The second being that we had not found any souls of the males in the void, which explained why we had lost those who had been killed by the fire-world during our presence.
“Child, we have hurt you. We did not think you would be ignorant of us, we thought Cherine knew all. Come closer and be comfortable for I have much to explain about our species.”
By the time I returned to Freddie all the Cherinians knew. Their feelings were a mixture of joy and sorrow for those we’d perceived as males. Some of those who’d had the job of explaining Cherinianism had come to know some of the males and had liked them, admiring their quick minds. They’d looked forward to feeling them link with us. Because of the mixed feelings, none of them had explained to the Normals and they looked bewildered. I asked Freddie to put me on the screens.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I will explain about the Waïsil and the reasons for the emotions I believe many of you have sensed among us. During the excitement of bringing the Waïsil forward to our time, it was not noticed by many that those we saw die in the witness program were not brought back. The reason was that the Sparklers could not find their souls. Unfortunately I too was guilty of ignoring that fact. I will now explain the facts in the sequence that I learnt of them so that you understand the complex emotions we’ve been wrung by.” I explained up to the last meeting with the Supreme Mother.
“Nature has found a different path for the Waïsil. The Mothers do not have drones, like our bees do. The males, or rather, those we think of as males, are neuters, but they are not drones. The Mothers are, in a sense, both mothers and fathers. I will continue to call the neuters males because to us Terrans they do appear to be males. Before the Mother is to lay her eggs, she is moved to the surface for sunlight to play upon her. Her cells mutate slightly so that the next eggs will not just be clones. In that manner all of them evolve over the centuries, as it is with us.
The males do not have souls of their own. The Mothers do. For many of us who’ve had some interaction with males and who’ve sensed individual personalities among them, the truth is difficult to accept. At the time the egg is being prepared within her body, the mother is informed of what they require. A labourer? A scientist? What kind of scientist? Teachers? Add to that a small number of other occupations. Once the young male hatches, the teachers will use the talent given to the young one by its mother and help it specialise in the subject it needs to learn.
The Supreme Mother became aware of herself about three hundred thousand years ago. She advised me that there are a couple of Mothers who are older than her. Their scientists had examined fossils before the time of the fire-world and had established that the mothers existed for a long period of time as non-sentient beings.
As the mothers became sentient they projected onto their offspring the same sentience along with whatever talents were needed. The required intelligence of each batch of children has forced the Mothers to evolve and become more intelligent. Since the Mothers became aware of themselves, only once has a Mother died without a replacement Mother being available. Her non-female offspring all reverted to non-sentient beings and soon died, which we and they believe stands as proof that the Mother supplies the children with a part of her soul.
The supreme Mother said to me, ‘The ways of life are a wonder to all thinking beings. Is that not so among all the species?’ and she was right. Do not compare them to us, their form of existence is just as beautiful and wonderful as ours is. To them, we are to be pitied or considered unnatural. That is the wonder of having a universe of galaxies to explore - we are lucky and blessed every time we find a species so alien to us that we are forced to stop and think and examine ourselves with a fresh wonder.” I gave them a smile. “Isn’t it wonderful that we can meet species so different from us and yet make friends among them? Perhaps it is even more of a miracle that they make friends with us.
I’m exhausted by the extremes of emotion I’ve experienced these last few days, but I still have one announcement to make. Here we go and I just hope I don’t get crucified for saying it. The Waïsil are the one species that are truly suited to becoming Cherinians. They will never suffer our biggest problem, which as you know is our yearning to have children. However many non-females the Mother gives birth to, she can only give birth to a new Mother if her instincts warn her it is necessary. There will only be five Cherinians on this planet!”
I’ve withdrawn, staying alone at home for a day or two. Do you feel like chatting? I would much rather hold you in my arms. If I could, I feel silence would be what you need. Since I cannot, sure, let’s chat. My dear strange friend. I don’t really have much to say. I just had an idea. Do you remember the story you teased me with about the boxee Robert and Cherine, could you continue the story? lol love, I’m not a Cherinian, I’ll have to find it, re-read it and then answer you. I’ll wait J
I’ll re-start the story so that it is all together (I have made some important changes):
