Zenon is good at discovering new remote tavernas for us to eat in privacy, so he took us to one on the west coast of Greece, the village nestled in a cove at the feet of mountains.
Of course the one nobody is happy with is yours truly. At least the kids always show their love and never take sides. Perhaps it helps that they don’t always learn about our arguments.
Robbie said to Efineh that since she isn’t going home she might as well take on a job. He appointed her official guide to Freddie for any visitors we might have. She was happy, not because of the job, but because she sees it as an indication that she’ll be here for a long time. I’ve had it explained to me, as if I did not know, that it is not that she doesn’t want to go home, it’s just that she feels she’ll miss out.
Since Robbie made an appointment, I thought I should have my turn. I told them I am appointing Arthur as the official messenger for Freddie. Grr…I hate it when nobody is amused by my sense of humour.
Some weeks have passed and Gregory was born today. I can’t tell you how delighted we all are. Us children now have a real uncle (and brother-in-law) and Robbie has a brother. Cherine just can’t get over it and surprised everyone when we were leaving to return home by asking if she could spend the night with Gregory. We can sense her talking to him non-stop, even while he sleeps. The poor guy is going to think he was born into a cookie family.
Robbie waited for a few days so that Gregory could join us as a boy of about ten and then declared we are having a party to celebrate his arrival. Even (most) of the scientists left their work to join us. I came across Msito and we chatted.
I asked, really curious about their reactions, “How did the couple take to being parents in the Spartan World?”
She told me, excited by her news, “They are talking about having a child and keeping it.”
“But are they qualified to rear a child? What do they know about bringing up children?”
She laughed. “You like causing trouble. Don’t worry, some have asked the same questions, but seriously. They refuse to listen to anyone and are determined to go ahead.”
“Good for them. Tell them I’ve volunteered Dommi’s services if they need advice or a babysitter.” All the family chuckled, but were also slightly envious of her when Msito replied she was certain they will be calling on her often.
Gregory has just had his first big argument with his parents. Poor Wilfred was so determined to be a good and loving father this time around and now his week old son decides he wants to leave! He went to his brother for some old fashioned brotherly support.
“I understand how you feel, but I agree with dad, you’re not ready. Greg, you don’t have the necessary day to day experience yet and you’ll increase the danger he’s in. I’m sorry.”
Gregory is a very serious and angry young man, but he’s had to give in. He did not like it when Haven pointed out to him that he does not have any unique gifts yet that would be important to the safety of the group so he better buckle down and study and practice if he wants to go someday.
Lol, you have just been voted the weirdest author ever (Meli initiated it). Cassie suggested we start a new church called ‘The Weird Author’. We all laughed when someone else said that a church with such a name would draw millions.
Okay, play your games for now, we’ll find out someday.
The Akiards, I can’t always call them the kids since so many of them are adults, were waiting for us when we arrived at the taverna for breakfast. Robbie went over to them, but they firmly asked that he has his breakfast, coffee and cigarette before they speak to us. We hurried though our breakfast, out of curiosity, but also because we could sense they had something important to ask or tell us.
As leader, Akiar spoke for them. “Father, Mother and Friend, sisters and friends, we have given serious thought to our ancestors who wait to die and be reborn as us. We have decided as follows:
We are restricted as to the numbers we can bring every time since they must be born and live their early years in Freddie. This is important for them to become Warriors of Love. We will also need the Unation to continue adjusting bodies so that each male has a female. Would a maximum number, at each birth, of five hundred be too many?”
“No, but at those numbers it will take forever to help all your people. Make it five hundred males and an equal number of females.”
“We have the time father, it will not matter if it takes thousands of years, for time does not pass for those who wait and it is important they grow here as they should and then as they leave to join us on our world they can be assimilated without any problems so that we grow our society in a healthy manner.
We ask that you help us find a planet or solar system that may be given to us as our new home. We will start by only building small towns so as to avoid future arrivals placing pressure on those who live there.
All of us have Wirm friends and we hope the same will be true for those to come. With them at our side we will never forget to love. They will also be able to help us visit Freddie at intervals as we treasure our presence here and will always think of Freddie as our home and all of you as our prime family.
Our entity has shown us that we do not need Samantha and Samuel to join with us, we can form our own higher being with our entity as part of us. If we are needed as Warriors of the Light, we can come as that being, to help.
Are our wishes and dreams reasonable father?”
He bowed his head to Meli. “She found the answer for us father, we only had to see it.”
Robbie’s lips curled slightly, but he was just as puzzled as the rest of us. “Our Meli is wise, but I think that even she is puzzled as to how she solved our problem.”
“When she created the story for Candy, did she not allow us to stay as we are and build a village suitable for us?”
“Good lord, so she did! Still, I must insist, our admiration for the way you solved the problems and for finding a way to remain family belongs to you, your sister only helped by accident, you recognised the potential without any of us doing so. I am very proud of all of you.”
As Robbie said, it was a day of great excitement for everyone but also a slight sadness. All the species have grown to love our kids and admire them. Many of them have made friends among them and are hoping they will be allowed to visit them - especially the foster parents.
It is an unspoken promise that anyone wanting to write in the Teller diary, especially if it is for the purpose of communicating with you Arthur, one of the family, the choice being ours, will write for us so that our words are not lost. This is true even when we wish to mention something they do not approve of or intensely dislike or consider a betrayal of them or one of them. This is Msito and Tina is writing for me. At this moment she does not know of what I wish to speak of and the rest of the family have agreed this is a time of privacy and Tina is bound to the same promise.
[This is Tina, I want to clarify something and Msito is aware of what I’m writing. What she said about us being bound to write for them even if we disapprove, it is not just true, it is especially true. By the way, I think she chose me because our Angel is too close to her and would guess what she intends writing.]
Since our people first met the Teller family and, especially since I met Samantha, there have been a number of misunderstanding between us that have caused ill feelings from my side. That has laid a debt on my soul as Samantha has never acted in any way that was not honourable and loving - even when she was deceiving us. I do not have knowledge of whether she will see what I propose to clarify for you as a small step in settling my debt and showing my love for her. Since her family and friends are aware of what I am about to explain and they have not written of it, it might be they do not because they, or she, would consider it a betrayal of her or of her right to keep such facts from you. I hope I am wrong, for I feel that keeping the knowledge from you is a bigger crime against both of you.
Arthur, you only see her words as she chooses to write here. There is a lot of teasing between you and some love is shown, but Samantha is careful to keep the depth of her feelings from showing, therefore it is impossible for you to appreciate how much she has grown to love you. We, however, are all aware.
We have watched the many arguments between you with sorrow, feeling how they affect her. Samantha may be responsible for a number of the arguments, but it is also true that too many of them are caused by you. Whatever your reasons are and whatever your insecurities, the truth is that you are damaging Samantha. In the hope you will try to avoid some of them in the future, I have taken the initiative.
Samantha, of all Cherinians probably, not just her family or the Terrans, is the closest to being a Normal. We believe that which forms her so that she is friend of aliens comes from that. More than anyone I know, what she feels, she feels far more strongly than all of us. Her empathy for those who need her while being thought of as being hostile, is perhaps stronger than Cherine’s or Robert’s. That is her greatest weakness and her strength.
We have argued among my people as to why she is as she is. It has nothing to do with her time lived as almost a Normal on the world of Efineh. That time came about because of her being as she is, not the other way around.
We have used all our expertise to study Samantha deeply, far deeper than any species, apart from possibly the Unation, so as to understand her. She terrifies us for she takes decisions that lead her family and all Cherinians in directions where sometimes only she foresees the results. It still amazes us that Robert, with his unswerving dedication to protecting and leading Cherinians to a future that closest approaches their potential, often allows her to make changes that he does not understand.
We have identified one person as having the strongest influence on her. Though he is a Cherinian, she has loved and admired, not the Cherinian in him, but the Normal that he was originally. Those are the qualities of his that helped define who she is when she was but an infant. The man is Alki.
His influence has been beneficial in almost all ways, but because of him she has grown up as a Cherinian with certain tendencies and weaknesses of the Normals interwoven within her. One of his greatest strengths is his sense of responsibility for all actions he takes or does not take on behalf of all those he cares for, but that, at the excess she feels it, is also her weakness. That is why she breaks down and needs to withdraw to recover or attacks those who help her or her loved ones. Think back on all the times she has done so, not once has she attacked anyone weaker than her, with them she is always gentle and loving - and shows her gratitude. She only acts that way with those who are stronger than her.
Arthur, if you can stop seeing her only as a Cherinian and see her as a girl with insecurities and doubts that sometimes shatter her when she discovers truths that change all Cherinians, her sense of responsibility overwhelming her, then perhaps you will control yourself and show her the same consideration you would a child of your world?
Robert: there you are Arthur, you tell me, where does she get these obvious ideas from? Not even the teams had thought of the possibility, despite seeing how the Unation ships can jump. We passed on to them her idea and there was great joy, especially at the idea of being able to visit home. They discussed it and decided they would rather send one ship (without their ‘trees’) at a time so that they don’t risk losing them. We will have to visit for helping to carry the sample cells and souls and creating the new bodies but it will cut down on the time we have to spend at each planet.
Dad gets carried away sometimes. Why doesn’t he have any of that wonderful British reserve?
The latest species we brought back were excited to learn about us Cherinians and that we are not an exclusive ‘club’. They have promised us they will be tailoring their society to lead them in the direction they need to adapt, so as to become Cherinians. I found it strange that they are not worried about not becoming Cherinians themselves, they only care about their children and the following generations. When we learnt how they venerate their children, we decided not to do a telling at this time. Samuel accused us of not being honest and I cheerfully agreed with him. I offered to get Robbie to create a platform for him to visit them and tell them about us. He did not think I was funny, but neither did he take me up on my offer. I bet he will surprise me one of these days and then I won’t feel so clever.
Now we are travelling again on our search for a planet suitable for our Akiards. Robbie had hoped to find them a world kinder and more lush than their mother planet, but they prefer their semi-arid type of environment.
Although Robbie collects his reports weekly, it is only weekly in the other realities, sometimes he checks day after day because he thinks he sees a trend developing, then it may be at anything up to a month for us before he collects them again. We all examine the reports and we are worried because we can’t see that they are up to anything.
This is Robert. It is five days since your marathon chat. The scientists met with us in a conference room and showed us graphs and tons of documents. They say they have identified further details of the connection and the new equipment has given them a lot of startling facts.
As you know, you chatted with Sam while she was in Freddie while scientists monitored from a different reality. Well, this time they monitored from three different realities. All were positive. In simple terms I would say they were hoping to triangulate and discover the direction the connection travels. They failed.
No, it seems to travel in different directions, according to the reality they are in, the difference in time between the realities and, for all we know, the proximity of galaxies or black holes. We are still guessing the reasons, but everyone hopes we’ll know what is interfering soon.
One of the benefits is that they have many new refinements they want to incorporate before the next test. In the meantime our two friends and Angelica are spending months at a time in different realities practising. The CherInguel scientists claim that now they know how the machines work, they are trying to breed a range of plants to mimic the machines in the hope that there will be differences that add to our body of knowledge. Hang on Arthur, we’re going to find you. The scientists don’t dare fail, they are all terrified.
