“What are you doing here?” He tried to sense if she is accompanied.
“This can’t be a very nice world if that is how you greet your visitors.”
“What are the obligations? They better not include sex.”
He had the grace to blush. “Come in, we’ll discuss it in private.” As she walked past him she sensed his examination of her, his search for powers or other persons accompanying her invisibly. As she’d guessed, Kirsten is too much a part of us (when she wants to be) for him to sense her as a separate being. As he closed the door he asked, “Why have you come?”
“To play a game that needs to be played - if you have changed and no longer wish to be our enemy. Alexander, I am from the future, not distantly, just a few months. I have come back in time because you did something and it seemed to us that I had to come to ensure you would do what you did.” She made herself grin. “I see you’ve totally changed your décor; at least it does not bring back any painful memories. May we sit or do you wish me to leave?”
“I never thought to see you or anyone of your family in my home again. Please.” He gestured for her to sit and drinks and pastries appeared on the coffee table. “What will you have?”
She sat and spread out her skirt. “Is it a custom of your people that if a guest eats with you, they are safe from attack?”
“That is a Bedouin custom.” A disk of unleavened bread appeared in his hands. “I doubt pastries are suitable. Do you come in peace Cherine, or are you here to seek revenge?”
“Don’t break the bread, I would prefer you first hear why I am here.” Looking relaxed, she added. “I’ll risk it.”
“Where are Robert and the protector? Is either of them here as the void?”
“They’re both in Freddie in a different reality. Christós does not know I am here and I’d rather he does not know for the time being. I’ll start off by telling you that I’m here to kill a nightmare.”
His face tightened. “That sounds ominous.”
“I’m sorry, I was thinking of my loves and myself, it was not meant as a threat. Allow me to tell you what you will do and explain what the results were and then you might understand what I meant.”
He listened with interest and nodded. “Both spells are easily done. I will do as you ask. Cherine, may I speak of the past? I do not pretend to be a nice man, not like the other Allans you’ve found, but, what I did, despite my ambitions, they are not who I am. I’ve spent years squirming at the memories and I wish there was some way I could atone. If my visit by your home helps you release your fears I’ll count it as a small atonement and be grateful for the opportunity you offer me.”
Cherine shook her head, her eyes dark. “Break the bread Alexander and then let me tell you what Samantha told me before I left to come here.”
“When I told them I wanted to be the one to come to you, Samantha took my hand and led me to the computer. She opened the diary and made me read with her the pages dealing with those days. I know my Samantha, she always has a reason for what she does so I looked to her for an explanation. She said, ‘Do you agree that what was written was by us, not by Arthur - apart from when we asked him to write?’ I agreed. ‘Cherine,’ she then said, ‘Arthur may not have written for us, but I think he was responsible.’
She explained that Arthur wanted to bring magic into our realities, perhaps Jesus also, and though he did not write for us, his assumptions were to blame, the story as he wished it at the back of his mind forcing all that happened. She insists the fact that you, an Allan, did the deeds that hurt us, proves her case. The fact that you even exist in such a totally different reality, without existing in the other realities of magic, she feels proves her supposition. He sees all Allans as representing him, closer to him perhaps in some way. For the sake of his story he needed us to be attacked and an evil act to be performed but, Arthur loves all his characters. He assumed it would be an Allan so that he does not burden some other child of his with the guilt. Arthur has warned us repeatedly that we must not look to him as the reason when something good or bad happens to us, but in this case I agree with Samantha, it makes too much sense for me to lay the blame solely at your feet - or in your heart.
I love Arthur, so it is difficult for me to accept what Samantha says, but I cannot hide from the truth. I do not like that it was possible for you to do what you tried to do, but I cannot hate you as I did anymore.”
“It sounds to me as if you are trying to make excuses for what I did. Cherine, I know what my thoughts were, they were mine.” He shot to his feet, exuding anger. “If Arthur is responsible then I have reason to hate him and I will have revenge. I’ll find a way to make him pay.”
Cherine blew up. “Damn you, you small minded bastard! We tried to find a way for you to become a better person and all you can think of is to lay the blame elsewhere. I told you, the person you are, made it possible, Arthur did not force you.”
They glared at each other, Cherine with her little hands bunched into fists by her side. Suddenly his anger was gone - just as happens with our Allan. His shoulders drooped. “You are right, I’m sorry.”
Cherine does not calm down that quickly and she knew that if she left at that moment she would leave with anger and hate in her heart. She told herself that Alexander may be contemptible, but she must not return with poison in her heart to affect her loves. She sat down.
“Will you do as I asked?”
“Yes.”
“I will return afterwards to confirm it was a success. I will appear to be Robert and we will share a drink, some kind of drink you used a spell for and we will not mention me, just what you did. We will be spied on so that the events unfold as they did and I come to you today.”
He shook his head. “Our reality of magic must seem strange to you Cherine - I assure you, it is not half as strange as your realities are!”
She pointed at the pastries, “If I eat some of those eclairs, will they disappear from my stomach when I leave your reality?”
He smiled, “I did not conjure them out of thin air, I have an account at the local pastry shop.”
She picked up an éclair. “Fine, tell me about yourself. Do you have the same family as our Allan?”
“I presume we had the same parents, but I have no brothers or sisters. My parents were killed when I was a baby.”
“So, magic is not the only reason you are so different. Who brought you up?” Unemotionally, his voice flat, but his emoting unknowingly battering at Cherine, he talked of his childhood. He told her about his uncle who assumed responsibility for him, a gentle person, but not interested or comfortable around children. He spoke of a spell another boy tried on him that went wrong, destroying his health and causing him to grow fat. Cherine listened to more than his words and she understood how that lonely boy turned into the man he is now. He gave a bitter laugh.
“Another spell has been laid on me and since your last visit I have had no interest in women. I’ve tried to unravel the spell, but I do not know who laid it on me so I can’t break it. At least Arthur can’t use me to force me to rape anyone again.”
“Will you allow my healer to enter you? It cannot attack you, only heal.” He gave his permission. After a while she smiled. “You’ll soon look just like any of the other Allans, you won’t be fat anymore. Alexander, the effects of the spell of that boy vanished a long time ago, your own eating habits are responsible for you staying fat. As for sex, that spell must still be working as my healer can’t find anything wrong with you. I’ll see what I can do to have it removed.”
He stared at her without speaking and she waited for him. When he spoke his voice was filled with wonder. “If it had been possible and I’d succeeded in my ambitions, the link to you would have changed me beyond belief.”
Pale with a new emotion flooding him, he asked, “Would you call me Allan from now on?”
We’ve become fairly expert at time event jumping, but Cherine took our breath away. She arrived on Robbie’s lap. Startled he nearly threw her from him. As she laughed, he hugged her to him. As that was likely to be her position for a while, she shared her visit with us. We passed it on, only blocking whatever Alexander had confided of his past to her and soon all of Freddie had shared. As the last of us pulled out, she grabbed Robbie’s ears.
“How did you know?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t, I only said it to shock you into being more open.”
“I think it nearly closed me to him. Robert, I still don’t like him, but at least I understand him a little better. When it’s time he’ll have to become an Ipohin.”
“That’s my baby, empathic but as immutable as a rock.” It led to more teasing, Cherine keeping at it until she felt Robbie had got over his suppressed tension and fear.
“I guess I might as well go back and get it over with.”
He kept his arms around her. “Not twice in one day! He can wait.”
Cherine solved the problem of being Robbie the easy way. She used his sliver. Jesus confirmed she felt to him exactly the same as the Robert he’d watched. She drew him away from us to talk in private and then she returned to Robbie. He sensed she was about to hug and kiss him so he beat her to it. It felt weird seeing our Robbie kiss himself - but at least it made him laugh.
Cherine, as Robert, appeared in Alexander’s home (we’ve decided to continue using that name in the diary but we will call him Allan to his face). She reported success, they had their drink and soon as Cherine sensed Jesus leave she asked Alexander to give his hand to her. Startled he pulled back as he felt a spell transfer from her to him.
“I asked for a counter spell so that you can love a woman. Allan, find yourself someone to love instead of settling for paid women, it will do more to open your heart than anything else. Good intentions by themselves are never enough, love is the tool you need for growing.” She hesitated. “Visit us in three months, we’ll be back in Athens and I want to sense whether or by how much you have changed.”
Thank goodness that finished so well, now we can return to our home and friends.
A Samantha and her family came to visit, mostly because her Robert wanted Robbie to confirm that he was right and RT-Robert was wrong. Robbie listened without showing his amusement, but he did allow us to sense his joy. He’s demanded of all Roberts that they make sacrifices, even if it upsets their Cherines, for the sake of preventing the followers of Campbell from taking an extreme position.
Samantha did not pay them much attention and with her loves they told us their news and passed on a number of anecdotes about their reality. She grinned at her Dominique. “Should we tell them about the mystery silver boy?”
Dominique shook her head. “Why not first tell them about the soap boy instead?” All of them giggled.
“It seems you have strange boys in your reality.” Ashiir said.
Samantha laughed. “The soap boy story is interesting because it is the first time a Normal has been taken to court because of a Talent. Why don’t you first tell us your news - I’m certain it will be much more interesting.”
As all my loves protested, Cassie said, “Gosh, she’s just as bad as our Sam. Maybe we have to throw pillows at her to force her to tell us the story.” Both Roberts continued with their conversation, but we could sense both of them listening to our laughter and teasing with pleasure.
The bride was in tears and her parents were extremely angry. The parents spoke to the caterer, accusing them of providing food that tasted like it had been boiled in soap. The caterer cut some meat from a plate, chewed a piece and demanded they taste a piece and tell him again it tastes of soap. They ended up tasting a large numbers of plates and all of it was delicious, even though it was cold by now and the sauces had congealed. They took some plates back to their table and discovered that the same food they’d sampled tasted again of soap. The caterer phoned an Ipohin friend and pleaded with him to come to the function. He arrived and confirmed the food tastes alright outside the main tent but is soapy inside it. He was able to pinpoint the culprit - the boy who’d been forced to wash his mouth with soap.
The Ipohin turned out to be one of the nicer ones and he did not blame the boy. He explained that the earlier punishment had caused the boy to project his fear that the food would taste like soap - but the truth was the boy knew of his talent and did it deliberately to get back at his father.
The hosts took the father to court, demanding he pay for the food and compensate them for the humiliation and anguish. Instead of settling out of court, the father fought the case. Not only did he lose and have to pay, but the judge declared his punishment of his son inhumane and a social worker was given the responsibility of checking on the boy for the next two years.”
“What’s happened to the boy? Is he becoming an Ipohin? Have they taken him over for training?”
The silence by our men and the glee we could sense in our alternates should have been enough for us to guess. “We can’t tell you, ask Michael.”
“Michael!? Cherine, is Michael in our reality?”
“No. Ahní is coming.”
Ahní arrived with Zenon. Cherine shared and Ahní flushed a bright red, emoting the same glee as the others. “The Ipohin council decided that all talented children must be trained by Cherinians. If they were discovered by the Ipohin, we must be allowed to meet with the child and explain our beliefs to it and the child is free to choose once it is sixteen years old.” Mine were not the only eyes that filled with tears of joy.
Of course Ahní had to be kissed and cuddled, then titbits of gossip exchanged before we settled down.
Jade asked, “Sam, tell us about the silver boy please.”
“I’ll tell it as we experienced it.
We’d gone to Dar and decided it would be nice to spend a day close to Eddie’s camp. We jumped there and then spread out, the first to see any interesting animals was supposed to call the others. Wendy, Joan and I walked as a group and I must admit we were more interested in our conversation than in watching out for animals. We sat under a thorn tree for the shade and jumped to us some ice cold drinks from our home. Suddenly Wendy shushed us and we all dropped to the ground as a boy of about nine walked into view.
As all Cherinians do, we should have seen him with our eyes and sensed him simultaneously. In this case, we saw him with our eyes and did not sense him. We’d expected to see an animal, because we’d not sensed a human in advance and we decided we were looking at a robot boy. He was a silver metallic colour, although the others tell me they think he looked more like steel. Whatever his metal colour, his skin was supple and textured and as he moved it folded just like our skin does.
As you can imagine, we tried everything to find him. As souls we searched for tens of miles around us without success. For the rest of that day he was the subject of our discussions. We decided not to put out a general call to our Cherinians as we did not want the Ipohin or the followers of Campbell finding him before we do.” She glanced at Ahní and she nodded. We would not have needed to, for it is understood between us that whatever Michael and his family hear when with us stays our business and the converse is equally true.
“What is your theory?” Dommi asked.
“Our first thought was that it could be a Sparkler, even though we should have felt some emoting. We asked our Solomon and he assured us it was not. All the species confirmed it was not one of them. That left us with Terrans only. We dare not presume the image of a boy proves he is a child. The probabilities do favour it being a male, as we can’t imagine a girl or woman choosing to be a boy.
To resume our tale. The next morning Meli informed us she’d decided she will spend her days in that area. As she said, she spends most of her time thinking up stories and she can do that there just as well as anywhere else. She would not be in danger as there are few animals left in that area, which means there are no poachers either. Anyway, Solomon promised to keep a number of Sparklers by her. We would also only be a thought away, able to react instantly if she needs us.
As you know from your own Meli, once she decides something, there is little point in arguing with her. Robert cancelled all meetings to stay closely linked to her and she left.
Four days went by without him appearing. Meli spent her time sitting on a small blanket so that he would not feel threatened if he appears. On the fifth day he came to a bush and stopped, remaining partly camouflaged. Meli began talking softly, ‘In the olden days a boy was born and he was named Alexander. His father was Filippos and he was the king of Macedonia, which is in the north of Greece…’ She did not ask him whether he wanted to hear a story, she just started telling him a story in the hope he’d become intrigued.
He did not come out from behind the bush, but he listened, and Meli was able to see his bright blue eyes without looking directly at the bush. When the story finished she projected so that she also looked like she was made of silver. I cannot tell you how beautiful she was with her midnight hair and dark eyes. She said to him, ‘I’m not the same as you, am I?’ After a moment his faint answer came, True .”
She smiled at her Meli, “How she hid her excitement from him I don’t know. Softly she answered, ‘I’m glad, that means you are special. I bet you’re a robot from a million years in our future!’ Without a sound he disappeared.”
Maria demanded we go to the tables where she’d served mezedes and cold drinks. Even though we prefer to keep conversations at the table general so that our eating is partnered by the sound of many voices and some laughter, by now everyone was caught up in Sam’s story so she continued while we ate.
“While Meli had told her story, Robert and the Sparklers and many other species were trying to sense the silver boy. Nothing was sensed, either directly from his mind or as an energy connecting him to his real self, that is, if what we saw was something like a golem or doppelganger. Meli returned home and we tried all ways we could think of to find a clue from her and our memories. All we had was the one word he spoke. Why had it been so faint? Had he replied directly from a mind that was at a distance?
Meli returned to the same spot day after day armed with stories to keep him riveted. She realised he preferred stories about aliens and the future so she had to read through the books of our Robert or tell him stories about your family that are not generally well known.
Since then he has lost interest and only comes to listen to Meli once or twice a week. He has never replied to Meli or spoken to her again. On the days he does not come to her, we’ve found him walking around in the bush - always on his own. We do not believe he goes there because of an interest in wild life, he hardly notices anything, always walking lost in thought, his eyes fixed to the ground by his feet. We’ve theorised that he makes up stories and only chose the setting so that he is not seen.”
“I hope he is jumping there, or else we have a serious problem. If he is using a doppelganger and you have not been able to sense a connecting beam of energy, then it means he has a new talent which poses a danger to all of us - especially if Campbell gets hold of him first. He’ll be able to attack without us being able to counterattack.”
Robbie was right and I also became worried. Dommi shook her head, her thoughts having taken her in a different direction. “A normal boy, talented or not, would not be doing what he does. Meli, does he always look exactly the same?”
“Yes.”
“If, in his normal life, he looks just like any other Terran boy…”
“He could be an advanced robot Dommi.”
“I’ll leave those kind of conjectures for the rest of you. I’m more concerned about the boy, if he is a human. For him to choose to appear looking like a silver or metallic android, he must love science fiction or fantasy stories. Robert has often argued that new talents come into existence because of a need. What could his need be? In the olden days I would have included the possibility that he is a cripple and since he cannot play as other boys do, he imagines himself as some kind of robot having adventures. If he is not from Tanzania, how did he choose that spot?
From the face you showed us, he seems to be Caucasian. That means he is probably from Europe or America. If he is from America, it cannot be from the east coast, it has to be the west coast. Since he appears early in the morning, his visits would then take place once he is in bed and before he goes to sleep. If he is from a European time zone, then he starts once his parents leave for work and he is alone.” She frowned. “Of course, if he is travelling in his dreams, then he has to be from the east coast of America.”
They analysed her thoughts and came to the decision that he is an only child and both his parents work. They decided he must be imaginative and interested in science fiction and for some reason seeing himself as a robot makes him feel safer. Samantha kept on glancing at me, so I suspected her thoughts were running along the same lines as mine. Cherine of course became suspicious.
“What do you think Sam?”
“I’m going to go for the robot option.”
“If he is then he has to be from the far future or else from another solar system! You’d never find him.”
Cassie asked, “Why do you think he is a robot?”
“Because of his answer.”
She thought about it. “I don’t see that.”
“A real boy is not likely to answer ‘true’. He might say, ‘that’s true or you’re right’. He also showed no interest in how it was Meli changed herself, so it means he’s familiar with Cherinian talents.”
Cassie gave it some more thought and shook her head negatively. “No, you wouldn’t make your decision for such flimsy reasons. Okay, if those are your real reasons and you don’t have any others, then it means you’ve got a hunch and I’m with you.” She wasn’t being humorous and yet I found what she said extremely funny. It wasn’t long before the others also did - at my cost as their jokes about my mental processes made the rounds. Cassie just stared at me seriously, making clear she is determined to be my partner.
We warned everyone that we are leaving and jumped realities in Freddie.
Cassie noticed something all of us know and therefore don’t notice. The bush is full of flying insects. She projected herself as a fly the instant the boy appeared and sat on the back of his silver shirt. When he disappeared, if he was teleporting, she should go with him. He vanished and she fell to the ground.
“He stopped existing Robert! He just suddenly stopped being there!”
“Perhaps he was dreaming and woke up.”
“No, when we dream and travel we astrally project and the connection to the mind remains intact and visible to us.”
Robert asked, “Can you create a sphere of energy without him sensing it that prevents any kind of energy passing through?”
Robbie frowned, “And then? If it produces a result he’ll see it as an attack and never return.”
I asked, “I wonder whether he could sense a Sparkler if it enters him.”
“We can. Not a good suggestion love.”
Cherine emoted her upset mood. “Since when do we stop treating anyone as a human being with the same rights as us? If we want to learn about him we tempt him or ask him.”
Their Meli grinned. “I’ve got an idea and I’m not sharing it - if it fails I’ll only look stupid once.”
She waited until the boy came and told him about our isi. “Would you like to meet her? I can bring her, but she has to be sheathed since she is an alien.” He just stared at her. “She is just a child and is very sweet, she wouldn’t tell anyone about you.” We grinned at isi, for we knew she’ll hate having to keep whatever he said to her a secret as she really hates secrets.
Silence hung between them so Meli resumed a tale she had left unfinished. The moment it ended he vanished.
Our Meli took a hamper with her. When he appeared he ignored the hamper and stood waiting for a story. She spoke for ten minutes, opened the hamper and took out a coke and chocolate. She hesitated and then took out a second coke and chocolate and left them on the ground, about halfway between them. She gestured for him to help himself and continued with her story, eating and drinking as she did so with obvious relish. When he departed, her offerings still lay untouched.
“I’m starting to think Samantha is right - he must be a robot.”
I got the giggles and looked at Robbie. He raised an eyebrow in enquiry. “I think he must be from your world of fairies, that’s why nobody can sense him.” He grinned back at me without commenting. I thought of Stargard and others such as Peter Pan and shared my thoughts with everyone. They turned on him, demanding to know if the silver boy is his creation. I sat giggling to myself as he struggled to convince them he has nothing to do with the boy.
We’ve learnt something new. He does not like rain. As soon as the first drops fell he vanished. What made it even more interesting is that the rain only lasted a couple of minutes and he returned the moment the drizzle had gone by. How did he know?
We advised the governments so that they would not worry and Freddie briefly appeared to let the Unation spaceship out. It stayed distant enough that it could not be seen by the naked eye, but trained various gadgets on Meli as she waited. When the silver boy appeared she told him a long story but, as always, after a determined time he disappeared. Although cameras see him, no other equipment learnt anything about him. The next time he arrived he made a point of looking up towards the ship and then shook his head. Meli laughed.
Meli looked at Cherine with a grin. “Any ideas on how else we can tempt him?”
“Actually, yes.” She refused to explain, but the next morning she told both Meli’s not to go. We sensed Goldi leaving and looked at her as she sat on the ground. Awed we stared, falling in love with her again. Her skin had a slightly metallic sheen to it, but her hair was pure spun gold.
The boy took a step back when he saw her. Quickly Goldi spoke, “Hi, my name is Goldi. My sister Meli couldn’t come, so she asked me to tell you a story. Has she told you about the time we took Candy to a world we made for her?” She spoke in great detail, even explaining how we adapted a world for Candy. She was only a third through her story when he left. He’d actually stayed nearly ten minutes longer than ever before!
The next morning he appeared behind Goldi. He reached out and softly touched her hair. He separated them and brought a strand of hair close to his eye. After examining it from close he let go and re-appeared at his usual place.
The next morning he appeared again. We were jubilant, he has never before visited three days in a row. Goldi continued with her story without showing her joy. When she returned to us there was a mischievous gleam in her eye.
“Sheena, can you emote the need to be loved like you used to when we first met you? Maybe the two of us can break through.”
It is known that we are in this reality, but the governments have been advised we are busy on a project. A month has gone by and if we delay any longer in visiting and being visited we’ll hurt feelings and lose the goodwill we have in this reality. The local Eddie and Hettie booked a ballroom at an exclusive hotel in Washington and leaders from all over the world were invited. They’ve grown accustomed to the convenience of teleportation and some Cherinians have found employment as personal transporters for the extremely wealthy and political leaders, so we did not have to collect anyone. A few speeches were made, ruffled feathers smoothed and then we concentrated on private discussions as we ate. We were all grateful when the time for dancing arrived, even though we could not dance with Robbie and had to dance with strangers.
We then had a party for the local Cherinians and Ipohin. Michael and family came and they stayed for a couple of days with us.
“I believe you’re not having any success with the mystery boy?”
Robbie grinned. “We’ve set Goldi on him and Sheena will be going with for the next meeting.”
“If he can hold out against both of them it will prove he’s a robot. I don’t understand why you haven’t tried sending a healer, surely it would confirm one way or another what he is?”
“You don’t know how tempting it has been, especially as our frustration levels rise. Michael, if he is a talent he might sense the healer and think he is being attacked.”
He nodded. “Okay. I have one more question. Why haven’t you sent Iona?”
She ran up to his shoulder and caressed his cheek and he chuckled as she communicated. He said, “You want to tease me? Fine, my turn now. Iona, what if he was made by your people in the future and we can’t sense him because his soul can’t leave the planet?” We felt her dismay as she considered the possibility.
“Iona love, he warned you he’s teasing you.”
Sheena went with until the silver boy arrived. She tried emoting her yearning for love at him and returned to us almost in tears. She said it had felt as if she’d been trying to emote her need for love to a piece of glass.
“Iona finds you fascinating and she wants you to sit on the ground so that she can climb onto your shoulder. She won’t hurt you in any way, please let her.” Goldi emoted as strongly as she could.
He crouched, placing his face within inches of hers. Run . Startled, she raised herself to her full height and then she ran in a circle and returned to him. Fast . Iona literally disappeared as she raced. So did the boy. Iona’s father called out and pointed us in the right direction. The boy was running by her side!
When they returned he moved his hand too fast to see, scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder. Ignoring Goldi he turned and walked off with Iona. He spent the rest of his self-allotted time walking, but he did not communicate with Iona again, even when she tried to talk to him. He turned, rushed back to Goldi at an impossible speed, deposited Iona and disappeared.
Freddie was filled with excitement and when our two loves returned they were lavishly praised. We considered this an important day and were eager to see what will happen the next day. Michael had been about to leave, but he gave in to his curiosity and decided to stay.
The next morning, five minutes after he should have appeared, they decided the silver boy was not coming. As Goldi came to her feet, an ‘Iona’ appeared half under a bush. Goldi collapsed back onto the blanket while Iona carefully inched forward. This time, when they raced, the boy ‘Eqkee’ copied her and vibrated his way through trees just like Iona. Now we were truly stymied.
“He won’t talk to you?”
“He won’t speak. I told him it is rude of him not to answer when I speak to him, but it did not help. Maybe he does not have the concept of what ‘rude’ means?”
“At least he seems to enjoy racing you.”
“He is faster than I am.”
“He’s not projecting - projecting would not give him the abilities of an Eqkee.”
Thereafter, twice a week he would race with Iona and the other days he would ignore her and listen to Goldi or Meli. He did not show any preference for either Meli or Goldi - which we feel definitely proves he is not a Terran boy. Perhaps he shape-shifts to be a boy.
Michael had to leave and once he was gone Robbie sat with a coffee, fretting about something. “It could take months or years. I don’t know what to do. On the one hand, we can’t leave, the boy might never show himself again or one of the other groups might find him. We also can’t stay here for much longer.”
Since it is not urgent that we leave and was only an impulse driving him, no one gave him an answer.
The boy arrived next morning to find Goldi alone and weeping. He watched for about a minute and departed. The next morning he saw Goldi was alone again and she was smiling.
“Sorry about yesterday.” He gave just the hint of a smile (his first ever). Come .
She walked with him looking at the ground mostly and then half an hour later he touched Goldi on the shoulder and she disappeared with him. Before we could panic, a Sparkler observer watching the perimeter reported they are on a small hill. With shaking hands Robbie lit a cigarette and Maria rushed to make a strong coffee for him.
“Can you help me hear the music also?”
His glance showed he was startled. He waved at the land around them and Goldi took a guess. “What you see, it is like music to you?”
He pointed at a flat piece of ground and she heard a hum. As his finger came across an anthill the hum blipped. Fascinated she concentrated on watching exactly what he was pointing at and tying in what her eyes saw to the sounds. Gradually she realised that it truly does come together to form a song about the land, complete in its way and self sufficient, as the land is, but the music was very different to anything she’d ever heard before, as it told the story of what her eyes can see. (She has told us she’ll never be able to see the way she did before, because the world is infinitely more beautiful his way. Wendy and Candy shared and are practising - they have promised to teach everyone if they can.) He let his hand drop and there was silence.
“I wish I could tell that kind of story, it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced.”
He stared at her and tears rolled down his silvery cheeks. He vanished and has not been back for a whole week. Nobody talks of leaving anymore, we have to stay.
He arrived behind the bush once more. Goldi felt his eyes on her, but she did not tell a story this time. She talked about how it came about that she was born, what her gifts are and how long it took her to make friends with those who love her. With her words she sent the feelings related to what she was saying.
“Even now I am lonely much of the time, I have to leave my loves time for them to love each other without being affected by me. I’m telling you so that you know that I do understand you. Whether you come every day or only when you need to, I’ll be here for you.”
She allowed the silence to stretch, hoping he’d talk.
Not boy
“I know. Does it matter?”
Yes
Goldi pondered his answer, giving herself time to avoid showing her emotion in her voice. “Are you a boy inside, where it matters? I mean, are you or do you wish you were a boy?” He did not answer. “Maybe I have not understood you? You are telling me you are not a boy, but it does not matter to you, you only think it may matter to me?”
Yes
“Are you not a boy in the way Iona is not a girl - because she doesn’t have a body like mine? I hope you don’t think so, because I love Iona exactly as she is.”
Iona same. She is, I not
Goldi gleefully sent me a thumbs up. “You really are a robot?”
Not - only is not
She was stumped. I sent her a question. “Do you have a body of your own?”
He had that look that showed he was pleased and that he felt he’d been justified in making patience as he taught us. Mind
I sent her my reply and she cottoned on very fast. With excitement and joy in her voice she said, “But that’s wonderful! It means you can choose to have any kind of body you want, whenever you want!”
