They are very angry with us; they are affronted by our existence as their god has told them that they are the only people it created throughout the cosmos and they demand to know what created us.
If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 10, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:
7271
We convinced Orkib to travel with us in Freddie so as to show him the dust cloud. He was very shaken and used his equipment to record what he saw. Our scientists sat with him for days providing him with data about the cloud and the dangers of radioactive particles in it. They did not allow him to despair, assuring him we will force the cloud away from their system before it arrives to cause them any damage. The Unation people seem to like the Droìkir and have offered to leave a team here to coordinate future action and to establish a working relationship with them. Before we departed, another spaceship from the Unation arrived to stay here until we return to handle the dust cloud. At least the boxee story gave us a way to save them and we have experimented to prove it does work for us also. I should have mentioned that it means we can also deal with the ash and chemicals of volcano eruptions on the Orati world, which should help save many species in the animal and plant kingdoms. I still find myself amazed at times at how much good has come out of the story Arthur is writing for us (I presume he still is).
We are now on our way to visit the Dream Dancers. Because this species seems to be important to Arthur, we are feeling slightly anxious. What if they don’t like us, as with the Droìkir? What if they are not suitable candidates for becoming Cherinians? The last is not likely for an entire species, but it is possible.
Freddie announced we’ve arrived and we’re waiting in the void for Robbie to take a look as the void. He kissed Candy as he opened his eyes and with her in his arms drank the coffee Maria had ready for him. He shrugged.
“I think Arthur got this one wrong. There are no inhabited cities and no empires that I can see and I only saw a couple of small skirmishes, but nobody was killing anybody, most of them just seem to be staring at nothing.”
I had a laughing fit so they waited for me. “I bet you’ll find he was right and there are mighty battles going on amongst the empires. Perhaps we won’t understand until we meet Lusalith.”
“Sam, I didn’t even see the equivalent of spears! They mostly seem to be made up of farming communities.” He grinned. “They do have boats, but they don’t seem to be any good at using them, I saw two boats crash into each other while crowds watched them from the shore. For all I know it may have been deliberate, for the one of them seemed to be jubilant while the other looked depressed. There is one other interesting fact I haven’t mentioned yet. They have cities that suggest they must have been advanced at some time, but though they seem to be in a good condition, they are not used, nobody lives in them. I can’t work out whether they’ve regressed or deliberately abandoned their cities. If either is true, then why are the cities being maintained?”
We want to meet Lusalith first, but how do we when we can’t speak the language yet and we will have to ask to find her.
Michael grinned at Ahní. “It seems we could have returned home long ago, there is no danger for the family here.”
I sent Ahní a wink. “I think you have to stay Michael. If this Lusalith is such a wonderful girl, she might be the perfect choice for your second wife.” Robbie sputtered and then laughed and shared with us what they look like.
Michael laughed. “I can just imagine returning to Earth with her as my wife.”
They resemble (sort of) something between lobsters and prawns. They have four limbs and the back ones are larger and strong looking and they do usually walk upright. The front limbs are used as arms, but sometimes they run on them also - mostly when playing. They have another two small limbs to either side of the pointed head that end in claws. Standing erect they average about two and a half feet in height (a bit less than a metre).
Robbie took Claudia, the two of them as souls, and they listened to conversations until they seemed to be speaking English. Robbie suggested we all visit. The girls refused, insisting he only takes me.
Robbie carried me in my sheathed body, as the void, placing me on a rounded top of a mountainside. It was beautiful, the blue grass with lacy white veins was softly moving in the breeze and it made me feel as if I were standing on water. I walked to where the land sloped down and saw further hills of grass and at the bottom a river winding its way through the surrounding hills. A few hills further down I saw a hamlet, just eight or nine houses with a few sheds. Nobody seemed to be moving about. I sat down to enjoy the view for a while before climbing down to meet the locals.
“From what dream are you? What is your name?”
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I turned and saw one of the locals, about three quarters the average size. “I’m called Samantha.”
“Samantha, that is a strange name. Is it your dream name or your real name?”
“My real name.”
“Samantha, I am Lusalith. I don’t know how you arrived here as you must be from far away, there is nobody with such a strange name living close to me. I think you are teasing me because I am not an adult, you couldn’t have that shape if you are not dreaming. What gave you the idea? Can I try it?” She suddenly recalled she had not asked and abashed, as if she had committed some kind of faux pas, she asked now, “Of which empire are you? I am from the Moonfire City, of the Traxath Empire. Are we to be at war?”
“Lusalith, will you sit by me for a moment. Before I answer all the questions you asked, I have something important to tell you.” She sat by me and her left hand touched me briefly. “My name is Samantha, as I told you. Where I come from, we don’t have empires and we name ourselves according to the family we belong to. My family name is Teller.”
She jumped up filled with excitement. “You are a teller? I’ve never met one before, I have heard of tellers who keep all the old dreams alive in their memories so that they can tell us the best ones. You have come to do a telling for us?” I was momentarily distracted by all the laughter within Freddie. We really have to change our surname!
“Lusalith, I’m not that kind of teller, I told you my family name, it does not describe what we are.”
“How can that be? Is it not an adult name?”
“Adult? You have different names for adults?”
“But you must know! Lusalith is a fancy name for a child - like a dream name until I have a real one - once I decide what I will be.”
“Let me start over. You do know that you live on a planet that revolves around your sun?”
“Of course! I’m not a spiflt!” She was miffed.
“I had a good reason for asking and it was not because of your age.”
“My age? I don’t understand.”
“You are a child, surely that means you are young?”
“A spiflt?” She sat down and gently took my hand in hers. “I think you are too ignorant to be an adult. Were you damaged? Were you in a war dream and you got hurt? I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
“Lusalith, what is a spiflt?”
“A…person short lived.”
“And a child?”
“One who has not chosen the future.”
“You only become an adult once you’ve chosen your future?”
“I become an adult when I have an adult name. First I must choose what use I will be to the future so that an adult name can be given to me.” I could feel her worry, she was convinced I must have been seriously ‘harmed’ to have forgotten so many basic facts.
“Lusalith, I am not of your species, I come from a different planet - from a sun that is very far away from yours.”
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Her little claws nodded in agreement with me. “I know Samantha.” She pretended sudden cheer. “Why don’t you let me dream for us to be the same, then I can also be from your planet.”
There was no shimmer, no glow, it felt as if the entire planet suddenly tilted a smidgeon and returned to the way it had been, except that now a tiny girl, sorry, just a little bit smaller than me, sat by me. Her hair was a fiery red with green streaks, her eyes were green facets that gleamed like emeralds, she did not have a nose and her lips were just thin partings for her small mouth. Her head seemed to grow narrower at the top and I found her far more alien than I had in her own shape. She jumped up and spun around.
“This is strange! I’ve never changed shape before. Come, I want to try running!” She tugged at my hand so I stood up. Shocked I thought I saw my body still sitting and then I lost it. Robbie sensed my disorientation and returned.
*Sam, both of you are still sitting as you were. You must have left your body.*
It didn’t make sense and then I had an idea. *Dad, what if I’m in her dream?*
*From your senses we see that you are walking with Lusalith who is in an almost Terran body, so that must explain it. Don’t worry about your body, I’ll watch over it.*
When Lusalith said she wanted to run, she meant it. Her thin legs flashed at such a speed I wondered whether I’d be capable of keeping up with her. She slowed down to take hold of my hand and as we ran, her hair streaming behind her, I could hear her laughing from pure joy. Robbie chuckled in my mind. *The two of you remind me of a movie, something like the Sound of Music or Mary Poppins. All that’s missing is the singing.* I tried to oblige, but it was hard to run and sing - even mentally.
I had much to wonder about as we ran. In all ways it felt as if I were in my body, my heart was racing, my breath was ragged as we ran down and then up the next blue slope. We came to a stream and to the left of us was a miniature waterfall. Lusalith turned and then stopped by the waterfall, collapsing to the ground, still laughing.
“That was fun! I must show others, our own shape is not built for running like that.”
“Lusalith, does everything only happen in dreams or do you live part of your life in real life?”
She stopped laughing and eyed me until she decided I was being serious. “We don’t dream during work time in the city. When it is planting time and when it is reaping time, we have our dream times.”
“Would you believe what I tell you if I waited for your non dreaming time?”
She sat up. “This is really your shape? I am not in your dream?”
“I’m in your dream, my body is waiting there where I met you. I really do come from a different planet. If I tell you why I came I’m certain you won’t believe me.”
“I would not insult you Samantha.”
“I came because someone dreamt of a child called Lusalith and I was told to come here to meet her. I was sitting where you found me wondering how I would find you.”
Her eyes took on a bluish tint. “To meet me? How could anyone know about me on a different planet?”
“The person who dreamt about you is the same person who made all the planets and suns.”
“Oh, a god of yours. Is it female like ours?”
“No, he is male and very old.”
“An adult! Oh, I’m sorry Samantha, it must be sad for you.”
“Why?”
7274
“But it is known that gods must be children or else they have work to do and don’t worry about looking after their people.”
“He looks after us because he loves us.”
“My father loves me, but he can’t watch over me all the time because he has to work. It is not the same Samantha.”
I grinned. “I like the idea of having only children as gods.”
“Which planet do you come from, where is it?”
I had no idea so I laughed. “Why aren’t you worried about me coming from a different planet?”
“Is your planet here for war? It will be a dream war?”
I recalled what Arthur suggested. “Would you like it if it is?”
“We’ve never had a war with all the city empires on one side, I think our people would remember such a dream forever.”
I finally convinced her I needed to understand why they have dream wars. She was horrified when she understood that we only have real wars. She explained that a long time in their past they also had real wars. They do not have many children and every time they had a war they would suffer for generations until there were enough people for them to run a city. Her voice was awed when she told me that sometimes so many were killed that two or three cities had to become one city so as not to lose everything and live without cities. Their wars were never for economic reasons and neither were they for religious reasons. She was definite about that, for she explained that when they had wars in the old days, their god would weep for years sometimes. They only had wars for the glory.
They’ve always had the ability to dream the way they do and a wise ruler who was faced with a challenge for a war that his city was not ready for, suggested they have a dream war. Those who dream fought had their glory, everyone was happy and nobody was killed and no property was destroyed. It was decided by all the city empires that from then on all wars would only be fought in dreams. Not having to have extra children was a great relief to all and now they could not even imagine having a real war.
In the old days everyone would have their dreams whenever they wanted, but when a city was devastated by war they would have to agree a time that all could dream without damaging their civilisation. They believe it is not good to live in a city all the time, so they did not develop along the lines of some living in cities and others being farmers. Whatever their position in the city, during the times they are needed on the land, they shut down their factories, schools and shops and move en masse to their country homes. There they do their work, ploughing, sowing or reaping, prepare the food and transport it to silos and then when their work is done, they have three weeks to dream and have their wars. Not all dreams are for wars. They have them for all sorts of reasons. Dreams for courting are very popular among the young adults.
During her explanations it came out that when it is time for their god to become an adult, she hands over to the next female child god and she is then appointed as the leader of a city empire. They only ever have one god at a time.
I listened to her, asked her questions, but the truth is, I felt as if none of this was real. It sounded to me like a story written by Arthur. We walked back to our bodies, talking about less important things, more intimate, but the kind of things that make those who talk become friends. Once back in my body I told her it is time for me to return to my family, but that I will meet her the next day. She confirmed she comes from the hamlet I’d been watching, so I promised to meet her on the slope just above it. Anxiously she asked whether I meant it and that we would really challenge all their empires to a war. I confirmed the challenge will be issued the next day. Since she wanted to see me leave, teleporting would have convinced her it was just a dream, I had to levitate until she could hardly see me and then I jumped home.
When I shared, there was very little laughter. Mostly everyone felt the same as I did. Such a planet of people surely cannot exist in the real universe. The only one from our family who took them seriously was isi-mi.
7275
“Sam, how would your people be different if they could not have children easily? Would they be as quick to have wars? I think she made a lot of sense. This gift of dreaming must have made them different from all the other species and it more or less supplied them with a good solution.”
The next morning we watched for Lusalith and as we saw her climbing I jumped to meet her. Luckily she emotes quite plainly and openly her feelings, as I’ll need some time to recognise her expressions of joy, sorrow and so on. At least I already know that the tint of her eyes alters according to her emotions.
“Today you will tell me about your people?”
“With pleasure. Lusalith, have you told your…those whose child you are, about me?”
“My father? Yes, he hopes to meet you when you are ready.” Back came the feeling of this world not being real!
“He is not worried about you being alone with a person from another planet?”
She tilted her head as she regarded me. “Because you still have real wars? You have already shown you are civilised by agreeing to a dream war. Are your people good dancers?”
“Why?”
“We do not kill, even in dreams! We dance the kill. It must be real and clever so that everyone sees you killed.”
“Nobody ever gets hurt?”
“Sometimes.”
“We saw two boats crash into each other. What was happening?”
“It must have been two warships in a dream.”
“So there is some reality to your dreams!”
“Of course! Why else dream? We are not spiflt.”
“Spiflt dreams have no reality?”
“Their dreams are too…unreal, they do not know enough about the world.”
This time we walked down to the river and she sank into the water for a while and then sat in the water with just her head above the flowing water. “Now you will tell me?” We talked for about four hours. She was fascinated, but I doubt she understood much and what she did, I doubt she believed much of it. When I told her about the Cherinians, she was not really interested, more curious about the ways our families are made up. I kept it simple and stuck to the usual Terran families; mother, father and child(ren).
“Each child has two fathers?”
“Lusalith, are you male or female?”
“Female.” She giggled. “Your females are not also fathers?”
“Yes, we are. How is it with you?”
“The female is a father before the father, for a short time. When the spiflt is tiny, the female gives it to the father who places it in his gibli where the spiflt lives for two years.”
“Your first father, don’t you know her?”
7276
“Of course I do, I am one of the lucky ones, in the city we live together.” After numerous questions I came to realise that she thought of her mother as we would think of an older sister. The females have almost no mothering instinct, but they do love their children as extensions of their husbands. Couples mostly bond for life. Females do love children, but that is the difference, they love all children and are pleased when they have more than one. The reason she only lives with them in the city is because she has to go to her original farming community. I realised that she is very close to her father for she pensively told me that if she marries (I received the impression that she does not expect to), she hopes the male she marries is good like him.
“Shall we go to meet your father?”
“He is working, but should be home soon. Come I will show you my room.”
My head touched the ceiling, so I warned her and changed my age so that I was a six year old. She found it difficult to believe I was not there in my dream self. Valiantly she controlled herself and showed me their home and then her bedroom. She had all kinds of odds and ends that she wanted to show me and I sensed she loves her things. When she opened her cupboard to show me her clothes, I took out an outfit and examined it.
“I’ll ask Angelica to design something just for you. Would you like that?”
She has no hair and they do not wear makeup, but they love jewellery. She explained that her two fathers do buy her jewellery, but most of it is at her city home as she would not wear them in the country.
She sprawled on her bed while I sat on cushions on the floor and we gossiped. I could tell that she was directing the conversation towards asking me for something, so I tried to make it easy for her.
Shyly she asked, “Could you take me to visit your planet? It would be strange to see a world with no dreamers.”
“If your father agrees, I’ll take you tomorrow for the day.” I then had to explain that I meant our spaceship, which is a small planet in size and is close to their world. I asked her how old she is.
“Since my father invited me to enter the world, fourteen years.”
“He invited you?”
“Yes. How else would I come? Until he does I would not be part of this world.” She then told me stories she considered gruesome about fathers who did not invite their children into the world, just removing them from their body and how those children could never belong or become adults for there would be no place for them to work. It seems such children die by the age of ten if no other father invites them. Since they all love children, unwanted children do not usually remain uninvited, many fathers wanting to adopt them (or, to invite them and accept them as their children).
She heard her father approaching the house so we went into the public room to wait for him. He was bulkier than I’d expected and he emoted his discomfort as he’d been working in the sun all day and had expected to wash before I arrived. Not that I could smell anything unpleasant.
“Father, this is Samantha-not-of-this-world, my friend.”
“She has not been invited?”
“No father, that is why she has come to speak to you.”
“You have a lovely daughter and I thank you for allowing me her company for these two days.” He ignored me and Lusalith moved so that she stood behind him and gestured to me. I took a guess. “Our Empire challenges all the Empires of your world to a dream battle.”
“All at the same time?”
“There will be ships for each Empire of your world.”
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“You claim such power?” I sensed his interest for a moment and then his emoting flattened out. I barely had time to notice the shift and he was on his feet and dancing. He sang of how our ships would attack and of how one ship is coming to his home to kill his daughter and he danced his attack, brandishing and wielding some kind of weapon I could barely see. He danced and sang of how he destroyed our ship and his Lusalith is now safe. We did not seem to be in his house and I could almost see a ship (nautical but flying in the air) being destroyed. Lusalith sang out and danced, acknowledging his terrible power and his destruction of our ship as being true and his dream collapsed as he sank even further in his chair with relief that another dream dance had been true and now could be sung of by tellers as being part of his life.
“I shall pass on your message Samantha. You do not leave us much time to prepare for we return to the cities in five days. Shall the battle be held after the sun is risen in three days?” I agreed.
“I have invited Lusalith to visit our travelling world. Would you like to join us after you’ve passed on our challenge?”
“Why do you wish to go daughter?”
“They do not dream father, they only know the real world. There is much that is different and I wish to see it.”
“I told you to apply to work as student, why do you lack confidence, have I not been a good father to you?”
“The best - I would dream it for you father, but I think Samantha has had enough dreaming for today, she is not used to it.”
“Please speak to her, she would be a good student and learn much for our people and the glory of our city.”
“I’ll do so.”
Embarrassed, Lusalith manoeuvred for us to leave the house and we were soon walking up a slope.
“What was that about?”
“He seeks too much glory for me - as all good fathers do. He wishes me to be accepted as an adult student.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“My adult job would be to learn and study our world so that new things are made and thought of. Only the very best are accepted as students, I could not succeed.”
“We’ll discuss it tomorrow in Freddie.”
“Samantha, the dream battle of my father, it was not for you, it was his promise to protect me.”
“I understood that. Sit with me a moment before I go home, I want us to try something.”
I asked her to feel my arm, hand and fingers and then asked her to hold my arm with both of her hands and try to bend it, gradually applying more pressure until I tell her to stop. Then I asked her to squeeze my wrist. When I told her to stop I asked her to do the same with a leg.
“You have strong hands so now you know how much pressure you can use without hurting me. May I try the same with you? Don’t try to be brave, tell me when it becomes uncomfortable.” I then asked her to press her arms around my torso and then I tried the same with her. She gave me permission to send my healer into her. I gave her a grin and projected.
“This is not a dream change, can you sense you are not in a dream of mine?” I seemed to be wearing the same clothes as her so I opened some of it for her to see that I was anatomically correct under my clothing. “All people we’ve met up to now have a healer. It is a kind of energy of the mind that tries to look after us. Before we leave I want to teach you how to contact your healer so that you can never sicken and if you have an accident it can heal you.”
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“We have stories of people that can do that, but everyone says it is only a dream wish, there is no healing in real life.”
“I’ll show you tomorrow that it is not. Do your people like touching each other - I mean, those who are fond of each other.”
“It is necessary Samantha, for health. If we do not touch, we sicken. It is the same for you?”
I carefully hugged her, monitoring in case she found it distasteful. I sensed the rush it gave her and realised the feelings in my body were the same. My healer advised me that hugging stimulated my natural immunity to illness while also flushing toxins. It estimated the reaction in this body is nearly three times as effective as it is in my own body. I asked her whether uninvited children die early because of nobody hugging them, but she didn’t know.
The next day I collected her in a platform, Robbie sheathing her as she entered. As we rose into the sky she did not evince any nervousness, but as we rose higher she became anxious and asked how she can protect herself from the rays of the sun. I reassured her that she is protected and then asked whether they have any spaceships. They do not, but they have sent unmanned balloons and many experiments have been carried out over the decades.
She could not imagine what had happened when her planet and all the stars disappeared and she found herself in a place of darkness. With Freddie being covered in dark energy she could not see him so I sent a thought to Freddie and she suddenly found herself next to a small planet that swiftly changed colours. I grinned.
“That’s Freddie. Shall we enter?”
“You live inside the planet?” I could feel her dismay replace the awed wonder.
“You could say so, …here we go.” I’d nearly asked her to close her eyes and it gave me the giggles. The platform jumped into Freddie.
I could feel her trembling and her eyes changed colour. It was not just the sudden existence of an alien world, she was faced by tens of thousands who’d congregated to welcome her and the variety of species frightened or shocked her.
The platform melted away and Robbie stepped forward. “Lusalith, welcome to our world. I am father to Samantha. Allow me to introduce you to her sisters, wives, daughters and mothers.” The way he put it, we suddenly sounded alien to me also.
Cherine, as usual, was left last, so I stood by her. I whispered, “Did the imps suggest our meal to Maria?”
“Not that I know of, why?”
“I was worrying they might have convinced her to serve lobster thermidor.”
She stared at me wide-eyed for a moment and then burst into laughter. “That was nasty!”
“What was?” everyone seemed to ask, but she refused to explain and I rushed to return to Lusalith’s side.
Once the direct family had been introduced, our close friends stood before her. “Do you use the word grandfather for the father of your father?” She agreed they do. “This man is called grandfather by all of us, even though he is not father of our father because we love him so much. Alki, Lusalith.”
“You are a very nice people Lusalith, I look forward to meeting your father and more of your people.”
Once she had met our close friends I took her hand and we rose into the air. “Do you see how many have come to meet you? There are too many for you to meet within the one day you will be here, but over time you’ll get to know many of them. Among the aliens we have one girl who is our sister, for my father was her female father for a short time. isi-mi, join us at the taverna please.” I floated her around for the crowds to greet her as we flew over them and returned to the taverna.
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“Some of the foods we eat, my healer tells me you can eat, but our bacteria might harm you. Did you bring food with you as I suggested?” Robbie had lengthened the legs of the chair for her so that she could sit comfortably and we served ourselves as we chatted with her.
By the end of the meal she had recovered and had become friends with some of the girls. The males she tended to ignore unless they spoke to her. The imps decided it was safe to bring Bitsy for him to enjoy the bones from our plates and Lusalith stared at him as he ran around, his tail wagging as he was fed titbits.
“That is Bitsy. He is an animal, which means he is not sapient. Our species form special relationships with those of his species and they live with us. We love Bitsy and as you see, he seems to love us.”
My voice attracted the attention of Bitsy and he came to sniff at Lusalith. She climbed off her chair and knelt to touch him. With her head bent downwards I was afraid that Bitsy might bite her stick-like feelers so I warned her. She sat back and looked at me, worried.
“If he bites me, am I supposed to bite him? I think my mouth is too small. I do not wish to be rude and hurt his feelings.”
As can be imagined, many did not succeed at hiding their mirth. With a smile I explained his purpose of biting and thank goodness I sensed she was amused.
Since she had met Bitsy, I thought, why not Skotos? I then had a better idea and asked Lucy to meet us at Skotos with Sharipya and Asimi. For the first time she showed some fear, but then Skotos is huge and he showed he does not like her. Luckily the size of Sharipya and Asimi did not frighten her for they are gentle and talked to her. I asked whether we could go for a ride with Lucy and Lusalith on their backs while I take Skotos for a run.
Her ride was the highlight of the day for her and she was half in love with Asimi - as is everybody else.
I asked her to take a seat and think seriously for a moment. “We will be meeting your empires in a dream battle and we don’t know how to create such dreams. Can you teach us?”
She tried, but the problem was that she does not know how she does it. She just wills herself into a dream state and it becomes reality for her for as long as she wills it. She even allowed Dommi into her mind to watch when she wills a dream, but that did not help as Dommi found too much alien to her for her to enter or assimilate what she sensed. I gave the glum faces a smile and Lusalith a wink.
“The two of us know how to do it, don’t we?” She focussed her lovely eyes on me. “You’ve taken me into your dream.” Her eyes lit up. “Do you think people from your world could help us by our having one of them for each empire we have to fight?”
Lusalith created a dream for us and included everyone within range so that we could be certain that all of us, Terrans and other species, can be drawn into the dream. I found it interesting that she chose to ride Skotos in her dream and they raced over hills and valleys.
“Please ask for volunteer dream makers and we’ll bring all of you to Freddie in the morning for us to practice.”
There are thirty four empires so we picked up thirty four volunteers plus our Lusalith. One of the thirty four was her father. Warned by her they brought lots to eat and drink and we first gave them a tour and they met all the species present. They were invited to the Unation ship, but it did not impress them very much, since they could not see what purpose it serves since we have Freddie.
“The battles must be on land or water as they must be represented by real ships or land vehicles. The real ones can be small boats or even just primitive carts on wheels, but they must be mobile so that they can crash into each other.”
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Robbie asked Lusalith’s father, “What kind of weapons are used?”
“It was discussed last night. We see this being the crucial point that should win you the battles. Usually the winners are those who come up with a new but effective strategy or they are able to imagine new weapons. We are more experienced at creating winning strategies but your weapons are new to us so we are certain you’ll win.”
Before I could reassure them, Robbie asked, “And how do you feel about that?”
“Those who dance, even if they all lose, they will have the glory of the first ever dream battle with strangers to our world.” His voice had a smile to it as he added, “There will be much more glory if we do win of course.”
“What about the lot of you who are helping us? Will there be glory for you?”
“If you win? All will say you could not have won without us, so we will have our glory.”
“If we lose?”
“Each of us is from a different empire and if you lose, then our empire will have won and we will have been within the dream and will have a share of the glory.”
Robbie took me for a walk to the beach. “I’m not clear how we should handle this. If it was our team against theirs and we had a number of games to play, I’d see to it that they win half the rounds and us the other half and the final game I’d leave to chance. We can’t do that here. We can’t have certain empires win and others lose, they seem to be obsessed by glory.”
“In the dream battles we will be Normals Robbie, I wouldn’t take it for granted that we’ll win. Remember, they’ve had centuries of practice and we do not know what kind of weapons they imagine. We on the other hand, because we know of so many really terrible weapons will probably end up being too conservative.”
Robbie cheered up. “Yes, we better ensure we are.”
When we returned to the taverna we saw the males had withdrawn for a private discussion. The girls obviously knew what it was about, but they all blocked me out. The males returned to their seats except for one who we knew comes from the same city as Lusalith. He stood before Robbie in what we sensed was a formal pose, so Robbie came to his feet.
“We wish to know, will Samantha be part of a battle?”
“She will probably want to command her own battle.”
“It is not usual for a child to take part directly, but Lusalith has asked in the name of friendship to be permitted to join Samantha. As her father, do you allow it?”
“What if Samantha wins? Won’t those who lose resent Lusalith for siding with strangers against her own people?”
“I have fought for other empires, we are only allowed to fight for our own once, so it is not difficult to understand why we help other empires. How else could we have more than one worthy dream dance? Whether you win or lose, she will dance for herself great glory to be told of for generations.”
Allan tried to be a gentleman, “Lusalith already is glorious.” They just gave him an uncomprehending glance and nodded their claws.
Each of the species created a team, including the Fegorians, as all of us can have any body shape we want in the dream. The Unation are treated as being of one species but the Meéjeira, although now part of the Unation, are treated as a separate species. They asked for Haven, Robyn and Empathia to join their team. I guess they are the most likely to win. Candy was happy as we brought Iziko (just for him to watch).
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)- posted: 17th Jun, 2020
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