Robbie sent his healer, instructing it not to alter any of the cellular damage that came from mutating, but to heal the boy of the effects of malnourishment.
Suddenly Cherine burst out laughing. “If you were him, would you stay in that hole or leave your body whenever you can? He’s touring…maybe he goes to the cities.”
We waited for dusk and the two of them left again. They watched the boy sitting close to a man as he ate and as the men talked afterwards he stayed by his side. His eyes grew heavy and his body slid to an uncomfortable position. The man carried him to a padded corner and covered him with a thin blanket made out of a synthetic material.
Robbie decided not to contact the boy while he was still in his mind and as they sensed it preparing to leave they attached themselves. With shock Robbie and Claudia found themselves back in Freddie.
*How did he find us!*
*Shh.*
The boy was not interested in the people, aliens or Terrans. To him only the treehouses were magical. He wondered through apartment after apartment, working his way up. Robbie communicated with Solomon and after ten minutes he drew Claudia into him and then did the same to the boy and jumped to the Sparkler World. Claudia blinked in surprise. They were in an apartment, indistinguishable from the one they’d just passed through, the difference being that all three of them had bodies now.
Robbie raised his hands, “We will not harm you, do not be afraid.”
Sid, the boy, is not a gentle soul. His life has been harsh, with extra hardness from his own people because of his mutations. Only the strength of his father had won him a chance at surviving until his talent grew and they then accepted him as a useful weapon that makes them all safer. At first he was convinced he is dreaming, so he did not use his shield. Luckily, by the time he’d learnt otherwise, he had no wish to.
They took the time to talk with him and explain that we are friends and want to help him and all those he lives with. No mention was made of where we come from, that can come later. We could not sense whether he believed Robbie, or whether he went along with his request because he did not see he has any alternative. It does not really matter, since he will soon understand and grow to trust us. They then explained that they are returning to Freddie.
Robbie had to become the void to bring Sid to us. He first jumped him to the same apartment, took him out to the balcony to see Freddie from on high and only once he’d recovered did he jump him to the taverna. Claudia had returned directly to her body and was with us, so Robbie returned to the void and then jumped back to us in his body.
Robbie sat next to Sid and Cherine sat on the other side of him. “You can eat while you are here. I hope you enjoy our kind of cooking.”
He tried the mezedes, not liking the olives and feta, but enjoying fried halloumi. He did not like any of the fruit juices, but was soon happily drinking up my stock of crème soda. When he got to the meatballs he nearly spoilt everyone’s appetite when he asked what kind of rat it was made from and did it have any tumours.
Cherine did not have to touch him, but she still prefers to touch and she managed to do so without him realising it was deliberate. She sensed him to be a tough soul, little of the child surviving in him. A little later she revised her opinion when a Wirm made eye contact with him and exchanged joyous greetings. We could all feel his emoting and it definitely was childish and beautiful.
Robbie promised to have his body waiting for him the next evening and we helped show him how to leave for his own body. By the way, Claudia’s question was answered. Sid told us that he saw Freddie in the sky, thought it was a new moon and since he believed that nothing could harm him while out of his body, he decided to investigate. He’s been coming to us for months and that is why seeing some of us on his world had frightened him.
We watched over him during the next day and it impressed us that despite being a child, he was not tempted to tell anyone of his experiences. That kind of wisdom, I am certain, mostly comes out of fear. When he returned in the evening, Robbie took him to an unoccupied apartment with three bedrooms and asked him whether he would like to live there with his father while we teach him. He shook his head.
“Without me, my family will die.”
“They are all your family?”
“Yes.” Not quite true, we found out. They call each other family, but are not blood related. His mother had died from a burst appendix and he has no brothers or sisters.
“We think there are other families like yours, people who stayed out of the cities. We want to train you so that you can be a wise leader of all of them when you are an adult. Would you like me to discuss it with your father?”
It was a bad move by Robbie, leaving it to Sid to speak about us to his father.
The next day he contrived to be alone with his father and he confided in him for the first time, passing on our message. His father grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook him hard, hurting him in his urgency to make him understand. “Never speak of such dreams to the others or they will kill us.” He shook him hard again. “Do you hear me boy!”
“Sid, will you introduce me to your father?” (I thought I would keep it as a nice surprise for you so I did not mention who asked to go). The father turned around with hand reaching for his knife when he stiffened in shock. Before him stood a golden beauty such as he could not have dreamt of in his loneliest hours at night. Goldi at twenty has a devastating smile that affects most adult males the same way. “My name is Goldi and your son did not speak of dreams, we are real.”
We had done well in allowing Goldi to make first contact. When the father of Sid took them back to their home to meet the others, not only the men were bewitched, the women were just as convinced that the Lord had sent them an angel - but they also paid attention to the clothes she wore, clothes that none of them were old enough to remember from the olden days, yet they could sense how well made they are. Goldi talked, but not one word in ten was understood, they just sat there praying she would continue talking forever, never mind what she said.
When she asked them to all touch her at the same time, they timidly did so and fell back in shock as they found themselves within Freddie. It was hard not to laugh. They scattered into our countryside, only Sid remaining. His father was the first to creep back to check on his son.
Once they had settled down, we fed them all, carefully sitting to one side of them while Freddie kept a gentle breeze blowing in the opposite direction. Rosie with her light blond hair and delicate look is one of those they are not as frightened of, so she explained to them in simple terms what had happened to their world and why the cities had shut themselves in. An older man nodded.
“We have been here for thirty years, slowly healing your world. The sun will not kill you now and the cities are starting to farm again.”
We had a lot of explaining to do and a lot of what they had misunderstood was difficult for them to adjust to. Slowly they are growing in understanding. At least we had no problems in teaching them to bathe, they loved standing under a hot shower.
The Sparklers have reported the number of Outsiders to be in the region of three hundred thousand (no, Solomon did not lie, they do not count; they showed us the images of various groups they found and we counted). From what our healers reported after examining the group with us, every one of them is a mutant. Most of the mutations have caused some disability, but the mutations have adjusted their bodies so that they can live outside. It is the same for all the other groups, some slightly better off and some much worse. The average lives they live are less than forty years! Our last born, Ahnì, is close to that age and we still think of her as a baby!
We were faced with two alternatives. Either we heal them all, reversing the mutations that are not beneficial, or else we break our rules and take them to a virgin Earth for them to grow in their own direction. Sorry, I should have made it clear that either way we will leave them strong and healthy with the normal average Terran lifespan for their descendants (those presently alive who are to be healed will live an extra twenty to thirty years.)
In the second alternative we would not correct all mutations so that we do not prevent them evolving in new ways. The decision has to be theirs, but our problem is that they cannot understand the issues involved. We have to find an ethical way of deciding with some degree of informed consent from them.
The one person we feel we can help is Sid; being a child, he should be more malleable mentally and find it easier to learn and understand what the choices are. After all, he has a few years to adjust in before we have to make a decision.
Robbie asked the second generation kids (Akiards) to become his friends and play with him. We knew that once he understands what lethal warriors they are and admires them, their philosophy will become his. They kept him occupied for most of the day while we concentrated on the adults.
“There are seventeen of you, six females and eleven males plus Sid. Why is there only one child?”
The women wailed, beating their chests as a man replied, “We have babies, but they die.”
“That is in the past, from now, if you wish to have children, they will be born healthy.”
The arithmetic was horrifying. In the beginning there must have been tens or maybe hundreds of millions locked out of the city or refusing to stay inside. Over eighty years they had been reduced to three hundred thousand. We found them just in time, this was the last generation of ‘families’, after that there would only be the odd survivor, like Sid, condemned to living and dying alone.
Of all the aliens, it was the Eminixx who made the extra effort to be close friends to the Outsiders. When they learnt about them calling themselves ‘families’ and of the mutations their planet was causing them, it brought home to them the suffering their ancestors endured and empathy made them identify and care about the Outsiders far more deeply.
The cities learnt about the Outsiders firsthand when we brought their mayors to meet them. By then we had them clean, nicely dressed and healthy, only the odd visible mutation identifying them as being different. They were sympathetic but very worried. They requested we allow them to meet in private and they were taken to a hall in a treehouse.
“It is not that easy for us to do as you ask. How did we evolve, was it not by mutating? Nature got locked in, leaving our people as we were for thousands of years. Finally, on our world she woke up and gave us a nudge by creating Cherine. Who knows what it is she plans for your world? The boy is one small answer, there will be others now that they are healthy enough to breed again.
We could build a city for them and provide them with everything they need to survive and grow. The question is, what if they do evolve and you do not?”
“You are telling us that some mutations could be beneficial, improving us. I have no argument with that, not after meeting you and hearing your story. What I want you to answer is this: What do we do with those who mutate in ways that are damaging; twisted and useless arms, microcephalous mutations that are vegetables and so on? Do we cull them or allow them to suffer?”
“If your history is anything like ours, abnormal children have been born throughout the ages. Culling is not an option in a humane society, you do the best you can for them.”
“You are certain that is more humane?”
Another asked, “What of their souls Robert? What is the effect on them spending decades suffering?”
Dommi said, “You have met the Outsiders, a number of mutations that are handicaps have not prevented them from living useful lives. The extreme mutations that are counter-evolutionary, such as babies born with organs outside their body, do not survive for long. All that is expected is that you ease the short time they have with you and mourn them when they die. Not because they need you to - it is for yourselves, so that you remain, as a society, fully human.”
Wasted breath. We were arguing philosophical questions that do not have a clear or single answer. The decision has to depend on those who will have to live with it. My mind went off at a tangent, startling me - but more of that later.
“If we had no choice, I’d agree with you. Since you do have the ability to heal them, that has to be the only humane option.”
Robbie made one last effort. “I think you are making a mistake. With your world healed, the mutations that are not beneficial to us as a species will decrease as they are less likely to breed, whereas those that improve us will increase, the genes slowly spreading throughout our race as we think is now happening in many realities.” What Robbie said, we sensed, made it worse for them as they imagined their children being tainted by mutations.
Robbie was fighting an instinct that has nothing to do with logic. People want their children to be born ‘normal’ and they want them to live in a society of normal people, not freaks. If he pressures them, I thought, it will end up in wars or extermination programs one day. I sent to him my thoughts and he backed off.
“We’ll provide the Outsiders with another planet.” They were relieved and praised us for making a wise decision.
That night, when we’d returned the leaders, I told everyone what I’d thought of.
“It cannot be coincidence, every species has the same story to tell. For them to evolve technologically they had to pass through a phase when they polluted their planet, causing numerous mutations. In retrospect it seems to me that nature wanted it that way, looking to each of our species to give it a helping hand once natural selection was no longer effective in creating improvements. Nature would not care if a thousand species try and die out, all it wants is for one to succeed, for one Cherine to be born so that all species can then grow.”
I did get chastised for sounding callow and careless of the pain of others once we were alone at home.
Most of the Outsiders have reverted to a savage way of life. We could not bring them into Freddie as they were. We built eight towns on Earth, within close proximity of each other, and moved them, a few groups at a time. We spent weeks with them, explaining and showing them how to improve their lives. We started schools so that all of them, not only the children, could learn the basics. As they adjusted we would bring in the next groups and the previous ones would help us with the newcomers. Only seven months have passed and we expect to spend another three to four years before they are ready to be moved to a new planet.
The local island of Cyprus is much smaller than it was, with only Nicosia, Pissouri, Stroumbi and Kyperounda existing as small enclosed towns. Because of the mountain, more than the usual number of Outsiders have survived, living in caves - most of the caves created by their ancestors. The beach between Pissouri and what used to be Timi is further inland now but the uneven ground has created a number of coves with nice sandy or pebbly beaches.
We chose a cove, built a huge bungalow so as to have a bedroom that would fit all of us and added another thirty smaller bungalows for our friends and guests. Robbie copied our taverna, adding a transparent partition to break the wind. Mostly Robbie does the cooking, Maria sometimes helping us. She is training two families from a Cyprus city in the old Cypriot cuisine and when we leave we will hand the place over to them.
As of this time, thirty four years after our arrival, we only have fourteen local Cherinians. If we have a hundred by the time we leave we will be pleased. The people are nice, that is not the problem. Being a Cherinian is not only about being nice, having a good heart, at least, not according to Robbie. He insists this world is at a deadend because the people are nice and not aggressive, the spirit that drives most human races seems to have weakened - just as much of our populations had become during the most intense part of the pc era.
To kick-start them he insists we only link goats, in the hope they will bring back some fire to the souls of the rest. At some time or other, we will have to check their past for a Robert and Cherine. If they never existed, we’ll collect those who did exist and bring the couple from elsewhere. We have not decided what we should do regarding Cherinians for the new Earth of the mutants.
Robbie wanted to name our beach complex “Aphrodite” because it is close to the area she was supposed to have come out of the sea, but we all preferred ‘Club Estelle’, so he gave in, telling us we are not a cultured lot.
Robbie and Athia were the first to stay at Club Estelle. The only others allowed there are Jesus and Christós. Robbie can ‘know-sense’ they are there, but they never intrude. Mostly they go there, never both at the same time, to drink a bottle of wine and think.
When Robbie and Athia first arrived, Robbie pulled at her chin, “Are you planning any more surprises?”
“Hmm. Well, I intend surprising you.”
“What?”
“Not what my love, how. By how much I love you.” Seeing he was off to a good start, we let them be, keeping them in the background as we went about our duties, or played or studied.
As with most children, Sid saw impossible things being done without understanding the why, so he presumed Freddie was responsible to a degree. He thought he only had to want to be able to do something and thanks to Freddie, he would be able to. He is not a normal child, so it was easier for him to open his mind to new gifts - it is encouraging that he did not wish for new powers. I wonder if it is partly because of the example provided by the Akiard kids. It might be, for his first achievement was that of projecting himself as an Akiard male. He became so excited that he left them and ran to show his father. We watched with amusement as he tried to convince his father that he really is Sid. He gave up and changed back to himself. His father was laughing, in his mind, and extremely proud of his son, convinced he will soon be as powerful as any of us Cherinians.
Sid used projecting for a while, but he also listened and learnt and soon started calling for his healer. With a bit of help he succeeded and told it to change him so that he has ten toes like everyone else. Cherine decided there was little point in not linking him as he could end up acquiring many more gifts without being a Cherinian. When she linked him he burst into tears. He’d spent his life feeling different from everyone and therefore, very much alone. That is why he clings so tightly to his father.
* * * * *
I agree, and so does everyone else, this was just a dream, not a vision or a sharing of our lives or visit to our reality. We can understand the anxiety and your questioning whether you deserve to be accepted/linked as a Cherinian.
We have already told you that there will be no qualifying needed, if we get you here, there is no way we can refuse to link you. you qualify. So, tell your subconscious to relax and stop torturing you without reason. J
These years have dramatically changed Sheena. Not only that she has grown up. Seeing so much misery and pain, re-learning by sharing, how Normals lives differ from ours has made her very sensitive to them. Since we’ve started visiting the cities, she is seen more often walking through some city than she is in Freddie. She is careful to tone down her looks, appearing as a washed out version of herself.
Despite that, a young man fell in love with her.
Sheena has spent countless nights in our bed, loving and being loved, but Robbie never took her virginity. About five years ago she gave up and stopped appearing as a child and has not been in our bed since then - which means that she suffers.
We’ve argued with Robbie, afraid we are losing her, but he refuses to do anything to influence her. We became very angry, telling him that he is talking nonsense, that he is influencing her anyway, teaching her that she is not really part of our family and not loved by him. He refuses to give in.
Sheena was sitting at a coffee shop, drinking a substitute coffee, lost in her thoughts, when a young man sat at her table. People in the cities do not hog a table to themselves; as the establishments fill up, they just sit at any chair still empty.
“I’ve never seen you before. Where are you from?”
She thought of pretending, but then decided to tell him the truth so as to see how he would react. “From Freddie.”
“You are a Cherinian? Are you from Prime Earth?”
“No, I’m an alien.”
“You don’t look like one, you are using a human body?”
She smiled, “No, this one is mine.”
He pointed at himself, “This one is mine also. Not much to look at, but I am fond of it.”
His uninhibited presence broke her out of her moodiness and sad thoughts and Sheena was soon enjoying their repartee without her taking the precaution of monitoring him. She thought that because she was not pretty, no man would be interested - for that, I guess we are to blame. By the time she sensed him, it was too late, he was in love with her. In her panic she forgot to pay and standing up, jumped to Freddie.
Sheena walked out onto her balcony and stared down at the landscape, her thoughts in a turmoil. Her thoughts grew bitter and she considered the matter from another angle. It has seemed obvious to her for some time that Robbie does not want her for his wife, even though she’s been pulled into our family circle. The man seemed nice and she’d liked him, perhaps a life of being loved, she told herself, is better than the emptiness of only loving.
From bitterness she moved on to self pity, imagining herself living with the young man, feeling nothing but friendship for him as she lay in his arms while an eternity was spent loving Robbie from a distance. She knew we would welcome the young man in Freddie if she decided to be with him and the thought of seeing Robbie without being free to feel her feelings made her weep.
She spent most of that night unable to think clearly and objectively, falling asleep just before dawn. An hour later she woke up and washed her face. The brief sleep had broken her string of thoughts and chain of emotions and she kept her mind blank as she prepared herself a snack.
She sat on the balcony, snack forgotten, as her thoughts suddenly sank deep. Much of the past and the numerous conversations becoming clearer, showing her a truth about herself she’d not understood. Tears flowed, but these were good, a healthy release.
Once she’d recovered, she changed and projecting herself as she’d been, she returned to the coffee shop. She was not disappointed, despite it being early morning, the young man was there. He did not wait for her to speak first.
“I saw your beauty even though you try to hide it.” He showed her a photo of herself from an older newspaper. “Why did you come back?”
“Because I like you and I do not want you to be hurting because of me.”
“It is a little bit late for that. You’ve decided I’m not good enough?”
“No! I already love someone...”
“You looked sad when I first saw you…then why did you encourage me? Do you think us…Normals you call us? Do you think we cannot love the way you do?”
“I…I thought I was ugly so I was safe, nobody could love me. I was enjoying our conversation and forgot to be careful. I’m sorry.”
He stared at her in astonishment. “You think this is ugly!” he laughed. “You must be blind, even as you are now, you’re the loveliest woman I’ve ever met.”
The truth is, he really is a nice person. He acknowledged, to himself, that she had shown courage and honesty in returning to tell him how she felt. He was hurt enough to be petty for a short while, but Sheena was keeping herself open to him and understood. She thought to herself that she must ask Cherine to meet him and link him if she agrees he is a potential Cherinian. She accepted that she cannot repair the damage she’s caused and accepted his pain as the price she will have to pay.
As soon as Sheena left, Cherine walked in and putting her hand on his arm she asked him to sit down again. “I am a Cherinian.”
His eyes were wide open with awe. “I know, you are Cherine!”
He paled at the thought of her entering his mind. “No.” He then remembered his manners. “Thank you.”
“Then let me tell you a story about Sheena.” She told him about you, about your dream. He listened with a heart aching for Sheena as she explained about the Whites. “As you see, you did not really have a chance, a girl loved by our Author, she really is special.”
“Thank you for explaining. I hope she will be loved.”
“She is, that is why love was not given to her. She is now ready.”
Cherine did not link him, but she gave him a chance. If he grows, she will.
Sheena found herself in a funny place. She’d now understood why Robbie had held back and was confident that when he senses the change in her he will welcome her with open arms. However, as dire as her need was to let him know that she sees the truth now, she had to force herself to wait (sort of an anticlimax), for he was on honeymoon at Club Estelle.
Robbie grinned when Empathia sighed, pulling away from his embrace. “I’ll send her to you.”
“I have to let you go first.” Chuckling he tightened his arms about her. His amusement faded as he felt her. “Where are your feminine instincts, love!”
“I can wait, I know you love me. I’ll be happier afterwards, promise.”
“We’ll go back together. Athia, I’m not going to make love to her, not before we marry and go on our honeymoon.”
She found the courage and amazed all of us while some of the girls held their breaths. “Dad, I want to postpone our honeymoon. It is time we marry all seven girls and then you must take Sheena on a honeymoon first.”
Robbie grinned. “Was that a proposal?” the six girls screamed and jumped to them, only Sheena waited for Robbie to make his decision. He laughed as the girls smothered Athia in kisses and, pretending he did not know, he asked, *Sheena, do I have to ask your parents for your hand in marriage or are you an adult?*
It was the quickest change we’ve seen and she replied, *A child Robert, always.* He quickly kissed the girls and jumped, grabbing hold of Sheena.
“What is the custom among your people? Do I ask your father or both parents?”
“Just me Robert.”
“You heard Athia? She proposed, what is your answer?”
“I don’t think I’ve waited for anyone this long. Feel my love Sheena.”
Robbie is still a romantic - thank goodness. He suggested we go to Goldi’s Lavender planet for the wedding.
It took a few days for us to arrange platforms for those still working and we explained to the locals we will be gone for a day or two.
We arrived on planet without having thought of any new ways to make it special for them. It did not matter, since we are not under any time pressure, but we still felt anxious.
During a discussion, we happened to mentioned that their wedding anniversaries will also be the 1st of January, PC26, since that will be the date we return to our home reality. Michael heard and proposed, so the two of them are also getting married.
Alki and Marian asked us to wait and using a small platform they flew away. We were not in a hurry as we all wanted to see the new home you created for Michael and Ahnì. You must have just created it as the house is not for a bachelor anymore and Ahnì is delighted with it. Why are they the only ones who got a swimming pool? Robbie was more interested in the pool table. He says he has not seen anything like it for years. Full size and with a bed of slate. We all played and it is very different from those we find at amusement places.
While we all had lunch together, Cassie made a joke about us marrying seven girls while Robbie still has a honeymoon owing. She then pointed out that if each one takes thirty years, the last girl will start hers in two hundred and ten years! Jade said we will probably have more brides by then (all our friends groaned) so the honeymoons will never finish. Robbie very wisely kept quiet, he’s given up protesting that he will ever marry more.
Marian made a suggestion that Cherine approved of, so it will happen that way. “I think it would be nicer if we have one wedding a day. Let’s start with Michael and Ahnì.”
“Then Sheena.” Dommi said.
“Shouldn’t the girls draw straws or something?”
I’ve waited, but no answer. I guess he realised I was teasing. I bet he would have just left them out, only stating they all got married so that he has space for another cliff-hanger.
Alki and Marian have prepared a place for the weddings to take place. They found a mountain that has snow on the peak for about a quarter of the year. At about seventy per cent of the height there is a large ledge, at least two hundred metres deep and three hundred wide. The view from up there is really beautiful. The white mountains peaks must be extra lovely at night as the coloured moons fly over them, tinting them.
