I smiled, liking his candour. “I will be asking them and a comparison of the answers might produce interesting points for me to consider. Especially if you have reasons not to answer honestly.”
“What decided you to question me?”
“And you were hoping that if it is so, I would divulge my method? You do not strike me as that naïve.”
“What prevents you from being a Cherinian?”
“Good lord! A missionary!” He laughed and I grinned at the picture his words painted. “That is easy to answer. Robert Teller and his son.”
“No, that is an excuse, not a reason.”
“Do you really think so? I can assure you it is not an excuse. Consider this, a new race of humans springs forth. They have powers that the human race cannot resist. They find a previous couple had mutated before them and they destroy their organisation and force them to become Cherinians - subjects of Robert. The entire family are manipulators and their sole concern is to maintain their dictatorship - that is why father and son carved up their empire between them. I refuse to be a part of the kneeling ass-licking masses.”
“In other words you see yourself as a rebel?” He nodded in agreement. “That might be closer to the truth, as you see it, but it is not the entire truth. Let me put it another way, what criteria would enable you to become a Cherinian?” I put up my hand to prevent him speaking. “After all, it cannot be comfortable feeling you are ostracised and detested by so many.”
His genial façade slipped and I saw the hardness in his eyes with a gleam of something else. “All liberators are detested by the masses, for we are fighting to bring about change and they hate having their comforts threatened. We disturb the world image they hold and concepts like freedom and equality, though they are paid lip service, are not of prime importance to them. Once we succeed and the dictatorship is toppled, we then are acclaimed as their heroes. I neither want to be their hero nor their leader, but I refuse to throw away my dignity for the sake of comforts.”
“I’ve been bashing my brains, trying to picture Robert as a tyrant. I get a very strange mishmash. From what I understand, he tends to spend most of his time travelling to new realities and visiting friends and the rest of the time he prefers to concentrate on his family.”
“Why do you think he appointed that bitch? She wields power on his behalf. It is a bribe to keep her subservient to him.”
“As you know, we are not Cherinians, but Robert is talking of bringing Cherinianism to our world. That is the reason I asked to meet you, I need facts if I am to decide on behalf of my world. In what way does Robert grind the masses under his heel? What would be the cost to us if he has his way with our world?”
His posture changed as tense muscles relaxed. “I see. Do you have a Hettie and Edward Mansfield on your world?”
“I don’t know, Jina did not have her Cherinian powers while she lived with us.”
“Having read her diary I would say it is safe to presume they do not exist - or else they would have blocked her from achieving as much as she did.” He nodded. “Her attitude and success is additional proof of how the Teller family think. If she had been an adult when she came there, she would not have killed herself and would have continued with her plan to subjugate your people. Being a child she needed a family to care for her and she became attached and therefore had to limit herself. God but what ambition! Even Robert never tried to extend his influence over royal families. By the by, that is an interesting fact, that you never had communism and the Tsar still rules. It should have presented her with opportunities not available on this world.”
“The world is full of potential tyrants, some far worse than Robert. At least he is a benevolent dictator and tries to improve the lives of those he rules. I am undecided as to whether he is so because he is wise in a political sense, or whether he is so out of belief in all he says.”
“Which beliefs of his do you take exception to?”
He chuckled. “You may not believe me if you have listened to his hate propaganda. Very few. In some ways I am closer to what Michael propounds. Those with the responsibility of the wellbeing of others should enjoy certain privileges. What you are really asking is, do I want to enslave all of mankind and set myself up as their god? I do not.”
“Why not? I mean, if Robert disappeared forever and you were the most powerful man on Earth, why would you allow others to rule?”
“I happen to believe in democracy young man.”
I nodded. “But you would not want to be the prime minister?”
“What for? I have businesses to run and I do not like dealing with politicians.”
“What privileges would you require for yourself?”
“Not just for me, for all who give of their time and have the powers to help others. We should have some say or representation in government and we should be allowed to use our powers for accumulating wealth.”
“How would Normal people be able to compete with you? With millions of mutants there would be nothing available to them. I believe most of the gifted have some power they could use to their advantage.”
He asked me, “Do you believe that Robert and all the Cherinians do not? Why is it that all his close friends are wealthy?”
“I’ll make a point of asking him for an explanation.”
“Ironic isn’t it? The most psychically powerful person of Earth is also the most powerful and wealthy person on Earth and yet he resents anyone else using their powers to benefit themselves and provide a comfortable environment for their family. When he damaged some psychics who rebelled, burning out their brains so that they have no powers, I took pity on them and built a town so that they have homes and provided them with jobs. Robert reacted violently to the point where the government had to step in and change their laws to prevent his having an excuse for throwing them onto the streets without home or jobs.”
I asked, “You believe he was being vindictive?”
“That is what the world media thought. They and you are wrong. He acted to prevent my deed influencing those who are unhappy with his leadership from leaving him to join my group. Did you know that he had created a council and that because they made some rulings Robert did not like, Samantha dissolved the council and re-appointed only those whose loyalty to him is not in question? That is what has been so frustrating for me. He has the ear of all the leaders and the media and he has turned them against me by accusing me of exactly his faults.”
“If a debate was called, for you and Robert to argue your cases in public, would you take part?”
I showed my worry as I asked, “What is left then, open warfare?”
“I would hope we are all civilised enough to avoid that.”
“Are you trying to prove him wrong by using the powers of your group to help those who are suffering?”
“We do so, but not publicly. We fear what Robert might do to those unfortunate people in retaliation for accepting our help.”
“You paint a very dark picture and I must admit my experiences to date do not hint at the kind of personality you speak of.”
“Why should he show anything but love and warmth for you? Your family saved his daughter and you in particular are loved by her. You are lucky, when he brings a Robert and Cherine for your world, you and your family will be among the favoured few, so it would not pay you to rock the boat.”
Pol left him, a bewildered man. He knew enough to understand that Campbell had not lied, just twisted the truth. It would not have been enough to let him read those parts of our diary (not this abbreviated one) as we could have written only what suited us. We did not want to link him, he belongs to his future Cherine and Robert, so we used the only other alternative we had. We took him to the void and shared the relevant memories with him.
“He has a raw magnetism that draws one into believing everything he says. I had hoped that if it were just plain greed and ambition, that I could help or provide the comfort that with time he might mature, but I think that is not the case. He truly believes all he said.”
Robbie shook his head. “Your first estimate was closer to the truth. What he claims to believe is for the purpose of justifying to others, but also to himself, his attacks against Cherinians and Ipohin. Should he be allowed to have his way unopposed, he will find new arguments to justify enslaving all of mankind. He is extremely shortsighted and cannot see that the days for that kind of thinking are in the past. With a number of alien species as our partners and supplying us with the technology we need, we dare not alienate them with such barbaric government. We would be quarantined and the galaxy would be closed to us. That way lies the death of all the dreams of mankind.” Those who are aliens sitting among us did not comment, as they are used to Robbie speaking that way before them. Somehow it makes them trust him even more implicitly.
“It is a pity, what a waste! A man like him with his powers and personality could have been a powerful force for good.”
“When the personality is a weapon, examine the character of the man.” Haven said.
Cassie grinned. “Well…at least you can’t say you weren’t warned about us.” She decided she was hilarious when Robbie frowned.
The ice caps are now thawing, thanks to the repairs to our ecology, so the scientists of various species joined with those of Terra to examine ways to reverse the effects. After their first meeting, they jointly announced that there is no quick fix available at this time, but they are looking to start with changes that will have a tiny but incremental success at reducing future changes that could affect us.
Hettie, Eddie, Alki and Elia announced that the ADFI will be selling their shares in four large corporations as they are now making profits and are capable of maintaining sustainable growth. The cash from those shares will enable them to invest in further key industries that need to adjust, re-tool and re-train staff. The market reacted strongly and the shares were over-subscribed on the first day and prices continued rising for days thereafter. This has had a bullish effect on the markets in general.
Keith chose this moment to express his frustration at not having programmers trained in the new languages, mathematics and so on. Robbie authorised him to use a quarter of the annual profits for running a school while he made substantial capital available for starting such a school. There will be no fees for the students, but they have to pass certain tests that show they are brilliant but also potentially capable of adapting and generating new ways of programming to lead us into a new world of computing.
What an odd experience it started off like for Robbie! We were sitting at our favourite coffee shop in Kefalari enjoying ourselves when a man of about sixty years old sat next to our table. His mind was in such turmoil, love, anger, pain, even hate slashing through him, that we fell silent. After hesitating a moment Robbie turned to him and asked softly, “Can I help you?”
For a moment there was a look of confusion and then as recognition of Robbie hit him he flared in a violent temper. “How dare you! Just because you are freaks you think you have a right to intrude? You don’t even have the decency to allow a man privacy to feel his emotions without having the world share it!”
“None others share, but us, because we are here. You are right and I apologise, you did not offer me the right to intrude on your pain.”
At that moment he looked up and we felt again love and pain tug at him. A girl in her twenties was approaching. His eyes flicked back at Robbie, saw that he had turned back to us. He did not even glance at us as he lightly tapped Robbie’s shoulder. “Perhaps it is time I explain to her. Listen in and then tell me afterwards how you think your powers could help me.” What he said was half in sarcasm and half in a desperate hope that we could rid him of his thoughts. I have deliberately kept their names out as it did not feel right to give false names to them.
He stood up and kissed the girl on the cheeks and gently squeezed as he embraced her, his heart reaching out to her. “Koukla mou, it’s good to see you again, I could not believe it when you called and asked to meet me. Does your mother know?”
“I do not need her permission but, yes, I told her. In many ways you are my father and I felt I had a right to ask you to tell me the truth. Would you prefer to walk in the park for privacy?”
“How can she be to blame for you collecting pictures of little girls?” His eyes barely flickered towards Robbie’s back.
“Let me speak of some things that are usually only private between the man and woman involved. Koukla mou, the only reason I’m telling you is because I want you to understand that things are not always as they appear to be. If you must hate me or feel contempt for me, then do so while knowing why I am as I am.” He shook his head in negation. “No, that would be unfair, only some of the blame is not mine, I’m responsible for being who I am.”
“I want to understand what made you turn to little girls. I know you were not this way, you never tried anything with me.”
He smiled bitterly, knowing it would anger her, “The truth? You were one hell of a sexy little girl. I still remember that time we saw you watching the crotches of the waiters who were dressed in tight trousers - and you were only four years old. You just couldn’t take your eyes off their bulges and volubly compared the sizes, embarrassing them.”
Her face tightened with a faint blush, but she shrugged. “All I know is that you never tried anything with me.”
“Even if I had a raging passion for your little body I would not have done anything - I loved you too much. It’s better you reserve judgement on that until I’ve explained myself. You don’t know how difficult this is for me. No, don’t say you do, I’m telling you, you cannot even imagine how hard it is. I feel like I’ll be betraying your mother by speaking of matters so private. The last thing any man expects to do is talk to the daughter of the woman he loves and thinks of as his daughter and give her personal details of their love. Just keep in mind that I do not want you to be critical of her, all that I want is for you to understand me - I don’t want to be thrown out of your life or to feel that you are filled with contempt for me.” We felt Robbie’s mild resentment at his calling us freaks evaporate as the man talked.
“I fell in love with your mother when she was fourteen years old. I was twenty one and it felt ludicrous that I loved such a young girl, but on the other hand, she was beautiful in face and heart beyond anything I’d ever imagined possible. I wanted her to love me as a woman, I was not interested in seducing a child, and for the sake of that love I forced myself to wait three years.” He smiled. “The truth is, I did not wait three years out of choice, it was only then that she showed she was interested in me as a man, not just a close friend. We became a couple and I was in heaven. Eighteen months later she told me she was in love with someone else, but that she still loved me. She asked me to be patient while she gets him out of her system. That was a foolish and selfish request, but it had the effect of giving me some hope, so I waited. Can you imagine what it was like for me? One day she’d say she’d made up her mind, she loved him, then hours later she’d phone to say that imagining life without me in it was unbearable, it made her realise how much she loved me.
Eight months later, just as she came to the decision she was not interested in him and she returned to me, she secretly started seeing someone else. It took months for me to find out. It felt as if all my dreams were dead. Over the next year or so, she’d phone me, tell me how miserable she was with him and how badly he treated her and that she was crazy to have left me. I waited within my shadow of misery.
Two years later she told me she was marrying him. I was shattered, unable to believe she’d played with my heart for so long and I withdrew, not wanting to ever love again. I spent the next four years on my own.
Three months later she phoned to tell me she was pregnant and could not leave him now, she wanted her baby to be born first.
Months went by as I slowly drove myself crazy - or so it felt to me. I became convinced you were in a sort of wordless communication with me, that in some spiritual way you were my daughter.” He lightly touched her hand, overcome with love and wanting to kiss it but controlling himself. “I guess I was right.” She smiled, obviously having heard this part of his story many times.
“You were born and naively I expected your mother to come to me. She kept on putting it off. You were nearly eighteen months old when she asked for a divorce.
The two of you only stayed for a few weeks with me and we made love as if we were brand new lovers, our coming together such an ecstasy that I even loved the stretch marks she had. Your mother insisted she had to get an apartment until the divorce was over. Then she told me she needed time alone. I next saw you when you came to live with me and you were three years old.”
His memories had melted his heart so he paused to order a coffee and cold drink for her. Not showing any emotions she waited while memories warmed him, giving him the courage to continue.
“Those years became the only years of my life that have any meaning for me. On the one hand I became a nervous wreck as I never was relaxed, feeling I constantly had to make your mother happy but, on the other hand, those were the years I had the daughter I loved more than anything in this world. I was devoted to you. When you were ten your mother told me she was having sex with someone else that she did not love, that she still loved me but was attracted to him sexually. I moved out. This time I could not understand her, for the man she wanted to be with had nothing that made him worthy of her - as far as I could see.
I remember saying to her, ‘Do you know what you’ve done to me?’ and she replied, “Yes, you don’t care that much about me leaving anymore, it is my daughter you love. I promise you she will always be your daughter and you’ll have lots of time with her.’
She kept her word, I’d see you in the week and some weekends you’d stay with me. I concentrated on you and blocked all hurt and love I still had for your mother, determined not to give in to her again or to plead. I could not bear going through the same experiences of her wanting me, not wanting me, wanting me again and so on.
Nearly six months after she left me I came to pick you up and she wanted to talk to me. We stood by the window and she told me of how my friends were telling her lover they were glad she had left me and gone to him. She said she had not realised how horrible people could be and said she wished the three of us could go somewhere, like South America, where no one knew us and make a new start.
All my carefully structured defences crumbled. It was that easy, I was that much a fool.
I became a pest and lost all my dignity. One night I went to the beach after drinking heavily and held a kitchen knife in my hand. I could no longer bear the pain so I tore open my shirt and struck the knife into my chest. The tip struck a rib. The pain and my cowardice made it impossible for me to repeat the blow and I collapsed on the sand. The next day I decided I had to leave.
I came to your house to say goodbye and your mother told me to go in, that you were in your bedroom. You had to get dressed so I went out to wait. When you came out and we said our goodbyes, it broke my heart, but I knew I no longer had a choice, staying would only show up my weakness so that you’d grow to feel contempt for me.
A neighbour was struggling on her own with her little daughter. Because of my aching need for you I was blind to them for a long time, but the child became fond of me. I grew to love her and we became like father and daughter. She is now an adult, but I still love her, just as I still love you.
My love, I am a man, I do have my sexual needs. I came across the pictures of girls, very young teenagers, and they were beautiful and looked so innocent. I could imagine making love to them because of their purity. Slowly my collection of pictures grew to include girls of all ages under the age where they become women and can hurt me. A child does not look for excitement, wealth or good looks, all it asks for is love and if it feels it is loved, it gives its heart and loves back. It is that simplicity that makes it possible for me to love them - even though it only be an ephemeral love.
I look at pictures koukla mou, that is all. I do not search for children to have sex with. Even should the possibility arise, I would not. Children are too precious to me, I could not bear destroying the very qualities I adore in them just for sex - unlike the man who is sitting at the next table with those girls.”
She glanced at us and turned white. She whispered, “That’s Robert Teller! Are you crazy?”
“I know, we’ve already had words. What could he do to me? Kill me? What is there for me to live for?”
Robbie stood up and gave her a slight bow. “He knows I would not harm him. He gave me permission to listen to him speaking, so Cherine has tried to help you sense his emotions. Do you still find him disgusting or have you understood him?”
“I…” She swallowed. “I think I understand.”
“Do you? Can you sense how his determination never to hurt a child has forced him into a life of loneliness, never to experience the love he craves? You have a young man you love and you will return to his arms tonight. Imagine he leaves you and you have to spend the rest of your life without ever being loved again. Could you find such a life worth living?”
“I suppose it would be horrible.”
Her ‘father’ answered, “It is, that is why I have chosen a child to love. That is the main reason I agreed to meet you. I knew you would not understand my needs despite my explanation, but I want her to feel she has an auntie so that if I die before she grows up, she knows she is still loved. She is a skinny little thing and has no love from her family. I will love her as a father only, but my health is failing, I do not want to open her heart and then die, leaving her alone again. Will you be there for her once I’m gone?”
“I don’t know, I need time to think about it.”
Robbie stared into her eyes. “You need to think about whether you can love a child? I would say that makes him a better human being than you.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
Robbie nodded at the man. “You were right, there is not much I can do to help you with the pain you feel because of this daughter. Do not worry about dying, you have been healed and will live at least another twenty years if you take care of yourself. Stay and talk some more to your daughter, I sense her heart is not as closed to you as you think, she is mostly afraid of becoming involved and how it could affect her own relationships. If you will excuse us, we have to leave.”
As we walked away Cherine asked, “He would make a good Cherinian, why don’t you want to link him?”
Mama Jo is doing fine. As expected she did return to an African family. She was born to a family in Uganda. Thank goodness our healers have long since taken care of the Aids problem so she does not have to face that illness. Since her family is poor, she does have many hardships ahead of her, but we have arranged that she be watched and if things get too bad her family will be helped without them knowing it comes from Cherinians. She of course has perfect health and will for as long as she chooses to live. We can hardly wait for her to turn five so that we can link her and merge her previous personality - she did say at three years old, but we feel this personality should be stronger.
An alternate family of ours arrived this morning with Jakob and his son Elija. The two of them have lived seven years together and since they will have as long as they want to be together, they decided they want to return to their world so as to help others.
Rob said, “It is has been difficult for us seeing them age without being allowed to use our healers. Father and son have come to mean a lot to our family and we will be visiting them once they have their own Cherine.”
Robbie nodded, his thoughts elsewhere. He startled all of us when he spoke. “Leonida and Solomon, we will need the help of both your people. I’ve been thinking that we’ve been giving up on the Cherines we could not find in some realities too easily. I want both of you to return with us to the times Cherine existed as Anne and Evangelia. Once you have sensed our souls as they were at that time, we’ll return to Jakob’s reality in 1853 or even earlier and try to find them. If we do find them, we must keep track of their souls so that we find out why they do not exist at Jina’s time.”
Robbie planned on returning in time with only the Sparklers and he found himself facing a rebellion. Not only we wanted to go with, so did every single person in Freddie. Without even asking him, Cherine jumped to Chara, Hugh and Anne and brought them to us. With them were Milto, Marita and Charoula. Within minutes Johan and Andrew also arrived. As we talked we noticed how Anne and Johan touched under the slightest pretext and gave each other secret glances and wondered that Chara and Hugh did not seem to notice. Within minutes Alki and family and then all those close to us not in Freddie arrived. It seems everyone who loves us wants the opportunity of seeing Robbie and Cherine as they were in their previous lives.
Robbie just sat watching his problem escalating without saying a word. An Inguel asked to speak to him and everyone made way. “Robert, we ask you delay our departure for six hours.”
“If I do, it seems the entire population from Earth will arrive here.”
The Inguel, a crewmember, emoted his worry. “Could we travel to another reality to prevent that or must we return to the past immediately?”
Robbie smiled. “I was teasing, we can wait here.” He paused. “Out of curiosity only, may I ask the reason for your request?”
“This could give people like Campbell the idea that they can return there to attack the two of you and prevent you existing now.”
“How could that happen since they are here?”
“We are the prime reality so they cannot affect us, but they could create a new reality where they don’t exist.” Cherine emoted her worry so Robbie stepped in, astonishing us by the implied change in him.
“So what? How many billions of realities have been created without a Cherine or Robert? One extra would not make a difference - to Campbell or us.”
Until we devise a system for meaningfully recording emotions using this medium, you’ll have to be satisfied by my poor abilities to describe the trip. Primarily, though it could be called an adventure, there were no risks and no surprises, just an overwhelming plethora of emotional reactions. Travelling back in the time of our world, forbidden by Robbie until now, was awesome for many of us. What turned it into almost a religious experience was seeing the persons Cherine had been previously. For us that love Robbie, seeing him was something we’ll treasure forever but, because of Robbie constantly elevating Cherine, for everyone, seeing her in her previous incarnations and being able to sense how she was already growing into the gifted person she was born as in this life, we all came to appreciate that it was not just a matter of an evolutionary mutation of her physical body. Two schools now exist. The one states that her psychic growth over her previous lives affected her body, forcing changes in her brain while the other school claims that it was just a matter of serendipity, chance or fate or her soul choosing a body that had mutated. I do not see how either can be proven to anybody’s satisfaction. My opinion is that the body was suitable as far as her gifts are concerned because all bodies are and that she (her soul) chose the one she was born in because it would attract Robbie. To believe what I do only poses further questions we cannot answer at this time. For instance, how would her soul know what this body would look like and that it would be found attractive by Robbie?
Robbie did not stay to watch the entire lives of each incarnation, but used the opportunity to get to know Anne before she went to South Africa. He was keen to see her as a child and he spent a lot of time watching her grow up. She was also given the opportunity to see him as a boy in Athens. We did have to skip the previous return of Robbie when he collected Charoula.
We travelled there in Freddie and because the Anadir Worlds were already in the void, Freddie had to stay invisible the entire time within normal space and we did not dance in the void. Robbie, as the void would gather our souls from within Freddie and take us to visit. The Sparklers and Spartans stayed out of the void as seeing them would have panicked the Anadir.
There were moments of extreme anger and pain. For instance, when Cherine watched herself as Anne warn her manager that she knew about his plans to steal from her, Cherine raged at the stupidity of her previous incarnation. Both of them, when they watched their children being shot (though we had to leave in time for Robbie to take their cells and souls) embarrassed us by their temporary hate of the Germans. It was also traumatic for the kids watching their own deaths.
Perhaps our trip back in time provided the protagonists with the emotional catharsis they needed, but the main purpose of the trips was also successful, or so the Sparklers tell us. We have returned to our own time and will be leaving in a few days.
Robbie refused to allow me to go with as I asked, and taking only Claudia they returned to the man in their bodies, but dressed in sandals and plain white ancient Greek clothing. The man looked up as they walked into view and scowled. He did not reach for his spear, but Robbie realised the man thought he would not need weapons if he needs to become hostile. Claudia spoke to him and the man frowned. He asked something and Claudia replied, talking just for the sake of talking until words start getting through. Robbie repeated his question a number of times until they saw he’d understood.
“What foolishness is this, sending a boy and girl against me? Where are your weapons?”
“We do not come with weapons, we come to help. Tell us what is wrong.”
He stood up and Claudia gasped. He was close to three metres tall and massive, built purely of muscles that rippled as he moved. “I will not allow you to kill me. Leave before I tear your bodies to pieces.”
Claudia surprised Robbie. “Fight me. If I win you have to talk to us and tell us what is happening.”
“Child, you are either insane or from the gods. Whichever, leave, your people have destroyed mine and I will kill both of you.”
She walked to within reach of his massive arms, “Kill me then.” As he half-heartedly reached for her she grabbed, twisted and threw him. Though he was shocked, he was on his feet instantly, crouching, his arms ready to defend himself. She launched herself, twisting in mid air so that his hands would miss her and her feet tapped his shoulders and she landed behind him. He swung around to face her, looked back at Robbie. He seemed to relax and walked back to where he’d been sitting.
“You are dancers from Athens? Sit and I will tell our story for your people to know about us and the cruelty of your kind. Be quick, for I must leave soon.”
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