Once he was gone she explained she thought it important that Michael grows to love Hetties’ son so as to avoid any future conflicts.
As Freddie departed, they were grateful for the chance to relax. Harding, the British prime minister sat close to me with a gin and tonic in his hand. “Will you be able to heal all the people on our planet?”
“I should answer that it is up to your Robert and Cherine to decide. If we do, will they reduce their birth rate?”
He sighed. “So many changes in such a short time! The changes you Cherinians demand of us means that governments will lose much of their authority. I fear the anarchy that could result.”
“Surely it depends on the messages you send out? People want the comfort of knowing certain things are eternal. Families, homes, jobs, security, education plus all the gadgets they consider necessary. As you change or relax laws, teach them how important it is they take responsibility for their own lives, but also for caring about their world and other people. You may end up closing all your hospitals, but I can guarantee you will need your prisons for a long time - human nature being what it is.”
“Our Eden will remain full of serpents?”
“You’ve seen that it is the same among Cherinians - hence the existence of Ipohin and groups like those of Campbell. Tell me, if you were a Cherinian prime minister, how would you deal with his likes?”
“I would not be ignoring them as you seem to be doing.”
“You would attack them?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you should do a telling for us so that we understand you better before I venture opinions?”
“Freddie we’ll need about three weeks.” I turned back to him. “We’ll start tomorrow. I asked you my question exactly because you know so little about us. Sometimes we flounder because we keep our eyes on the future, worried about where Cherinianism will lead us. Often the ethics are not that clear either.”
“With great power goes great responsibility? I’m glad to hear so. No, I might not attack without provocation, but I would make it clear what I will not tolerate.”
“They know. They are laying low until they feel they are strong enough to challenge us. Now and then they test us, looking for our weak points.”
“Surely your refusal to take lives is your weakest point?”
“Maybe, maybe not. I like to consider it our strongest point.”
He shook his head. “You are so practical in many ways, but so impractical in others.” I grinned and nodded in agreement, frustrating him even further.
Samantha and I spent much of this extra time in my apartment talking and sharing thoughts. There was not much I could guide her on, for she is still close to the way I am. I don’t doubt Empathia spent a lot of time thinking, but I was scrupulous about not picking at her thoughts and emoting - although I did notice she did not consult with the imps. As for what those two will think up is anyone’s guess.
Watching the telling, it has became glaringly obvious how our lives have changed. In the earlier part we did things. We explored and took risks with the panache of innocents. We helped and searched for those in danger. We spread Cherinianism and our lives were filled with enthusiasms and joys. Our loving was more spontaneous and fulfilling. Now, things are done to us. Now we are no longer proactive, only reacting to attacks and all-encompassing fears that have muted our souls.
Robbie contradicted what I’ve just said by pointing out that we only recently undertook some of the largest projects for helping others. I disagreed with him, explaining that it is not what we do, but how we feel that counts. Most of the time we are feeling defensive and worried about the future, the projects we undertake are only interludes that brighten our lives for a time.
I don’t know if I’m to blame, but Robbie asked Freddie to jump to the Lace world. We all wanted to visit the surface, especially on the night side and it was beautiful feeling all those who were seeing it for the first time. From there we went to visit the fire-world. Very few of our guests were willing to experience a ride but they watched the screens for every single second the girls took us on a ride. S-Cherine surprised us by not enjoying the ride as much as her Robert did. Their son Nicholas was ecstatic and kept on pleading for one more ride.
As we travelled through realities we were inundated by politicians and those with them, confiding in us that seeing the beast from close up gave them a different appreciation of what they’d seen in the telling. I can’t help wondering, would seeing a Gnolat after them from close up be as beneficial?
Without warning us, Robbie took us to visit Orgg and Jeskine. We only realised when suddenly the two of them appeared in Freddie and then our world filled up with Roulans and Neans. There was pandemonium as we rushed to hug and kiss the two of them and then King Meesartus, Illafayéd and the rest of our friends.
Two parties were arranged. One in the city and the other by the Neans in ‘Athens’. It had us in stitches sensing how the presidents of Egypt and Greece reacted to the way their countries belong to others in this reality. There was no need to worry though, by the time we left, there were but a few who did not love and admire the people of this planet.
Freddie arrived in the void to give the politicians time to prepare their strategies. Now that all they’d experienced was in the past, memories they no longer quite trusted palled before the reality they would soon be facing and they were getting cold feet. We called for a meeting and their Samantha took the podium.
“I’ve been reviewing all that happened on this trip. I tried to imagine what reception our decisions would receive and to tell you the truth, I think we would be making a big mistake if we announced them straight off.” Boy were they relieved to hear her say that!
“First of all, I could not help empathising with their probable conclusions. Cherinians take you to another reality and you return with shattering decisions already made. What would I think if I were in their shoes? I’d not only suspect, but also be certain that somehow those mutants with extrasensory powers brainwashed you. I’d see this development as a process for the Cherinians to take over our planet. They will see you as either victims or traitors and there will be a massive explosion of hate and fear of us. We have to rethink our strategies. I do have a few suggestions to make.” She paused, sensing they were afraid, but also willing to listen.
As the public grow accustomed to the changes and become enthusiastic and optimistic about their future, start talks about disarmament. Then ask the question, why only disarmament, why not a planet without any weapons and armies? Talk about how much can be saved in taxes, lowering the rates for all taxpayers. Do not lower the rate for corporations and business by much, concentrate on reducing the burden on the ordinary family. I am aware that you are professionals and that I should not be trying to tell you how to handle the situation, but I was worried and wanted to share my thoughts with you. Thank you for being so patient and kind.”
It took them nearly a month to come to agreements between themselves as to timetables and methods or strategies to be commonly adopted. Luckily Robbie suspected from the first hour that it would take a long time and Freddie quietly jumped to another reality. We and their Cherinians kept out of their discussions. We realised they are likely to use methods we cannot be a party to, but saw the necessity of allowing them to handle things according to their ways. Hopefully such deceptions (or self-deceptions) will not be required for much longer in the world they are building.
* * * * *
Since arriving, we’ve mostly sat quietly watching and listening as the world reacted to what they learnt about other realities and then changes starting to occur in their world. It felt as if their people were experiencing an overflow of euphoria at the positive changes and what criticism and fears were expressed were ignored by the majority of the people.
I took to jumping to various cities or towns as an adult woman or man (mostly in the Islamic countries) to share from close the mood of the public and listen to their discussions and arguments at their local coffee shops. When I saw a growing trend, suspicions and what they called common sense beginning to reassert themselves, we made a move. Robbie asked to address their United Nations.
From our family only Robbie and Eddie went, but all of the local Teller family were present. Once Robbie was given the floor he paced up and down as he talked.
“We had planned on leaving after returning your leaders and Cherinians. Luckily we sensed that changes were about to take place, so we stayed out of curiosity. I’m glad we did. Your governments have achieved within months what it took our governments decades to achieve. You have good reason to be proud of yourselves.
As you know, I am considered by all Cherinians, of all species, the leader of our people. What is not commonly known is that I in turn am ruled by some of the loveliest girls in any reality - no slight intended on the beauties of your world.
They have been demanding of me that we show our pleasure at the wisdom and good nature you have shown by doing en masse what your Cherinians have tried doing to a smaller degree. We want to spend a few days visiting the entire planet for the purpose of healing every single human being. Even those who consider themselves healthy will be examined for any problems that could appear in the near future. If we do so, it means every one of you will live at least an extra twenty to forty years.
Before we make this offer a fact, we do have a problem to solve. It is a problem that only you, each man and woman, can solve. Other Earths have done so, so I do not believe you are incapable of showing the same maturity. If you all benefit from having prime health and less people die while you continue to multiply at the rate you are growing, your planet will soon be overcrowded, the ecology will collapse and even having prime health will not prevent the loss of lives and collapse of your civilisation.
Do we trust them to keep their word? Not for the majority of them. However, there are some things that have to be taken on good faith. Over the next few years, many who had not meant it will see the wisdom of our request and some who meant it will give in to temptation and have too many children.
The imps came up with an idea for Empathia that she loved. We announced that each weekend we are inviting one thousand families from each country to visit us in Freddie. For the Moslems we made it Thursday to Friday. Once the locals worked out the procedures, we had an enthusiastic crowd four days a week traipsing all over Freddie. Volunteers helped in the kitchens and though we asked each family to leave the house they’d stayed in clean, volunteers had to take care of that also. Whatever they stole as souvenirs we replaced without comment. Whatever was stolen out of greediness, they arrived home with the item missing.
With us still appearing as little girls, Robbie had to be careful about being alone with their kids. Allan took care of the problem by always having his loves with him. He became quite a popular storyteller, but happily he did not tell any shitty stories. J
Unfortunately for certain people, one of the side effects of having so many children in Freddie was that, because we monitored them to try and ensure all are happy, we sensed those who were being abused; mentally, physically or sexually. Even the abused children were overcome by awe and excited, so it speaks volumes for what damage is done to young minds by some adults, that we could still sense their pain at such a moment. We kept count and found that most of them were damaged by verbal abuse and psychological warfare. Isn’t that a horrible word to use in describing the relationship between a child and its parent(s)? To me, it is just as ugly as sexual abuse is, in some cases even uglier.
We did not allow Robbie to handle the problem. Where we sensed the abuser really loved their child, we would show them how the mind of a happy child feels and then force them to sense how different their children are. Those we felt it had affected, their names dropped off our lists. Those we believed would continue to behave in the same way, we handed their names to their governments. We suggested all of them institute as a matter of course an examination of all children returning from Freddie to determine how their visit had affected them. Armed with the information we’d supplied them, they would ‘discover’ the damaged children and take them away from their parents. The torturers and sexual molesters (where the child was forced and hurt), we had to let Robbie handle once they’d been home for a few weeks. We took their Robert to the prison planet for him to use as needed, once we have departed.
As with every reality, there are also pigheaded people here who refuse to adapt. Some out of a rigid upbringing, others out of fear and some because of their narrow-minded interpretations of their religions, but the worst are those who are so out of greed for power. The Spartans had to descend into cities by the hundreds of millions to watch out for secret plans to destroy our plans by acts of terrorism or by military coups. As can be expected, most of those involved were officers in the military forces who saw (in the upper level of their minds) the negotiations as a betrayal of their country. We would present the governments with details and names and all the groups were stopped before anyone was hurt. As Empathia advised, they saw to it that such cases received the minimum of publicity.
These months have been unfair to the rest of our wives. Every time Samantha influenced the governments, Empathia would be wanting Robbie to make love to me and when her suggestions were offered and accepted, I would want Robbie to make love to her. I guess it was our way of showing the other we did not resent their successes. None of the girls ever complained. Whenever I was chosen I stayed my usual age of about eleven to twelve with minor variations towards being younger. When Empathia was chosen she sometimes wanted to be an adult. Am I supposed to read something in that?
Politely he greeted us and introduced himself as Jimmy. Most adults tend to call themselves Jim and Lynda made a comment to that effect. He smiled. “I prefer Jimmy, it sounds friendlier. I guess I also prefer it as I like to think of myself as a crowbar.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“I realised I was being rude, sitting and staring at you all day. You may consider it presumptuous of me, but I needed to leave here with the feeling that all these girls are not being manipulated by you and are happy. What is the point of me wandering around like a tourist, marvelling at the amazing world you have created, if I leave with a suspicion that children in here are suffering.”
“You consider yourself a protector of children?”
He turned the thought over in his mind, liking the feel of it. “A good description, yes.”
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“I do not sense that you are a paedophile, neither in the good or the bad sense of the word. Why such a strong interest in the welfare of children?”
Softly Dommi asked, “Were you abused as a child?”
“Yes.” He looked around at us. “Not sexually. My father left us when I was about two years old and my brother was just a newborn baby. My mother adored my little brother, but she hated me. You are all telepaths?”
“Yes, but we do not…”
“Would it be possible for only you and her (Dommi) to share my memories? Can you, or do you only see what I’m thinking of?”
“We can share your memories but, as a stranger your mind will fight us. You have to be convinced we are not there to pry and you are sharing voluntarily. Dominique and I would respect your confidence, but stray wisps may escape us when we share our memories with our family. Beyond that it will not go.”
“How do we do it?”
“Relax, close your eyes and welcome us when you sense us in your mind.”
When they returned to their bodies their faces were drawn and white, their eyes filled with pain. With teeth clenched, Dommi stared off into the distance, so Robbie kept quiet.
“We can help you if you wish. We would revert you to a child of two and you would be brought up by a family that love you. Your present memories will not be lost, but you will have healthy memories of being loved to counteract them with.”
“It would change me?”
He struggled with the temptation for a while. “Thank you, but I would rather not. I have devoted my life to helping children and if you gentle my pain I might lose my compulsion. My life now has meaning, I do not want to lose that.”
“You are helping out of hate and anger. Wouldn’t it be better to help out of love?”
“I dare not risk it. The children I help, they do not have the insight to know why I help, all that matters is that they have a chance to be happy and loved.”
“Should you change your mind, send an email to the Robert of your world.”
I quickly asked, by explaining first about Arthur. “Would you object to my father writing the details of your life in the diary?”
“I do not keep my past a secret, I have written a book about my life and when I give talks I tell everyone. I just felt all you girls were too young to have to bear my pain directly.” We set him right and his face turned scarlet.
“Jimmy, Aganthi will take you to a house you can use until you want to return home. Stay as long as you wish or, if you need to arrange free time, we’ll take you back and you can return here in a few days.” He elected to stay.
Aganthi took him to his home, explained all he needed to know, asked him to join us for meals at the taverna and then she sat down. “Let me tell you about myself.” She did and he was shocked. He learnt the bare bones of the stories of some more girls and the one that affected him the worst was Wendy. She then told him what Robbie has spent most of a lifetime doing and of our prison planet. He lit up with a fervour, just like a missionary.
“Could I be linked to help children like he does?”
“No, the way you are now, you are not suited to being a Cherinian. Jimmy, whatever we do, we do out of love.”
Samantha has asked I outline some of his memories.
When Jimmy’s father left them, his mother thought he did so because he did not want their second son. She knew he loved Jimmy so she became determined to shower all her love on her younger son. She would prove he was the one worth loving, not Jimmy. She told him so repeatedly throughout his years with her.
Her hate did not spring up full blown from the day her husband left her. It evolved, each coldness and cruelty feeding the next one. In the beginning he was punished for the slightest provocation, later it did not matter what he did, right or wrong. He spent days without food, sometimes when locked up, days without water. When she did feed him from the leftovers, she would throw his food in the rubbish bin and order him to eat it. Once he started going to school, any complaints from the school were reason for severe punishment. If he did well she accused him of showing off and because he had to learn that he was no better that an animal, she’d punish him.
By the time he was thirteen years old he was such a mess that he could no longer attend school. A social worker came to see him, the mother was arrested and he was taken to a home. Days later he was sent to a mental institution and spent the next six years there. For his first year in the institution he hardly progressed at all. Then a new inmate arrived, an old man with a shock of white hair. His very first week there he walked over to Jimmy’s bed, stared down at him with sad eyes. Gently his fingertips touched his brow.
“I see the pain. Let me take your pain.” He did this every day, his soft voice talking for as long as he could, telling Jimmy that he will grow like a tree so as to shelter all the broken hearts of children. Slowly Jimmy dared to come out of himself. His biggest setback a year later was when the old man died.
Whether the explanation was factual or not, Jimmy was not in a condition to question. He accepted what he was told. He had relapses, but gradually he improved. Then one day he came to the conclusion that his friend had given him a mission. From then on he grew stronger and even started to read.
Once he was set free and provided a job, he spent his free time helping at organisations devoted to helping children from slums. His success with the children soon led to him widening his activities and by the time we met him he was a regular speaker at various functions and schools. He studied all the books he could find on child psychology and then wrote the story of his life. That led to him appearing on chat shows and often neighbours would phone to let him know of children they thought were being abused.
He had not paid much attention to our arrival and what he learnt of Cherinians did not touch him. From what he overheard, he came to the conclusion we were mutants pretending a concern for Normals. With time, as he saw the effects of our presence, he paid more attention. He noticed that whenever I appeared on television I had little girls with me. He put down his name for the sole purpose of finding out whether I was abusing them. When he saw my loves, he saw children that seemed to vibrate with joy and self confidence, yet he saw our caresses and he was very confused.
We have been here eight months and the governments are well on target. We expect them to start talking about total disarmament soon. We also expect a reaction from most armies, so we have to be here to help. Big changes have been achieved, governments that were holding territory won in battle returned the land, countries that have been traditionally enemies signing treaties and opening their borders to each other (movement across borders is restricted to short term visits at this time). This is already turning into one of the nicest Earths.
One evening, as the local Cherinians shared a meal with us and we talked and teased each other, Jade spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “Cherine, we apologise for not respecting your wishes.”
She was confused. “What are you talking about?”
“When we were coming here for the first time, you asked us not to interfere in any way. You didn’t even want us to help with the reduction of pollution. Now we’ve gone and made big changes without asking you.”
S-Cherine is the same as us, she senses the best of Robbie in Jade and has a soft spot for her. She stared at her woodenly for a moment. “What changes? I haven’t noticed any.” We fell over laughing and even Alki was holding his sides.
The vote regarding us healing everyone did not happen at once. First a common education programme was initiated, using all kinds of media to ram home the message. Grim statistics of the results of overcrowding were effective for only a certain length of time. Soon as we sensed the mood was changing, people starting to either ignore the propaganda or else take the opposite view in deliberate rebellion against the heavy advertising, we warned the governments and they announced the voting date.
We decided not to allow the local Cherinians to make our announcement. It would cause a lot of anger and it was better that it be directed at us. Robbie announced that we have already started healing those who voted for us. What he did not tell them is that anyone seriously ill we helped.
We used some of our gold to purchase large amounts of local currencies. As the hospitals emptied, jointly with the relevant social services and Unions, we provided an income for all medical staff until they could be absorbed in other professions.
We called for a meeting with political leaders, but this time we only invited the leaders of the wealthiest countries.
“Pumping money into your economy from minerals we carry in Freddie will destroy your economy. The number of displaced employees is going to grow as pharmaceutical companies lose business. We have to open branches of ADFI to make available technology from our alien partners. We will call for a meeting with all leaders for you to decide if you agree. The reasons we called you today is to warn you of our way of doing business, as it caused a lot of problems in other realities.”
We sensed their disbelief and then anger as we explained we would start off by providing the technology first to poorer countries. Despite her obvious pregnancy, Hettie took over and with charts and other financial data she showed how this had affected our Earth. Gradually they allowed common sense to override their anger and they listened. In the end they agreed, but insisted that one year was too long. They wanted the waiting period to be reduced to three months and Hettie compromised, agreeing to six months.
Similar deals were struck with their United Nations and ADFI came into existence. Part of that happening was that the same rules, laws and treaties had to be signed regarding the Cherinians. As we have everywhere else, we opened our embassy in Athens, with consulates in every country.
We decided it was now time to do a telling. This would be the first time they learnt of many things so we nervously monitored the people all over the world as the girls did their telling. There was more shock and outrage at the first telling, but they became fascinated by other elements in the telling and though they grew to understand Robbie, what remained at the end was a wonder that all that Cherinians are, came out of a simple extrasensory gift, the same gift of empathy their Cherine has. Cherine was hooked and watched most of the shows where specialists analysed and came to the conclusion that not only Robbie was responsible for the growth of her gifts. They felt their Cherine had not grown because she had not felt challenged as her gift had been accepted from early on.
The United Nations offered the same rock for an Anadir base, so Robbie, taking Anadir with him, hollowed it out and then left it to them to adapt to suit their people. Later on, we can bring Anadir from this reality, if they exist.
“I think it is time we leave.”
“Where are we going?”
“I was thinking of our home in Athens.”
The adults were not amused when we clamoured for an exploratory trip. They felt we’d had enough adventures and wanted to return to their routines. Robbie tried to compromise. “What if we return to our reality and check our spiral arm? We know more about other parts of our galaxy than we do of our neighbours.”
Samuel whispered to me. I said no. I thought about it, changed my mind and with butterflies in my tummy I passed on his suggestion. At first there was resistance, but I won the majority over.
Freddie put on the screens the outside view and we soon recognised our solar system as being the closest to us. Robbie suggested we pause for a while as he would like to check the void. He did not find any signs of the Sparklers and the Anadir so we all joined him to dance and exchange kiss.
The next morning Claudia made a statement that worried us. “I’ve decided to learn as many languages as I can. It makes me feel dumb that I only know Swedish and English while so many people know three or more languages. I want to learn the Anadir language, since it is the easiest on our throats.”
“Claudia, what if it affects your gift?”
“Why should it?”
We argued and pleaded with her not to, but she would not bend. She agreed to postpone her decision until we return to our Athens home.
“Freddie, do you sense we came to a reality closer to ours, or to the one we just left?”
“Ours feels even more distant.”
“If Arthur really did not assume anything, we better be ready to be surprised.”
Freddie jumped closer to Earth, but in the void. He extruded a shaft into normal space and we searched for satellites, spaceships and so on. There was nothing. Freddie linked to their radio broadcasts, but could not find any television channels. None of the languages spoken were recognised and Claudia’s gift only works with minds so nothing made sense. It caused some amusement when we were able to identify which were the advertisements.
“Nicole, Alexis, would you like to come with Claudia and I to check them out?”
Vincent appeared. “I’m coming with.”
“Do you sense danger?”
“I don’t know what it is I sense, perhaps not danger but something…Robert, don’t you sense strong psychic presences?”
Robbie changed his mind and wanted to go alone but we unanimously demanded he take the three girls with as we knew it would force him to be more cautious. Through the link we sensed a growing wonder and amazement, but nothing that would indicate they were in danger so we impatiently waited for them. When they returned to their bodies, Vincent also appeared, sitting with a stunned look on his face. Within seconds the taverna was surrounded by a crowd.
His voice changed, coming alive with his wonder. “The differences I’ve mentioned are enough to make this a unique world. That which is most amazing I’m not certain I can describe adequately. Any of you girls feel up to it?” They shook their heads, even though we could feel they were bursting to tell us what they’d seen.
“In that case I’ll have to do the best I can. This is a world where babies and toddlers and certain adults are able to create bubbles of reality.”
“On their world!?”
“Yes.” He paused. “Some are just bubbles of swirling colours, usually those belong to the youngest babies. The older ones are able to create very detailed parts of magical worlds that are populated.”
“At what age do they lose the ability?”
“At about seven to twelve, I’d say. Do you agree loves?” They did.
Diana asked, “Does the ability seem stronger among those who look like us or those closer in appearance to Neanderthals?”
“No difference that I could discern.”
Nicole burst out, “They keep them separate from the adults and older children!”
While they discussed details I sat by Vincent and took his hand in my hands. “What kind of energy did you sense the babies were using? Are they closer to us than the adults?”
“I’m not certain they are not using some latent magical abilities. They just wish their bubbles into existence.”
“Then you better invite either Christós or Jesus.” He nodded and leaving his body next to me he left. I turned my attention back to what was being discussed.
“I might be wrong, but I got the impression there are no large countries. Each state only has a small army. I looked for signs of border controls but I did not find any, people seem to be travelling from one state to the other freely. I did notice something else that could be important. Most cities and towns are surrounded by ancient craters. If they are not natural, the explosions that caused them must have been massive.”
“Claudia, do you think they all speak the same language?”
“No, they have fourteen languages that I noticed. Perhaps some of them are only different dialects.”
Alexis spoke with a quiver in her voice, “Robert became angry. Sorry, all of us did. We saw adults hurting babies and children.”
“Hurting? How?”
“We don’t know, you know what it is like seeing as a soul. All we could sense is that the pain was excruciating. Other adults who were close by did not seem to care. Their emoting was blocked.”
