“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.”
Robbie asked, “Your woman, she is to give birth to your child?”
He nodded, grief plainly filling his eyes. “She is not of my people. She is bigger than most of them but smaller than us. She found no man deserving of her and came to our village three years ago. The child she bears will kill her. I must be there to close her eyes and protect my child.”
“She will not die, as we told you, we are here to help. Take us with you. My name is Roberto and this child is Claudia.”
“Dikoras.”
They spent a couple of hours following Dikoras at a pace not suited to our bodies. Robbie looked up as they began to climb. “How far up?”
He pointed. “To that rock.”
“Give me your hand. Dikoras, trust me, I will not drop you.” He gasped as they rose into the air and his hand squeezed Robbie’s so tightly that it would have been crushed had he not been protected. Claudia kept her hand on Robbie’s arm as they flew up to the rock. Gently their feet touched the ground and Robbie tried to sense the woman. He felt no one close by so he looked at Dikoras. “You have brought us to the wrong place?”
“I thought to lose you.” He pointed with a hand still trembling. “She is there.” They flew across the mountain to the place he’d pointed towards and Robbie sensed the woman as they drew close. Dikoras rushed over the rocks and disappeared from view, Robbie and Claudia following more slowly to give him time alone with her.
Claudia rushed to the woman’s side and touched her. She looked up at Robbie, dismay on her face. “The foetus has lost its soul!”
“That’s impossible!” He crouched and touched her. “Damn, it is dying and my healer says it cannot save it because it doesn’t have a soul.”
Dommi jumped. Dikoras pulled back and stared at her with fear and awe in his eyes. She lay down next to the woman, who was looking very afraid by now, and placed her hands on her belly. I grabbed Solomon’s hand as the rest of us jumped.
Dommi warned Robbie, “I can keep it alive for a short time, but we must bring it a soul.”
“Solomon?”
“I don’t understand! Surely it should have called a soul to it! How do we force a soul to join?”
Suddenly I understood. “Why two thirds Robbie?”
“What? God, of course, this was what Arthur meant.”
Solomon touched the woman and called to Cherine. He touched her with his other hand, concentrating, searching her soul. He let them both go. We stared in shock as he trembled, even his voice trembling as he spoke. “Cherine, from this woman starts your line.”
“You’re first life starts here. Before that you were Samantha. I don’t sense anything else.”
Robbie was just as much in shock as all of us, but he had the presence of mind to force everyone away from the woman and he placed her in stasis.
I’m the one who writes for Samantha. As she said, she is doing some pretty silly things, the kind that make us laugh. Feeling so vibrant and full of life she felt sorry for Dikoras and tried to explain that we are not gods. “The psychi (soul) of your son will not die when he does. It will be born again, grow old and die again and be born again. This will happen for five thousand years and then it will be born as the person who gives us our powers. It will be born as Cherine.” She was met with disbelief, but once he came to believe her, it only made matters worse for us. He is now demanding that he be helped to be born alongside his child in the new lives so that he can protect his son throughout all lives. Samantha jumped to a conclusion and decided that Alki is from the soul of Dikoras. Solomon was able to confirm that he is not and it deflated Sam.
This is to be the most important splitting of a soul and transference that we’ve ever experienced. With thousands of Terran Cherinians and millions of aliens plus the two sets of Sparklers in Freddie, Robert has decided to turn it into a ceremony we will all vividly remember forever. By the way, we have checked and there are no Anadir or Sparklers within our vicinity in the void.
The process of growing Samantha’s soul has not taken days as she implied, it has taken over a month. We all exchange kiss with her, sending more motes than we receive, give her a couple of days to assimilate them and then repeat the performance. Once her soul has grown to a certain point, Robert takes a sliver. Her soul regenerates, growing again. The process was repeated until the slivers Robert holds were in total almost equivalent to her soul. I should mention a crucial detail; he does take a small part of the core of her soul each time. If only we’d known from before we could have brought other Samanthas that split from her. Just before preparing the soul for the foetus, all the slivers will be returned to Samantha and only once they are part of her again, her soul will be split and melded to the original soul of Cherine. It sounds more complicated than it is - or is it the other way around? I find it difficult to visualise how it would seem to Normals because for us it has become just a process.
Jade fiddled around with the inner shield until it looked like liquid gold, shimmering and shiny. The Wirm nest is like a burnished silver moon and the Sparklers/Spartans are like a myriad emerald stars in our sky. How Robert did it is anyone’s guess, but the land is a lush riot of greens with the lakes and river a pale eggshell blue. Freddie has never been as beautiful and even the spaceships floating around the perimeter add to the feeling of beauty we are inundated by.
Robbie has created a tiered circular platform out of energies that looks as if it is made of glass threaded with gold and silver filigree. At the center lies the woman still in stasis. Dikoras is dressed like an actor out of a movie about ancient heroes and stands with shining beard and hair, his eyes gleaming. Almost an anticlimax, Robert and Cherine stand at the top tier, looking as they usually do, just more nicely dressed. On the other side of the woman, a place of honour for all of us, stands Alki, waiting for Samantha.
The souls, from Samantha and the damaged soul, have been merged and Robert, concentrating fiercely, surrounded the soul of Dommi so that she is visible in a body of his energies, her dark hair floating behind her. As she descends slowly, Samantha returns to her body and teleports to stand next to Alki. Despite her healer she looks wan and drawn and Alki places his arm around her shoulders. She smiles up at him and then stares at the woman as we all are doing.
We have no date of ours to give as the first of Cherine’s many lives to give so we have agreed to it being the sixth of January. Robert’s birthday will be a special sweetness for him and us for all of time.
The music by Wendy and Candy was outstanding, bringing tears of joy to all of us. After that Meli read a poem she’d written for Cherine and then the party began. The first allowed to dance were the Elipians and Akiards, the rest of us joining them once our hearts were filled with the beauty of their dancing and the fierce exultation in their hearts.
The mother to be is a proud and powerful personality. Once she was told about the soul of her son and she met Cherine, she spent some time with Marian. She had many questions about Cherine, and Marian was not always certain of how to answer. What matters is that she came to understand how important Cherine is to all life throughout the universe. She withdrew, not coming out of the home we’d given to them for days. When she finally came out she went to Marian and they spoke softly. We all felt how embarrassed but touched Marian was as she spoke to all of us.
“She has asked that as first mother and I last mother of Cherine, we share the same name. She wishes to be known as Marian, mother of Tsirinos. I suggested Marianna and she’s agreed.”
Robert stood before them with head slightly bowed until Cherine joined him. “We are honoured. We will be staying until Tsirinos has aged and it is your time to die. When you die you will both be brought back to Freddie so that the two of you can be linked as Cherinians.” They were overcome, but Robert still had something to say he knew they would not like. “Please understand that should your son sicken, be hurt or killed, we cannot interfere. He must live his many lives as they are meant to be. In some lives he will live to old age, in others perhaps die as an infant. Either extreme must be what was his fate. We cannot interfere for it may change the time he can become Cherine. Know this though, whether he is good or evil, we will love him always.”
When they realised they were to be sent back to their world, they worried about where we would set them down. We reassured them we would not return them until their son is born. We should not have made any suggestions, but we did and they agreed Athens is a good place to live.
It felt strange going through all I did without rushing here to write about it. At least I still wrote in our other diary. We have four months to wait for Tsirinos to be born. We can’t even use our healers to give his mother perfect health as it would affect the lifespan of the baby. It makes us feel dirty, but there is nothing we can do about it.
As the parents relax and we get to know them better we are impressed by them. Dikoras is the one who impresses us because of the contrast between his appearance and his personality. He abhors violence and only uses his strength to help others - somewhat like our much-loved gorillas. He has a keen eye and love of building and we might have affected the future for he has noted the way our homes seem to be built.
The day has arrived. We’ve taken the precaution of allowing Cherine to block all of us, including Robbie. We do not trust ourselves. As this day drew close, our emoting of love and excitement made it clear that we would lose control once little Tsirinos is born. We’d go off like fireworks and by the time we recovered he would at best have perfect health, at worst, be linked. We were forced to trust Vincent and Freddie.
The parents to be are not as inhibited as us, so us girls were allowed to be with them at birth. It was a difficult birth as he is large for a baby. He’s an ugly little baby with big baby blue eyes. His first interest was in latching onto a nipple and after that he contentedly suckled while we watched with huge eyes. Dikoras gave his finger and grinned with delight when it was gripped. Robbie came in after Marianna was cleaned and covered. Tsirinos was handed to him and he sat down, his face showing his adoration. Michael was just as besotted when it was his turn. Before he left Freddie, everyone was given the opportunity to hold him.
Arthur, I do not wish to write of the following years in detail. There were good moments and bad, for it is so difficult to watch without helping when times are bad. Dikoras was forced to do hard physical labour as his building skills were not wanted, the Athenians being more advanced. Over the years he learnt and his life grew easier, but his health was ruined by then. He died at the age of forty seven. Marianna lived until she was fifty four. Their bodies was rejuvenated and they were brought to Freddie.
Tsirinos as a boy was gentle, but as he grew up he became argumentative. He only used his superior strength for winning in the Games and became a hero for a while. By the age of thirty six he spent his days drinking wine. At thirty nine he was careless and died when he tottered in front of racing chariots. We watched from the void as he was reborn to a Persian family. Convinced now that their son indeed lives on, Dikoras and Marianna let go their grief. As we travelled back to our time, they transferred their love to Cherine. To them, she is their daughter.
For others it may not mean the same, but for us everything else pales before this experience. To have been part of Cherine’s first incarnation is our most precious memory - I know it was not her first, the original soul had previous lives, but they were lost when it was damaged. I suspect many religions will not want to believe what happened and we’ll be hated by many again. Arthur, I’m not certain we should thank you, but we are glad you told us of your dream.
--ooo0O0ooo--
It has become standard practice that Freddie prepares tapes of our experiences and they are made available to the media of all realities. Despite that, Michael found it difficult to tell his Ipohin. Unfortunately I am still the least liked Cherinian by them, so he knew they might be prejudiced against his mother if they learn that a large part of her soul comes from me. I teased him and told him he should tell them that his mother is a butterfly.
As we expected, there was an uproar. By demand from the public, the films were shown again and again. Strangely most of the intelligentsia did not concentrate on us, but on Arthur’s dream. They find it unsettling that our existence not only depends on his goodwill, but is also affected by his subconscious. Campbell declared the films to be phoney, an attempt by all Cherinians to make yours truly, Samantha, more popular with the masses. Nobody, apart from his followers, took him seriously.
Jina’s family certainly have been gifted with a bonus experience! They have all been changed by their experiences, so we wonder how they’ll readjust to being back in their world.
Robbie refused to depart for Jina’s reality. As his birthday drew close he began to prepare so we guessed why he’d wanted to stay. On his birthday we celebrated the birthday of Cherine’s soul. Poor girl, she had to spend the entire day in his arms. (Ch: Guess whose eyes have turned green
As soon as it became known we were returning the family to their reality, we were flooded with requests to travel with us. Cherines with their families arrived from every reality. Governments also wanted to send representatives to negotiate treaties. We prepared an apartment at the top of a tree for the king and his family.
“Is that not the purpose of my existence Robert? One Orgg and Jeskine reality coming up.” We grinned at the red cheeks of the girls.
The trip was set to take five days to give everyone time to settle down. On the third day, once we were alone at home, Gina complained, “My king is far nicer. He would never stick to his apartment, snubbing us. This one hasn’t even come out to see Freddie.”
Robbie drawled, “Your George seems to be a secret rebel.”
The moment we appeared in their skies, Orgg and Jeskine jumped to us. “Where are our babies?”
We burst out in laughter. For us years have passed and they are grown up now. Most of them did not recall either of them, but those who did quickly surrounded them. The family of Jina had been looking forward to meeting them, especially Orgg, so we giggled at the look on their faces as the two walked off with the bubble ‘kids’.
In the end I’m glad I went with. It was funny watching the royal family being so nice to King Meesartus. I suffered through the telling and afterwards. At least the feast was delicious as it always is. Jeskine had a young man by her side, an ex bubble kid (what do I call them now?) and she proudly spoke of them and him to those sitting close to her.
“They learnt how to control themselves without the barbaric methods they use on their world. It just goes to show that empathy and love are the best cure to all problems.”
The young man was squirming in his seat as everyone stared at him, so, in an effort to turn everyone’s attention away from him he said, “Actually, all the Cherinians and our parents deserve the praise. Did you know that Dimi has succeeded in producing massive bubbles without a protective shell? You should see the explosions he can produce.” Instantly there was silence as everyone realised Robbie was startled and staring at Dimi.
He shrugged. “If you want I’ll do a demonstration later.” Robbie gave him a smile and looked away. We could sense that something was worrying him, but that he didn’t know what it was. Dimi was distracted by Michael putting his hand on his arm and smiling proudly at him. Gregory had noticed Robbie’s stare and had scowled, but he soon smiled and talked with Solace and Laura who were sitting next to him. I kept my thoughts to myself as I wondered what the undercurrents portend.
“Stop being a worrywart and dance with me.”
“Where’s Ahní?”
“She’s dancing with Dimi. Dad was monopolising her before that. Mum is dancing with Alki, so all I’m left with is you.”
I grinned. “I bet the local girls are dying to dance with you.” He dutifully laughed and squeezed. He pulled a tiny bit and I gave way and followed him to the dance floor.
It was late in the morning and very hot when we gathered in the desert, about fifty miles from the crashed nest. Two of the psychic bubble young men stood apart from us. The one explained, “Dimi has asked that we demonstrate with the largest explosion we can cause.” He looked at Robbie who nodded for them to go ahead. We barely had time to see what they had projected in the distance when the explosion temporarily blinded us. Robbie rose into the air, examined the craters from the air and returned.
“Not bad! Both craters are about seventy metres wide and about fifteen deep.”
Dimi stepped forward. “I’ll explode mine about ten kilometres further away.” Robbie smiled at his use of the word ‘mine’ and nodded. First a blinding light like a miniature sun exploded and then the sound arrived, deafening us. As we recovered, sand pattered and stung us as it landed, winds tearing at our clothes. Robbie was emoting shock as he swiftly flew to the crater. When we saw him hover over the blast area Robyn grabbed hold of Dimi’s arm and they flew to Robbie.
The crater was over half a kilometre in diameter and probably about a hundred metres in depth! We’d shared through their eyes so we stayed where we were as Cherinians jumped by the thousands.
“God Dimi, that would have flattened a city!”
“I kept the explosion directed away from us. As you can see the dunes have been flattened for as far as we can see in the opposite direction.”
Robbie grinned at the pride Dimi was emoting. “Good! That makes it Samuel King and you who now have powers that can threaten me. Do you accept the same role he took for himself as policeman to watch I never get too swollen-headed?”
As Robyn stared up at Dimi, we saw tears fill his eyes and his love for Robbie was as fierce as we’ve felt in any of us. “I could never threaten you Robert.” Robbie hugged him as they floated above the desert and we felt Robyn’s heart fill with a possessive love for Dimi.
Back in the pastry shop there wasn’t much conversation, everyone still considering with awe the demonstration of psychic powers they’d witnessed. Robbie had enjoyed his slice of cake and was drinking his coffee without us sensing he needed a cigarette. “Can you pre-determine the size?”
“More or less. The smallest I can manage is about the size of a plum. They don’t want to explode if they are smaller than that.”
“Was that the largest possible?”
“No.” He was reluctant to elaborate.
“I don’t know. The bigger it is the further it has to be from me and it becomes more difficult.”
“Perhaps we can experiment in space.” He sat back and closed his eyes. “I’ve expected new Cherinians to come with new gifts and powers. Why is it that there are so few new gifts and so many new powers?” Nobody answered him.
I grinned. “Wait until we return home. All those diplomats and the royal family are sure to frighten everybody and we’ll be unpopular for a while again. At least Campbell will become more cautious.”
Cherine almost spat out, “That snake! How can he when he never does anything openly?”
As we attended the last party, Jeskine announced they are coming with us, they want to see how we search for the local Cherine and Robert souls. As we went to bed that night, Freddie jumped realities and we arrived in the void of Jina’s reality. We slept late the next morning and had a leisurely breakfast before tackling the problems we expected.
First Robbie returned the family to London at suitable body ages. Once they were in their homes or offices, Freddie jumped into normal space and began broadcasting our messages of peace by Jina.
The first reaction of the British government was the arrest of anyone connected to Jina. The rest of the world just plain panicked and they exchanged urgent meetings they kept secret from the public. I don’t know why we bother to send messages of peace since no one believes us. While they were polite to the family, we did nothing. As soon as they started threatening, Robbie grabbed them and returned them to their homes. We broadcast the news and it nearly brought the collapse of the government.
We took over all the channels and Jina, as a fifty year old woman, reminded everyone over tv that they know her and that she has spent her life trying to help others. She assured them we do not intend attacking and that she has only returned to help. The king took the future of his monarchy in his hands and publicly stated he believes her and we should be welcomed. He extended an invitation for us to visit at the palace.
We immediately responded, accepting his invitation. We kept the group small, Robbie, Cherine, Jina of course and Dommi. When the king asked to meet Jina’s mother (with a glint of amusement in his eyes) I arrived looking like a twelve year old. The world media went crazy, not knowing whether to concentrate on us or the missiles sent to London that flew off into space. The prime minister with various other ministers rushed over to the palace to introduce themselves and welcome us. Jina did the introductions, reining in her sense of humour so as not to embarrass them.
“Our spaceship Freddie is not armed with missiles or other futuristic weapons. Our gifts are of the mind and our prime gift is empathy. Please confirm to all governments that we are here to continue the work Jina started for helping the poor. We are pleased to announce that as from tomorrow morning we will be distributing food machines - one for every single person, whatever their age. We’ll provide instructions in the local language with the machines. Within days everyone will have a food machine and there will not be a single person starving on your planet ever again.”
This is isi-mi, I am writing for Samantha - Alki told me I must because I am family, so that you help.
The next day the Cherinians, aliens projecting as Terrans, appeared in their millions to distribute the machines. Where they could they also healed the most urgent cases. The Teller family returned to Jina’s house. All the family had come, but without even close friends as the space was not big enough. There was the sound of girlish laughter as they poked through her things when there was suddenly a silence in their minds. With shock they realised they’d been blocked. Jina screamed, “It’s a trap! Get out!” But it was too late.
Alki asked, “Freddie, if you enlarge your extension could you protect them from the attacker?”
“The energy would not protect them from mental energies. Vincent why are you still here?”
“I cannot defend them by going to them, I must first identify the attacker. I’m trying to sense where he is.”
Jina was weeping. “He planned this. He pretended to leave, wanting me to bring you here.”
Sam soothed her. “There is no way you could have known, concentrate on how to free yourself. Robbie why isn’t Vincent here?”
“Do not discuss aloud whatever you don’t want the enemy to know.” Samantha struck her leg at her stupidity and bit her lip as she sank into her thoughts. “Robbie, we have to talk aloud or else we cannot work together to find a way to free ourselves. I disagree, Vincent must come and try to free us.” Without another word Vincent jumped to them. As he did we lost him also, his mind blocked. Samantha gave him a small nod and he relaxed. Robert was angry but kept quiet, trying to work out why Samantha deliberately brought Vincent into the trap. “Dad, he now has everyone who could fight him. We have to depend on ourselves. Gina, is this how it was for you?”
“Yes, I can’t tell, but I think I only have the same healing powers as before, all else is gone.”
“There’s no point in you staying home, go to the office and take care of your business.” She put her hand on Jina to delay her. “Gosh, I know I’m not pregnant but I have a sudden craving for halvah. Gina, can you buy Robert a ticket for Athens? Robbie go with her and then go quickly for some halvah. While you’re there, why not stop at a coffee shop for the coffee you love?”
Everyone was looking at her as if she’d gone crazy, except for Vincent. He nodded his head and gestured his agreement. As Robert got to his feet his face lit up and he laughed. “I know I’m not pregnant, but I have a craving for custard apples. Haven, can you fly to Kenya to get me some? Gina, can you arrange her ticket?”
By now we all understood Samantha’s plan. She did not think the attacker could affect them all if they were split up. The rest of them stood up, each thinking of something they wanted elsewhere. Suddenly they all frowned and those standing tottered to a seat. As we watched they all visibly aged.
Alki asked, “Solomon, have Sparklers search the surrounding area, he must be close by.” He was standing just around the corner from their house. Freddie put him on the screens. “Dimi, can you send a mini explosion close enough to knock him out without killing him?”
“No, he’ll sense you.”
“I have to take the chance pappou, Robert only needs a few seconds to become the void.”
As Dimi materialised on the street, the man started running. He ran straight to the house! The door was locked and he concentrated on forcing Jina to open it. Dimi sent a mini explosion that knocked the man down. The door opened and he crawled through, the door closing behind him. Dimi told us he will wait outside the house. The police arrived and they cordoned off the area and searched, so Dimi had to move further away.
Shorayne was tapping her fingers alongside her torso as she talked. “Why didn’t he attack Dimi? I think Sam is right, he can only concentrate his attack in one area. What if thousands of us surround them.”
I replied, “That is why he ran into the house, it’s too late now, we should have thought of it earlier.”
Akiar rumbled in his chest and all the Akiards came to their feet. “We’re going. The door cannot stop us.”
Alki called out, “Wait for the police to leave! If you go now they’ll start shooting.”
I asked, “Can’t the Wirms wish them here?”
“We’ve tried, their minds cannot be contacted. No wonder they could not find Gina.”
Samuel laughed. “Alki, the police in London don’t carry firearms.” Before anyone could comment, the Akiards jumped. Akiar jumped directly into the house with another six of them while the rest arrived outside on the street. The instant the seven of them arrived they were blocked and started to age. Quickly Akiar grabbed at the man and lifting him into the air shook him violently. He was ageing visibly but even an old Akiar, it seems, is very powerful.
“Let them go or I’ll kill you.” Shooting was heard from outside. These were not normal bobbies, they were security forces sent to watch the house. Robert struggled to his feet and went to the door as Akiar continued shaking the man violently.
Robert opened the door and called out, “Stop shooting, they are friends.” A shot rang out and Robert collapsed to the ground, blood spurting out of his chest.
From then it was total pandemonium. Most of those who could, jumped from Freddie. Stuck within a crowd of terrifying monsters, the security forces went crazy and shot wildly. Akiar had shaken the man unconscious and his hold on the prime family was broken. Robert had died and was in the void, no longer its master as it tried to send him back. Sparklers surrounded him, weaving a cocoon of energy around his soul to protect him. Within seconds Cherine and then the family were by him. Healers worked feverishly to repair him and all the others who’d been shot.
As the news circled the globe all governments went into red alert and prepared for war. Almost unnoticed by all, the man responsible was taken to the Unation ship and after healers checked him, he was locked within a special room.
Robert, Cherine, Jina and Samantha appeared within the palace. “Your majesty, are you able to make a public broadcast?”
“You are not dead! I saw your shot body on television.”
“It has been healed. Please let the world know that we are not at war with your world. We were attacked by someone from our reality, not yours. If you can make the broadcast on the BBC, our spaceship Freddie will re-broadcast it all over the world.”
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