“Arthur, whether human nature is capable or not of changing, the only hope we have of it altering and evolving for the better, is by us believing it is possible.
7921
Based on that belief I’ve come to the realisation that both the Cherinians and Ipohin need the Campbellites. Here is where you could feel insulted - as we discover new to us realities and we come to know people who thirty years ago would have been accepted as Cherinians, we now consider them more suitably linked as Ipohin so that with time and hopefully our example they can grow to become Cherinians. In turn, the Ipohin no longer are willing to link as eagerly as they used to.”
“And you consider me not to be as discerning as Michael, that I’ll just link anything and anyone?”
My voice went flat, “I knew you would take it the wrong way.”
“How else am I supposed to take it?”
Goldi touched his arm. “I think Sam had more she wanted to say, but she feels she can’t speak now. Please promise me you’ll try to understand what she really wanted and come back to let her finish speaking?”
As I came to my feet I said to him, “Keep in mind that becoming too discerning can be even more self-defeating and destructive.” I jumped directly to my apartment, not too unhappy with how the opening gambit had gone. I’ll swing him to my way of thinking…unless someone shows me that I’m wrong.
When I joined the family for supper I saw that Goldi had brought Campbell to eat with us. I gave him a nod and emoted friendliness, as did he, but neither of us tried to approach the other or start a conversation. I was very happy when Robbie chose Goldi as his special that night. Robbie told her that seeing her as an adult reminded him that he does not always appreciate how special she is. He may have said it to send her spirit soaring, but even Goldi knows and is happy with him mainly preferring her as a child.
The next morning Robbie warned us that he intends finding the local Robert. He doesn’t want to do it the easy way, as we also need to find ways of passing our time. Unfortunately, he said, we don’t have too many areas to search. He should either be in Kenya, England or Greece. It is a little too unlikely he’ll be in Greece as there is no internet yet, so, even if he exists and is wealthy, Alki would have no use for Robert. Tanganyika is still a German colony, but Kenya is British, so it is possible that Robert's parents moved there. I quickly chose to search for him in Greece which startled everyone. Aganthi, Angelica, Noelle, Sheena and Robyn offered to come with me - the rest were too eager to be the ones to find the local Robert, so Robbie split them into two groups.
“Are we going to Kolonaki first?”
“I doubt we’ll find him there. Let’s make it interesting for us and visit Alki first.”
We went to the address of his office and smiled happily when we saw the familiar logo. We decided we should not all go in so I asked Angelica and Noelle to introduce themselves and bring Alki to us. As the girls walked in, Aganthi turned to me. “There are no Rumanians or Serbs, but the poverty is terrible. I’m glad they are being given food machines.”
“Aganthi, it is something that third world countries don’t believe. Even in our reality, Greece was very poor until tourism and shipping began to earn the country foreign exchange. This Greece is worse off because the second world war did not develop.” She gave me a puzzled look. “In our reality and most others where communism became a big threat to the American domination of the world, the American government made grants to countries that allowed them to have a military base. It was assumed that the Americans had nuclear missiles in their bases for attacking the Soviets, but nobody confirmed it. In return for being allies and placing their own populations at risk, the USA gave about one billion dollars per year, three hundred million to Greece and seven hundred million to Turkey. Most of it was in armaments, but the cash component helped both countries. Actually, both countries sold on a lot of the armaments to countries America did not like and refused to support. Here they are getting nothing so it is even more difficult for them to break out of the trap of poverty.”
“That means it is worse in Turkey?”
I smiled. “It will not be the same for much longer - for any of the countries. Our group of realities will all contribute to their sister countries and soon they’ll be just as indolent and bored with life while they waste their lives living in virtual reality worlds…as if our real worlds and galaxies do not hold enough to grab the imaginations of a million generations.”
7922
Aganthi cocked her head. “What is going on, why are they so unhappy?” We felt the girls, but also sensed they were coming out to us, so we waited. We embraced Angelica and Noelle as they walked out the door. They rested their head on our shoulders for a moment and then we walked over to a kafeneion near the railway station.
“Alki was killed five months ago by a Talent.” Angelica’s eyes filled. “It is not only his death that hurts, he was killed in his office and his staff saw his death and they let us share. That damn mutant used his powers to kill Alki slowly and with as much pain as possible.”
“Did you see which of the Talents it was?” She showed me his face. “He is not amongst those we are holding. I need to sense his signature, I’ll have to return to the office.”
“How will that help Sam, none of the staff are psychics.”
“I meant five months ago. My loves, only Vincent will be with me, it is not right…” They exploded in a rage and demanded they come with. Robbie appeared, Cherine in his arms and Dommi by his side. Instantly they turned to him to complain about me making autocratic decisions. He calmed them, ordered coffee for himself and soft drinks for the girls.
“Would you like to explain yourself? Why Vincent instead of I? Why you on your own and none of your wives, not even his daughters?”
“All of you should be together to bring him back. I’m going to hunt his killer and kill him in exactly the same way he killed Alki - and you know that none of you could bear to be part of that.”
“And you could? You have decided to split our family Sam, you will keep your mind apart from ours so that we may never sense your love for us directly? Was Arthur right in his warning?”
Tears spilled over onto my cheeks. “It is not fair that he can do that to Alki and not be punished as he should be. Blocking his powers is not enough!”
Robbie turned to Goldi, “You better let Campbell know that we no longer need him to help link, it seems us Cherinians are about to take one big step backwards in our evolution.” He looked me in the eyes, “Take a walk Sam and think it through. The decision will be yours, just as any Cherinian has the right to make such a decision, so do you. If you decide it is worth it, we’ll do as you wish.”
With wonder I asked, “You understood what I was about to tell Campbell?”
“Of course. I was only waiting for you to finish explaining to him so as to declare our biggest celebration ever. You brought me so much joy when you made me see how we’ve evolved in the direction of our dreams. God, it made me feel like crying.”
He made me burst into tears again when he said that - as I’m certain he knew he would. Stubbornly I clung to the cause of all these tears. “What about that monster who killed Alki, what do we do to him?” Robbie was not the only one who stared at me with mouth agape. Then Cherine got the giggles and Robbie broke out in raucous laughter and soon the entire kafeneion seemed to be laughing, as if I were some damn comedian!
As we arrived in Freddie, Robbie handed me over to Alki who, holding me tightly, walked off for the two of us to be alone. I sent an image of Robbie sitting down upon a huge tack and crying as he rubs his bum. He only sent back a smile and oodles of love.
“This is totally unnecessary Alki, pappou, I know we can’t torture him, but it is not right for anyone to do something that evil and not be punished. It is also not right of us to pass on the responsibility of punishing him - that only shows we are moral cowards and hypocrites.”
He gave me a surprised look. “When I felt you I was overcome with love for you and needed to hug you to me. As for the rest of it, you are our pallikari, I’d expect you to find a solution that serves justice but also our dreams.”
It was obvious the man did not know that we can travel in time and was confident he’d covered his tracks and was safe. When he opened his door and saw me, not a flicker of doubt or fear passed through him. I sensed that he had succeeded in dampening his powers so that they would not be sensed by anyone not knowing he is a Talent. As I was about to reach out for him, to take him where his sentence would be announced to him, his wife and two children came to the door. Shocked, I sensed how close knit they are as a family and how the man is loved. I made some excuse and left.
7923
Under the legal system of the Normals, the love felt for him by his family would not affect the decision of the court in any way. Without giving it a second thought, or if he did, the judge would feel it was justified, as he gave out the sentence, he would be simultaneously punishing the wife and children. We do not have the right to punish the innocent, but we also do not have the right to allow criminals to avoid paying for their crimes. The victim has his rights and those include the satisfaction of knowing that society is outraged at the crime committed against him. If the criminal is not suitably punished then we have to revert to permitting the victim or their loved ones to seek personal retribution. After writing the above I double checked the meaning of the word ‘retribution’, despite being certain I know what it means. Amongst other definitions, I saw the following: The act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life. I do not advocate that, the next life is totally innocent of the crimes of the previous life. So is the next generation, the sins of the father must be fully paid for only by the father.
Empathia took my thought to the next level, complicating matters for me even further. “Do the children learn about the crimes of their father? If they do, surely it will destroy their trust in him and cynicism and bitterness will alter their lives - which means they do end up paying for the sins of their father. What about his wife, if she is a good woman, however much she may love him, she will feel repulsed by what he has done and they’ll probably divorce. Again, the wife and children pay for his crimes.”
Candy asked, “Is he like my daddy, Sam?”
“Incapable of feeling empathy? He obviously does not hurt anyone of his own family and probably does a good job of protecting them as a husband and father should. I’ll need to sense him again Candy before I can answer you.” I asked Robbie, “If he is crippled emotionally and cannot feel the pain he causes others and only depends on what logic shows him, it means he knows it is wrong to hurt others but he does not care, what he wants is more important to him. Is the knowledge of doing wrong enough by itself to justify punishment - and should the punishment be any the less severe because of his being crippled?”
Haven answered me, “If he knows what he is doing is wrong, but only considers his own needs, then he needs to learn that if he does so he will be severely punished, which hopefully means he will think twice before committing such a crime again.”
The arguments went back and forth without us reaching any conclusion. All we learnt is that we are torn between our own empathic natures and the needs of all decent humans to know that evil acts do not go unpunished. I’m stumped.
The next day, after lunch I walked off by myself. I saw no purpose would be served by my trying to reach a consensus, I have to find an answer that I am satisfied with - then they have the right to argue against me or even demand I do not take the action I’ve decided on. When I sat by the waterfall, Lusalith joined me for a while, but I was not good company and she left to visit her own people. Cherine appeared in the near distance and came to sit by my side.
I tried to be humorous. “It’s going to be a real long and uphill battle to drag us up with you into the light.”
She sighed. “I wish I understood your sense of humour a little better - you’re almost as bad as Robert.” She let me enjoy her backhanded compliment for a moment. “I would have thought that with what happened thanks to my becoming the Light, you’d be avoiding the subject right now.”
“That wasn’t your fault! I should have anticipated some of the problems, but most of it was new territory and nobody is to blame. I don’t know what you are moaning about, we all adore our new little Cherine and it was worth going through hell just to have her.” I grinned. “Have you noticed how reluctant Robbie is to find the local Robert? I bet he’s trying to hang on to having little Cherine to himself for as long as he can. Jeepers, he even used my crying as an excuse to stop looking for him - how pathetic can you get!”
“First of all, Robert does not have her to himself - not with forty other Roberts in Freddie. Secondly, don’t you ever call Robert pathetic. Thirdly, you and I are to blame for what happened, but mostly it was my fault and I can prove it.”
“Oh yeah?”
7924
“When we return to our reality, what am I going to do? Will I return in time knowing what happened? So, now it’s your turn, prove I’m not to blame.”
I gave it a moment’s thought. “Gosh, I wouldn’t know how to start!” Seeing the look I’d anticipated on her face I burst out laughing. Cherine threw herself at me, tickling me.
When we stopped, faces flushed and sweating, she grabbed my chin and made me look into her eyes. “Sam, you’ve heard me explain about how I am forced to deal with empathy so that I can remain sane and live my life as I want. Doesn’t anything I’ve said apply to your problem?”
I asked Vincent to take me back in time and to help me. We collected Mr Murdock without anyone seeing us, returned in time, forced Alki out of his body by my entering his mind and taking him to the void. Vincent placed Murdock within the body of Alki and he suffered all the torture he inflicted on the body of Alki. When Alki’s body died, Murdock was put back in his body and taken to the prison planet but to an island without other prisoners. I told him he would have to live there on his own for twenty years so that by the time he is returned, his money will have been taken by the banks as unclaimed funds or, if it was declared, given to his family. His wife will have probably, by then, have found another man and married and his kids will grow up with another man as their father. I felt I had done all I could to violate his personal dreams and pretended to leave. I asked Vincent to keep an eye on him and returning to an alternate Hettie I collected the provisions Vincent usually carries to the prisoners. When I returned I found that Vincent had not stayed to watch over Murdock. He spent most of his time on the islands with the other prisoners and used his abilities to influence many of them so that they open to empathic thoughts about the children they’d hurt. He showed me he had prevented Murdock from unblocking his powers and then from killing himself and after that he’d not tried anything.
By the time ten years had passed for him, Murdock looked as if he had aged twenty years. As I’d hoped, he’d tortured himself with the images I’d painted for him and he now hated me pathologically. I decided I’d give him ten years off for good behaviour (good behaviour in this instance was the self-torture). I took him to the house we had built in the Athens area.
I forced him to sit at the table, opposite me. “You thought you were being very inventive when you tortured Alki to death. You were not, you have not even begun to explore the possibilities. Allow me to give you an example.” I turned into a monstrous creature that salivated acid all over him. As he screamed in agony, the acid burning past flesh and into bones, I killed the illusion. It took him quite a few minutes to recover from it. I stood over him with a sweet smile. “I have many other ideas I’d enjoy testing on you if you give me an excuse.”
I brought myself a cold drink and a beer for him. “As far as I’m concerned you are a monster and all of life would be better off without you around. You justified yourself by claiming you did it to get money from him, but then you did not even try to get his money, because you were enjoying yourself torturing him. I should have killed you, but I sensed that your wife and children love you. I have no wish to hurt them, they are innocent of your evil. This is what I am going to do. Listen carefully because you better not mess it up or I’ll return for you.
My healer is already busy rejuvenating you. There are no scars and you will look exactly as you did on the day I took you away from your family. I will give you three days to enjoy being back with them and then I expect you to provide me, in cash, with all the money you accumulated by using your powers to steal from Normals. With the cash I want the names and the amount belonging to each of your victims. Don’t waste time and effort in trying to open your powers again, all your extrasensory powers have been burnt out of your mind, you are a Normal once more and will remain one forever.
There will be times you will feel an unbearable need to find me and tear me to pieces as painfully as you can. You are welcome to those feelings, they don’t bother me. However, if you are hoping not to have me call on you again, I suggest you begin to practice the following. When you are sitting at home, happily watching your children or they do something that makes you feel proud of them, imagine that another person exactly like you, who does not care how much he hurts others as long as he gets what he wants, grabs your children and starts to torture and cut their limbs off in an effort to force you to give him the money you stole from others and that I took back from you. Feel how helpless you feel and how you suffer because of the pain you see your children experiencing and then think to yourself, that is how other people feel…I’m not the only one, pain is just as real for others as it is for my children.
Once final thing. What you did while you worked with the sick Robert and the powers he opened in you, none of that will be told to your family. Your children need a father they can look up to. From now on, try to be your best for them.”
7925
I returned him to the exact day and hour we took him from and I watched as he walked back into his home and sensed his emoting when he saw I’d told him the truth and his children had not aged. I returned to Freddie, gave Vincent a big hug, apologised for making him suffer and then went to the leader of all Cherinians (Robbie) and advised him of what I had done, that I would be reporting myself to the Council upon our return and (again) declared myself a non-Cherinian. They felt how determined I was, so nobody tried to jolly me or convince me I was wrong.Arthur, I have seen certain truths and it does mean I can no longer be a Cherinian, not if I want them to evolve the way they must. I have not excluded myself from my family and I still share my life with them and live in the same home and bedroom. I still am loved and love. However, I will not be a Cherinian. What I am, or hope to be, is a protector of the Cherinians - not of all life as Robbie is, only of the Cherinians. There will be times that Cherinians have to deal with evil they are no longer able to handle. I will not ask them, I will deal with those situations so that all the guilt is mine. I will be the Cherinian Avenger, if I may steal that title from my beloved father. I am willing to share afterwards with my family if that is what they want, as we demanded of Robbie, as I do not wish to grow hard or apart from them. If, however, it means my family cannot live with me anymore, then I’ll pay the price. I will not allow them to face another impossible situation as Murdock presented to us, nor will I leave us exposed to such evil without fear of retaliation.
Robert: Sam asked us to take over the diary. All I’m noting here, for the time being, is our refusal; this diary has been, in effect, hers for decades now and she must continue to write it. Arthur, do not fear, we will not allow Samantha to drift away from us. More I cannot say at this time - Sam is not ready for my comments.
When Arthur wrote about his resigning from the human race, Robbie deliberately gave me a sympathetic look, knowing I’d recall him telling me that I cannot resign from being what I am. He is right but also wrong. Legally I can and I consider it necessary. I said so and he hushed Cherine, leant forward and touched my cheek.
“We’ve understood that. Sam, when I killed you said it is wrong, but accepted that there are times I have to. You all demanded you be allowed to share from me so that nothing is allowed to fester inside me. You’ve shown some wisdom and offered to share if we want and it did make me happy. I do understand you are hoping that by establishing a legal fiction, the Cherinians will not be held accountable for whatever you do. It won’t work my love. It might work for most Cherinians, but it will not work for anyone of this family or even any of our close friends. You are shaking your head, not agreeing, fine, let’s ask the man you appointed as our policeman. Mr Campbell, am I or is Sam right?”
“I’m sorry to tell you I agree with you. Samantha, what you did will be made public because you’ve reported yourself to Solomon and asked him to hold a hearing once we return. It will not matter what you call yourself, ninety nine out of every hundred people will consider your actions as being those of a Cherinian. I’m not saying they will approve or disapprove, there will be many voices on both sides.”
“I’m more worried about those who’ll approve.” I said.
“Then count me as one of those you’ll disapprove of. Damn it Samantha, you can’t imagine how terrifying you were - the words you spoke, the actions you took while looking like a sweet butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth little girl, that was really scary.”
“My Arthur refuses to comment so you tell me, what are we supposed to do as Cherinians, how do we deal with monsters who hurt others?”
7926
He brushed his chin with a fingertip a few times before answering. “I think you are hoping for a rule that suits all Cherinians. The way I see it, especially if Robert meant it when he said he wants the Cherinians to remain individuals, if that is how their species were before being linked as Cherinians, then each such monster will have to be dealt with in the manner a Cherinian chooses. You are sending a message to all the Cherinians that when confronted with such a monster they must not take action so that the refinement of their souls is not interrupted, that they should immediately call for you to deal with it. Not only is it insulting to all Cherinians, it will also destroy their development if they do call you.”
“Dealing with Murdock the way I did would also harm them. What answer is there Arthur, we cannot allow men to act the way he did with impunity.”
“This time you chose the way it should be dealt with. Perhaps next time someone else will have a different opinion of how the problem should be dealt with? Don’t they have the right, just as you do?”
I scowled at him. “I think I liked you better as an enemy, at least I won all our arguments then!”
In a half-menacing way, he asked, “You won all - Sam?” I laughed and claimed once more that I did.
A couple of days later Campbell plonked his glass of whiskey on the table and sat by me. “It was necessary for Robert to explain to me what you meant, for me to examine the idea without anger. I’d prefer that you do so your way.”
I explained how the softer competition for survival because of humans working together and for each other, regardless of species or reality, is lowering the aggression factor among Cherinians. I told him of the ways empathy is weakening us in some ways, but in the most important ways strengthening us. We talked for nearly three hours and I ended off by telling him of my comment about the Ipohin having to link those the Cherinians should have been linking and Michael’s answer. “I did not expect such major changes to happen this quickly, but the truth is that Cherinians have been moving closer to Cherine and the Ipohin have moved closer to being as the Cherinians were twenty years ago. In a way, it is a pity, but the Campbellites are also closer to being as the Cherinians were. Now you’re wondering why I said it is a pity. I do not think it is a pity with regard to the individuals, but with regard to the needs of the many as we spread into new realities.”
“I don’t see it. Samantha, each reality that joins us seems to have a Teller family and with your help they soon grow as a group. Their Cherinians do not need to link to you, they’ll link to their own Cherine.”
I nodded. “And the same applies to those who prefer to be Ipohin? They’ll have a leader appointed and linked by our Ipohin? Will it be the same with your Campbellites?”
“I had not extrapolated that far, but I don’t see why not.”
“Please start, that way you’ll soon understand what I’m speaking of.”
A week later he sat by me again. “It has been a shock for all of us, we had not realised how much we’d changed.”
“The changes don’t come from your group just as the changes among Cherinians and Ipohin are not due to our groups. We can only change according to the changes in the Normals - it is true for almost all the species, Arthur. Should the Normals find reason to become suspicious and hostile to us, we would need to draw back and revert to being closer to what we were twenty or even fifty years ago. Arthur, should you even link one person who is hard, selfish and dedicated to becoming a world dictator, all your group will have to change in response to just that one person. Don’t you see, we can only move forward if we all move forward hand in hand. That is why I struggled for days to find it in me to ask you to make the sacrifice.”
“What sacrifice?”
7927
“Arthur, we have to leave at least one door open for newly linked humans to join us. There would be little point in allowing them to link with Cherinians for either they would find our way of thinking too unrealistic or else, in self-defence, they’d drag us back to their way of thinking. When it comes to being practical and still including common sense to deciding lifestyle, your group are it. As you find that certain of your members are trying to reach for something finer, encourage them to join the Ipohin. They in turn can get rid of those who would unsettle their ways of thinking by sending them on to the Cherinians.”
Morosely he stared at his whiskey, took a swig, swallowed it and spoke without looking at me. “What you are suggesting is totally impractical, unrealistic. You are ignoring the machinations of politics. You are ignoring human nature!” He paused and turned to glare at me. “And you know what the worst of it is? You’re going to make it work - whether Michael or I agree or not!”
“How can you think that of me!” I was really hurt.
“Because if you cannot, then it won’t work, that’s why! You’ll have to damn well push and bully everyone, including your Cherinians, like a Normal would!”
I couldn’t believe what I thought he was saying. “You mean you agree?”
“No, what I’m saying is that you’ll have to use all your wiles and cunning to make it happen. So, I need some further explanations. Are you saying that the Teller family of this reality must be linked to my group? If not, why not? Surely they can’t be refined enough to suit your Cherinians?”
I nearly insulted him by letting him sense how that thought upset me. It amused him when he sensed it in all the family and then he began to haggle, forcing concessions from both Robbie and I.
Later, back at home, I went out into the garden and found Ahní, Michael and Meli sitting by themselves, talking and softly laughing. I turned to return into the house so that they can have some privacy, but Michael called, asking me to join them.
He tried to hold the laughter out of his voice. “I hear Campbell has been getting the better of you in all arguments and negotiations?”
Despondently I said, “It seems so. It is that obvious?”
I sensed Ahní enter his mind. She returned to her body, but now Michael kept quiet as he thought over whatever she’d told him. He looked at Meli for confirmation and she burst out laughing. I quickly got up and returned to the rest of the family, but Meli forced me to hear him as Michael said, with wonder in his voice, “She’s been doing it deliberately!?” She answered him, “There has been too long a history of bad blood between them, he needs to feel he is equal or superior to her in some ways.” I blushed as the rest of my family looked at me and came to hide here. Feel like a chat? (deleted)
When we’d first arrived, we’d been warned by the government leaders that most of their citizens had suffered because of Robert and seeing another Robert in charge of us would make it almost impossible for us to win their confidence. Then they decided Robbie should appear in their parliaments, at their cathedrals, on radio and in parades.
Robbie refused. What he did, is sit at coffee shops and talk to those who showed some curiosity, he walked the streets of cities without bodyguards and visited hospitals, orphanages and those places where the very poor go to be fed. He talked of his dreams for all, that every human being have his food guaranteed, a roof over their head if they want and a job to make it possible for them to buy the rest of all the products a civilised human being needs. He talked about the aliens, explained how they have helped so many Earths and what they are already doing to heal this planet. Now and then some individual would decide to attack Robbie. Without using any powers, just his enhanced reaction speed, he used his fists to win the fight and then would invite the attacker to join him for a beer. What Robbie did may not gain him the understanding and friendship of the masses, but he is creating small pockets of people all over the world who feel they knew him a little and they tell others that this Robert is not such a bad fellow.
Next time we come here we will not have it this easy as they will have television and the internet. They do have an organisation that resembles our United Nations and when our politicians talked about our methods of governing, they changed the name of their organisation and it was declared a sister organisation to our United Nations (it was the idea of an Indian government official). The world population is still at about two billion (no exact figures are available and I supposed there won’t be until they have millions of computers).
7928
Some of the Terrans, of all groups I guess, were careless and music from our worlds have been copied. As should have been expected, most of the locals intensely dislike our music but groups of young people get together and religiously sit through hours of pretending they are starting to understand our music and talk of how superior it is to theirs. There is little point in explaining that there is nothing superior to our music, that it is just different because we’ve evolved from the kind of music they listen to now. I’d say that some of our music is wonderful and some of it really sucks. The music Wendy writes and performs is nothing like the rest of the music so it stands or falls on its own. Her music has not been leaked to the locals but once we bring the large order of computers, I know her music will be included in the massive database of music, art, poetry and literature. I hope we don’t end up intimidating their artists for too many years.
Do I need to mention that from the first days of our arrival, Robbie searched for children being abused? He found a number of them, but far less of children being molested. There were more cases of incest than expected, but far less of child pornography, soft or hard, and the evils that causes (the production of it, not the viewing). The Normals of our Earth are claiming that this is pretty damning evidence that the internet is largely responsible for the extent of the problem in our reality. We don’t want to get into arguments about it so we don’t point out that the high profile given to this class of crimes is what awoke most adults to seeing the child as a sex object.
For instance, when the media went crazy about reporting again and again about cock fighting, dog fights and so on, just because they unearthed a couple of instances, it was found that underground clubs suddenly proliferated with large amounts of money being bet and animals being mutilated or killed. It makes sense, why should I (as an unscrupulous businessman) risk investing my money in something not hugely popular and profitable? Seeing the media reports convinces me it might be worth looking into. And so it goes…
I’ve been putting off writing about the local Robert. I better get it over with or else we’ll be back home without me having mentioned him. Robbie did not need to look for him, but he avoided meeting him once he felt him. The local Robert is a snit and none of us like him - all the Cherines can’t stand him. As for the Roberts, including our Robbie, they find the idea of provoking him into a fist fight very tempting. Maybe a bit of background history will help explain him.
His parents did not separate. When they first went to Kenya, they crossed over into Tanganyika for a visit. They met a German in Moshi who then met them a number of times in Nairobi. Robert's father became friends with him and agreed to receive all smuggled gemstones sent across by local tribal people who are allowed to cross the border without papers or being searched. The small percentage earned enough for Wilfred to buy a second coffee farm, then a third and then he started an export business. Offices were opened in London and once the business was big enough, Wilfred floated his company on the stock exchange.
By the time Robert was ten years old his father was a multi-millionaire. Rose shrivelled, the wealth not making her happy, for Wilfred only grew colder as he aged and Robert thought he had to emulate his father and be exactly like him. He treated his mother with the same coldness, adding to it a slight expression of contempt if his father was not there to see.
Every single Robert we know loves his mother, so it should not be surprising that they all hate this Robert. They can all feel Rose and wish they could steal her away from her family and shower her with love so that her heart blossoms once again. The big problem this is causing is that his Cherine, who is now five years old, has the gift of empathy and she can sense how everyone feels about ‘her’ Robert without knowing exactly why we all feel this way about him. We can feel her little heart is sorely troubled.
Because of the way everyone feels about Robert, we have not contacted him, even though he has left messages with anyone of our realities that visit London, asking that Robbie get in touch with him. He has also been promoting himself with the local media, telling them that he is the alternate of our Robbie and once they meet he will use his relationship to secure the best deals possible for England and their world. His presumptions are not garnering him any goodwill in Freddie, not even among the Normals, while our snubbing him is causing him great embarrassment. Our Cherine decided she should meet with the idiot and put him in his place, so that forced Robbie to stop procrastinating and agree to meet him tomorrow morning.
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Rob saw the way his friends were staring at something behind him so he turned to look. With a new look of arrogance he politely excused himself, taking his time deliberately so as to make Robbie wait for him.
“You took your time, after having to endure the other Robert lording it over us with all the hate for me it caused, you could have shown the decency to call on me earlier - instead of giving everyone the impression you had no interest in meeting me.”
Normally, should such a situation arise, Robbie would at least admire the person for having the courage to confront him so rudely. In this case, Robbie knew that Rob was not being brave; he was aware that Robbie is good or that Robbie wants his world to think of him as being good, so he knew Robbie would not harm him in any way. As for Robbie giving him the powers he’d seen all Roberts have, well, that was his due, Robbie had to do it, whether he liked him or not. He had also been teased by young men of his age about him having to have a five year old as his girlfriend and he was determined to make clear he would do no such thing and she’d have to wait until she grew up. Robbie did not need to read his thoughts to see how things were, I guess you could say he found it easy to ‘see’ himself as he would be if he was a toad like this Rob. He changed his mind about handling him and called, Sam. I sent him back my refusal, no way do I want to have to waste time on this Rob.
7930
Haven said to me, “Let me do it.”
“You must be joking!”
“I’m doing it for the little one, Sam.” I glanced at little Cher who was staring at me anxiously.
“Okay, Robbie will have to bring him to Freddie for him to travel with us as we’ll need a lot of time. Haven, I’ll help you, I wouldn’t stick you with something like him to handle on your own. Robbie, hold on a little while, take him for a drink, we first have to explain to Cher.” I glanced at Dommi, but she sent me that Cher would be braver about it if I talk to her.
I did not try to soften it for her by preparing a picnic or stuffing her with chocolate eclairs. I took her to my apartment, got us a cold drink each and once she showed me she was not afraid, we sat in the crook of the tree with her back pressed up against me and my arm around her waist.
“Do you like my Robert?” She nodded that she did. I sensed my question made her feel a little shy. “Do you like all the Roberts the same?” Again she nodded she did and I felt her hoping I would not know she was not being entirely truthful. I chuckled. “You must have a bigger heart than I do, I have my favourites among them. You really don’t?”
She tried to turn to face me as she confided, “I like the nice Robert.” She meant the one who comes from the world where they let Doris impose the Israeli guy, David, and his committee on them. I nodded and agreed with her, he is especially nice.
“Well, just like there is a extra nice Robert, there also is an extra nasty Robert. He won’t stay nasty for long, you, Haven and me, the three of us are going to change him into a very, very nice Robert. Would you like that?”
I turned her around as she needed to look into my eyes as she asked, “You mean my Robert?”
“That’s right. Things went wrong for him as a child so he grew up into a horrid young man. I’m going to have to be nasty to him and Haven will have to be very strict, but you, I think you must always stick up for him, even when he is wrong. No Cherine should ever stand against her Robert and that includes you. Agreed?” She needed it explained in more detail, for instance, what did I mean about me being nasty to him and how nasty would I get. She wasn’t too happy when I told her ‘very nasty’, but she promised to remember that when I’m being nasty to him it is so that he will become especially nice for her. I wonder how long it will take for her to forget and attack me.
Once Rob was with us, I saw I would not need to take any immediate action. For instance, a conversation he had with Allan.
“When do you think they’ll show me how to do all the things they can do?”
“The paranormal stuff?”
“Yes. I mean, it’s just a trick of the mind isn’t it, how hard can it be to learn. I say, if I ask you a question will you keep quiet about it? I don’t want to step on any toes.”
Allan smiled. “Sure go ahead.”
“When the first Robert took over our world he changed thousands so that they could do all kind of weird but powerful stuff, just like in the fantasy magazines. I noticed that not one of them had the powers Robert did and he stayed the boss. Have I guessed right, are all Roberts special in that way, are our brains stronger?”
“I’d love to tell you that they are, but I’m sorry to tell you they are weaker than most. You see, you Roberts have the ability to explode across your universe like a sun gone nova, but then the internal structure begins to implode cell by cell. It does not take long for a Robert to arrive at the point where he is defined as being crazy and only if he has a Cherine can he remain sane enough to function. Having a big family, as my Robert does, I presume you did notice, has made Cherine’s job easier, but still, she is the raft his poor mind clings to.” I am told that the Unation admiral had the answer by Allan printed and framed and it hangs in the lounge for VIPs. Robbie asked him for a copy and he has hung it in his office. There is not one person who has not been more than willing to confirm that Allan spoke the truth, so Rob has spent a few days biting his nails while trying to decide what he wants. It is amazing how much fun it is possible to wring out of telling the truth
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.
- posted: 12th Aug, 2020
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