the light of the sun. In this case, all we are getting are tiny glimpses of the sun…even in those spaces where we think there is no material mass to block the view. As for the telescope, this may be a good time to announce that we have just started using a telescope we’ve been struggling to create out of light. The results are going to make life easier for you, while making it possible for us to examine distant suns and planets that were previously out of range of our best equipment. All scientists, of every species, including the Terrans, have been given all the information required for building their own.”
Robbie smiled. “I am pleased! For now, why not call the asteroids or mini moons, grapes. That way we’ll know what you mean.” He continued speaking in the same soft voice, “Freddie, have you identified the grape system?”
“To be honest, I cannot find it.” He surprised us, since we know he monitors everyone. I guess he really meant it when he told us (in court) that he does not intrude on our privacy when he is only monitoring for our well-being.
4690
One of the scientists shared with him and Freddie found it. We sped off in that direction and the scientists, with quick expressions of gratitude rushed off to their computers and telescopes. There is no need to hurry, since we are staying in normal space and Freddie estimates it will take us about four days to get close enough to watch it directly through the telescope screens.
The next day we sensed such a broadcast of astonishment that we felt them all the way from the other side of Freddie. They politely sent one of them to explain to us.
“One of the reasons we could not see clearly the system we are about to visit, was because the local sun is much weaker than a sun behind it and the glare, even after filtration, left us puzzled and with questions that did not make sense.
We have just realised that the sun dazzling our equipment is not of a different solar system, it belongs to the grape system.”
Cherine felt my thoughts and gestured for me to ask my questions - I would not have, but now I had to, as everyone was looking at me and waiting. The other scientists must have been sharing, for they also jumped to be with us.
“The second sun, why is it brighter? Is it bigger or just hotter?”
“A lot bigger.”
“If it is further away from the grapes and is much bigger, then I suppose it would make more sense to watch the closer and smaller sun for wobbling caused by the grapes?”
They gestured their agreement, even as the first scientist added, “The grapes make it difficult for us to view the sun for periods of time that could enable us to determine the effect they have on it, so either we must monitor the sun for a very long time and join the glimpses into one observation, or else we must approach close enough for us to see their inner sun clearly.”
I was grinning in my mind, but was so caught up by my idea that I forgot to grin with my lips. “The bunch of grapes does seem to be fairly substantial, so I guess we can only come to one conclusion should we find their effect on the inner sun is weaker than it should be.”
“And the conclusion is?” Goldi asked me. Earning the goodwill (again) of the scientists.
“That the grapes are either composed of some very light material, which does not make sense, as the changing gravities of the suns would have crushed them to powder, or else, the inhabitants have hollowed the grapes, using the material to link them - which is why they look like a bunch of grapes.” I added, slightly excited by my ideas, as they now began to fall into place “Maybe the locals don’t like the radiation and light from the bigger sun, so they need to keep their grapes linked so that they remain in place for providing them with shelter…perhaps also from the added heat - Robert, you know what that means!?” He shook his head. “The second sun was not part of their evolution, it joined their system much later, once they had already evolved to survive on the more meagre life-giving light and energy of their own sun.”
With a large grin, Empathia told the scientists, “Perhaps you better get away from Samantha, before she leaves you nothing to theorise, prove and learn on your own.” They laughingly agreed with her and with a cheerful greeting, departed.
Alki, outside of us girls, is the one who worries the most about Robbie taking on too many problems at a time, so it was natural that he would ask, “If Samantha’s theories are right and we investigate the grape system, it means you will have another species to save. Where do you stop, Roberto? It is not possible for us to save all the species of both these galaxies.”
I kept a tight rein on my thoughts, hoping nobody sensed the icy shiver run down my spine, as I preferred to hear what everyone else thinks. Of course, when I do so, I betray myself to Cherine, but she knows what and why I am doing so and usually plays along. Not this time - I think the shock was too great, for her eyes were like saucers as she asked me, “How could we, Samantha?!”
I shook my head, refusing to answer, which focussed the attention of everyone else on me, so I closed me eyes and withdrew into a ‘world’ of my mind, the only place I can have true privacy. I did manage to leave a message for anyone trying to follow me, asking that I be allowed the privacy I need.
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)11th January, 2020
- posted: 11th January, 2020
If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 06, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:
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