“.....If we get nothing back, not even dust, then it could mean that the reality is affected by the same power our sets of realities are - by the human mind and its ability to affect reality through our thoughts and imagination, as the Quantum scientists believe.”
3301
I looked at the scientists, “I’m just a girl playing with ideas, so some sound frivolous, but I’m certain you can make better use of such an experiment, for instance, can you bury within the asteroid any equipment - how about a camera?” I pushed my chair back and as I came to my feet, I told them, “And now I must type all we’ve said and done for Arthur. It is important he knows what we are doing.”
Goldi grabbed my arm and with such sweetness pleaded, “Please stay with us, Sam.” When the time is right, I’m going to pay Cherine back in kind. At least all non-family were careful not to say anything that would cause me to squirm.
Robbie finally asked me the question I’d been expecting, “What else Sam? What is your second theory?”
“Robbie, the scientists will confirm that when experimenting, the experiment should be broken down into tiny experiments, so that the cause for success or failure is clear and unambiguous. If I tell you my next idea, you are going to want to marry the two into one and if we fail, we won’t know why, so we’ll have to redo the experiment in two steps anyway.”
When we were back home again, Gilli sat behind me and plaited my hair for me. I don’t particularly like my hair plaited, but I love the feeling of her fingers working with my hair (it must be the chimp in me). For just a moment I had a thought and when many gasped, I realised they were all still watching my mind - they’ve come to know me too well. They know that when I’ve enjoyed myself with coming up with new ideas, my brain refuses to relax when I want to stop and it keeps on presenting me with strange thoughts - though some of them have turned out to be little gems - maybe not true or right, but I’ve loved them for their originality. I’m such a boring person that when I have these ideas, I can’t believe I created them.
I’d wondered, just briefly, whether the reality we tried to visit rejected us because of Gilli - I mean, to that reality we are just an imaginary reality, so Gilli comes from an imaginary reality of an imaginary reality. Robbie did not bother remarking on my thought, for he has grown good at sensing which thoughts of mine he should take seriously - though I can, with some effort, bluff him when I want to tease…maybe he is allowing me to bluff him? I hope not, as I’d have to stop my teasing; I’m not like Cherine, when I win, I want to know that I really did win. (Cherine: What are you trying to say Sam?) Me? Nothing…I wouldn’t dare! Ask Goldi, she’ll confirm what I said.
Robert: I can’t believe the way she used for getting back at Cherine! I did take her worry seriously and we dragged a moonlet out into the gulf surrounding our galaxy and the scientist drilled into it many container areas for cameras so that the composite images will give a three hundred and sixty degree of the space surrounding the moonlet - the cameras will start working from this side, continue on that side and back here, until we stop them or they run out of space for the storage of images. I will have to jump the moonlet, in stasis, there and instantly return, using a slight stasis shield for myself, but the weakness in Sam’s plan is that there is no way for us to reclaim the moonlet and cameras if it is not rejected. I dare not take a risk and stay with it, but I’ve decided to return fifty years in time so that I do not also have to time-jump the moonlet and to send it to the area we are presently sending it from, so that it cannot harm life if it blows up on arrival.
I jumped with the moonlet and the instant we arrived I sensed the stasis shield does not exist - for either the moonlet or myself. I did not move, waiting to be rudely thrown out, but nothing happened! I tried to sense whether the cameras and the other equipment and sensors are working and found myself instantly back in our reality. The moonlet did not follow me!
The scientists were excited, after sharing from me my memories, but Sam, I think, felt that everyone will be looking to her for answers so she remained serious and returned to share my memories from me at least five times. When she bit her lip and nodded, her thoughts still turned inwards, everyone fell silent, waiting for her.
“My first thought was that a time stasis shield cannot exist in that reality, maybe because time is not as tolerant. It does not make sense, they must also have black holes where time itself is distorted, which is similar in effect to a stasis shield. I don’t think the alt-Arthur reality objects to the shield or the altered rate of time, which leaves me with a very disturbing conclusion. What if that reality does not tolerate any kind of psychic gift or power?”
3302
She turned to me. “Dad, even without a shield, your soul was tolerated for as long as you did nothing, only observing and thinking. The instant you tried to use your gift for sensing the equipment, you were rejected.”
I nodded. “Your theory should be easy to test, but I’ll leave it for tomorrow, I’d rather not jump there while I am not at one hundred percent.”
She shook her head. “No, not you this time. Protector, are you willing to take the risk?”
He appeared. “Logically speaking, Samantha, I took more of a risk when Robert went. Since he is weaker, he is more likely to die and, if he dies, so do I. My death would not affect him to the same degree.”
Sam shook her head again. “No, it is far more likely that you will die, whereas Robbie is more likely to survive there. You keep on claiming that you are only a part of him, just an idea, as you said. If true, does that not mean that you are an almost pure psychic power? If that reality does not like you, it might not eject you, you might just stop existing, as it was with the stasis shields.”
When I heard her thoughts, I did not openly react, interested in learning what it is Sam intends, but I was now determined not to allow the protector to take my place. Sam did not bother to even glance at me, though I knew she was monitoring my emoting - but then she does that all the time.
She turned to Lucy. “Sharipya and Asimi are your best friends, you must ask, if you agree he takes the risk. Sharipya should go with the protector, as I would like the protector to be held within the soul of Sharipya, strengthening him with his presence. At the instant the protector leaves Sharipya, they must act simultaneously - Sharipya must return, while the protector grabs the rock and brings it back to us. Protector, if you sink into the matter of the rock, it might slow down the reaction of the reality, giving you a millisecond - will that be enough time for you?”
He shrugged, but before he could reply, Samantha flared. “Then you will not go, Cherine, it means Robbie must. At least he will not go with that attitude.” She then told the protector, “How dare you treat your death so lightly! You know we need you and that your death would hurt every single one of us - especially Cherine.”
“My shrug was not directly in response to your words, it represented a decision of mine. I had the thought that in this reality, your assumption that I may have a millisecond would be true, since your assumption might have an effect on what is true because of Arthur - but that reality is not likely to be as accommodating. I shrugged because I decided that whether your assumption is correct or not, I must do as you asked, the information waiting there is too important for us to ignore it because of there being a degree of risk.”
Sharipya said, “Why not let me go on my own? The existence of the protector in me would only increase the risk for both of us.”
Sternly Sam replied, “You have not been asked to help. Sharipya, Lucy is our ambassador to your people and you are also her best friend; would you truly be willing to dishonour her by offering before she decides to ask you?”
Sam has a very strange way of thinking - of course Sharipya, as our friend, has the right to offer, but I liked what she is doing for Lucy, so I kept quiet.
After a puzzled look, exchanged with Lucy, he must have also understood. He bowed his head slightly to her and said, “Lucy, my special friend, no slight was intended. I will wait for you to ask.”
The family were amused, for Lucy was mentally swearing at Sam for placing her in such an unpleasant position, as she does not want Sharipya to risk his life, but she also knows that her friend will feel shamed if she does not ask him.
She squared her shoulders, glanced at Asimi and then asked him, “Sharipya, if it is decided that it is the right way - and the only way, will you do as Samantha asked of me?”
“I shall do so, as your friend, for Samantha and for your friend Arthur.”
We all grinned, for Lucy had placed the ball squarely back in Samantha's court. Sam curtly told us, “Wait!” and left her body. By the time I could react, she and the protector were gone. Within a couple of seconds they returned.
3303
As she opened her eyes, they fixed on me as she told me, “What I was asking for was not right. No self-respecting human should ever ask another to take a risk he or she is not willing to take. I did not go there to do anything, I just wanted to see whether the alt-reality would object to my having the protector hidden within my soul. I do not think it noticed him!” She turned to Sharipya, “Thank you, but please keep in mind that you may only do as I asked. If you get any ideas, keep them for the next step of our learning.”
They departed and Sharipya returned within seconds. The protector and the moonlet did not.
Hours passed as we waited, fretted and debated what action we should take, and then the moonlet appeared and the protector took on his usual form among us.
“I apologise for the delay; it seems that reality had accepted the moonlet and objected to my taking it, so I could not spare any energy or concentration on time-jumping and had to do it on this side.”
I quickly formed enclosed platforms for the scientists and they dashed to the moonlet for collecting their equipment - apparently they also collected samples of the rock itself, hoping to find some changes. I brought Sam and Lucy back home, ostensibly for the purpose of writing for you, but I needed to give both of them a big hug. I’ll let Sam take over again, as I don’t think she wants to return to the taverna just yet. J
At times like these I feel as if I really am not real, that I am part of an imaginary universe. What are the chances that a girl without any real or substantial scientific knowledge would solve such impossible problems? Even worse is the fact that I am so ready to risk people I love on ideas I made up on the spur of the moment.
Arthur, are you making it happen for my sake?
We do not plan to leave just yet, we still have a few dangerous ideas to try out. Arthur, thank you and, we also think you found the correct explanation.
The footage was of interest to the astronomers, but of little use to us. At least we have some really beautiful images of their galaxy and we are comparing them, in as much detail as possible, to our galaxy. We have already found enough differences for us to be certain the images are not of our Syncosmi - our dear Arthur does not play those kind of games with us; he messed with our minds by creating a Cherine for us and I assume he feels that, by itself, is enough to last for an eternity.
Our next attempt will see us arriving just outside ‘our’ solar system, by the Oort cloud. If we do not affect it at all, we’ll then make another attempt close to Earth, but our arrival point will be behind the moon. Being fifty years in their past, we doubt they have the technology for seeing the moonlet at that distance, but our cameras are smart enough to synchronise with each other and create composite pictures of their world that will give us enormous amounts of detail.
Learning is exciting and we have enough information and new ideas to keep us busy for a long time (the scientists), but we still don’t have a way for us to interact with their reality. Robbie made certain Freddie is totally encased within dark energy, and we are hoping it does not only make us invisible to other eyes, but also to whatever laws govern their universe.
3304
We returned, becoming Freddie III and we time-jumped, arriving this time only ten years before the execution.
We instantly became Freddie IV - this time without the banging about. I’d love to tell Freddie III not to bother, but I want to remain ‘me’.
Robbie only said, “I need to take a few days off to give myself time to think.” I guess we are all feeling a bit emotionally battered, so we gladly agreed and soon everyone was feeling a lot more relaxed.
A few hours later I sent a thought, a question, to Freddie and the entire interior boomed to his laughter. He told me, “When you were thinking of naming me Hal, I should have known what you were planning to do to me.”
I had asked him whether it would be possible to hypnotise him so that he thinks he is a computer, as I think the target reality likes computers.
My biggest problem with coming up with any ideas is that, invariably, for any of them to be carried out, someone will have to risk their life, which means that since we are not willing to allow Robbie to go without us, the only alternate Robbie finds he can agree to replacing him, is the protector. Robbie does not seem to realise that all us girls have grown to love the protector and we do not consider him expendable.
Goldi asked, “Robert, can you use energy from normal space like you do with void energies?”
“I can use it, the same as you and all people can. Goldi, when I create a shield out of void energy and I give it a form, such as the sphere which makes Freddie, the energy tends to remain as I formed it, with me only needing to add back what gets used. In a way, it is as if the energy is linked to how I think of it - even when I am not here. Normal space energy is more like mist and fights my wish for it to hold a specific form as it uses itself up all the time and needs to be constantly replaced.”
Seltwe looked pleased. “Goldi, I presume your question shows that you were wondering whether normal space energy would be accepted by the other reality? We know that void energies are attacked, which suggests to me that either it does not have a void, or else their void is very different from ours. The fact that our souls do not get attacked when we do not attempt to use psychic powers, indicates you may be right.”
Meli asked, “Are you suggesting our souls belong to normal space, not to the void?”
“Is it not obvious, Melina? Is it not postulated that souls are first created in normal space by minds, once they achieve some low level of complexity? In normal space nothing harms our souls, but when we first go to the void, it attacks us, trying to get rid of us. We can only achieve some level of immunity once our souls have adapted to staying in the void.”
Robbie nodded. “Even though I can become the void, when my body dies, the void still tries to stream me to a new body and life, in the process, destroying my present mind, so that a new one can be generated once I am part of a foetus.” He grinned. “Even the word itself suggests our ancestors understood the true nature of the foetus, which is why the word is made up out of the words ‘foe to us’.” He laughed when we groaned, pleased by his success. “Electricity would be a good example for illustrating what Seltwe told you, when you flick the switch to ‘on’, the light goes on instantly and when you choose to flick it back to ‘off’, again the light dies instantly, whereas, if we light the light bulb with void energy, when you switch it off, it could take from seconds to minutes to fade.”
Seltwe nodded. “What if a platform of void energy is covered with a fine mesh and a generator, inside the platform, is connected to the mesh? Would the alt-reality accept the natural energy surrounding the void energy as being normal or will it try to penetrate?”
“If you can create such a mesh and generator, I’m willing to try it.”
Enztepir added, “The platform would not need a generator, for then it would need fuel and it will pollute the interior. It would be better we attach the mesh at either pole to an interface similar to those you created for powering our computers from the shell of Freddie.”
Having a plan to work on, made everyone feel happier again.
3305
None of us objected when Robbie prepared to leave in the meshed-platform, for he has no intention of attempting to use his psychic abilities. He left Freddie and returning to normal space, he jumped with the platform. He was only gone twenty minutes, but the minutes felt more like hours.
Robbie's eyes were warm as he said, “There is space inside for three of us. Goldi and Seltwe, would you like to join me on my next trip?”
Goldi was flooding us with her feelings, so Jade tried to give her a hint. “Goldi love, perhaps that reality will think your gift of sweetness is a psychic gift?”
Robbie pulled Goldi to him, “This is your moment, enjoy yourself my love, so that we all can enjoy it with you - even grouchy Jade.” Predictably, loyal Cherine hugged Jade to herself and all of us laughed.
From their beaming faces and emoting, the trip was a huge success.
“We need to triple the thickness of the shield, as the mesh drains it fairly fast. I’d like to be able to spend at least half a day there.”
Robbie knows, from building and maintaining the Freddie shields, which energies last the longest when being used to power electrical equipment. Since we are Terrans, in origin, and are used to categorising energies according to colour - and not according to density, as the Sparklers do - Robbie says that the ‘earthy’ red and green energies seem to last well, while, on average, the high-end violet, for instance, is intense but as soon as it is used, it collapses, reforming into lower intensity coloured energies. One of the rarest colours, apart from black, is a light blue (that is what it looks like to us, other species are affected by the way they see it by the broadness of the light spectrum they can see). Light blue has the advantage of not breaking into whatever range of energies it is made of, and to the contrary, it ‘sucks’ in other energies, turning them also into a light blue. When told, I protested, for if it is true, then over so many billions of years, the light blue should have absorbed all the other types of energies
“There are other factors at play, my love. If the cloud or stream of light blue energy grows beyond a certain size or intensity, it collapses into an ultra-violet energy, which has little lasting power - also, when other forms of energy touch the u-v energies, they affect the other energies, but are also affected, in turn, so that they splinter into smaller streams and revert to a baser form of energy.” He grinned at me. “You obviously have not kept up with the research into void energies that some of the Anadir scientists are concentrating on, with the help of Sparklers and…the Eminixx. Apparently the damage to their beautiful eyes has not stolen from them a unique perspective their eyes have, which makes them useful energy scientists, once they are trained.”
Dear descendant reader, no doubt you have noticed by now that our relationship, as loving as it is, does not preclude a certain (very un-Cherinian) one-upmanship attitude. For instance, the last remark by Robbie, about my not keeping up with the scientific news…he had only just been told, himself, by Seltwe. At such times, we can sense that those who understand what just happened (Seltwe in this instance) are highly amused by our game-playing and they say it helps make us seem more human. I wonder what they are suggesting, or whether they are, when they use the word seem in this context. If they are being humorous, I guess it also helps make them seem to be more human.
We are classifying this attempt as a success, but it also is a failure…in a sense. We were able to travel in the target reality and even visit Earth, but the mesh gives us high visibility. It is ironic that we are being labelled a UFO, but too close to the bone when their governments announce that we do not exist, that we are only imaginary; the product of dishonest or unbalanced minds. Arthur, you should register your protest!
We think it might matter and Robbie does not want to take any chances; what if our presence provokes them into learning how to enter our realities and because their reality is more real than ours, their presence in our realities destroys our Syncosmi?
3306
Our scientists made a suggestion and it worked like a charm! Our cameras can capture the whiskers on a tiny kitten from outer space, but we cannot look through walls to read their books. It was suggested we travel out by the distance radio and television waves will have travelled, for the period we want to monitor them. Once there, we can travel back at speed, but remaining within normal space, so that their equipment can record, at very high speed, and their computers can then search for any kind of information we want. For instance, their news programs and historical documentaries (on both radio and television).
It took nearly a month to travel back, but then we spent another three weeks studying the tapes. For that part of the experiment, we were in Freddie.
During this time, Robbie created more enclosed platforms so that the scientists have two for their own use, while for us he has created one that fits about one hundred and fifty of us - in our bodies.
This reality must be an alternate many steps removed from the reality of our Arthur. Here is a brief synopsis of their history (not the true one, just as the news and documentaries were presented to the public on radio and television):
The First World war, in their reality, was only a war between Germany and France. When the rest of the world intervened, the war ended.
In 1936: Turkey invaded Russian territory and Germany sided with Turkey. The war lasted three years and when Germany agreed to a settlement of hostilities with Russia, the Turks were pulverised and all their cities levelled. The Greeks saw the survival of Aghia Sofia as an intervention by their God, but luckily they were not tempted into taking any action, as the Russians now considered all Turkish lands part of their territory. The Greeks were not too upset, as the Russians are Orthodox, even if their church is named the Russian Orthodox Church. There are negotiations underway for the unification of the two Orthodox churches, the main problem being who remains in control. The only reason the Greeks are tempted is because the Aghia Sofia will be the ‘Vatican’ of the new Orthodox church.
Although most of the religions we know are represented here, the relative strengths of the churches are very different. There is one major difference, which originally came out of India, which is now a worldwide belief, sometimes twisted to suit those of a certain religion, but basically common to all: They all hold the belief that because birds fly, it proves the Creator favours them and allows them to live, for a few hours each day, closer to Him. Birds are sacred and no religion allows the killing of birds - not even of chickens or what we consider other farmyard birds.
This makes for very dirty cities!
With the wars I mentioned, plus the war between Japan, China and the USA, which lasted for six years, aeroplanes were created and the religious tolerance of birds is now likely to fade away.
It is not a nice world, but it is the first one we have found where we cannot trace any evidence of the Cabal existing. It looks like they did exist for about seventy years, but in 1856 they were destroyed in England and then in France and Germany. If it is being resurrected, it is more likely it will grow first in the USA.
Since we are in their past, we have to be careful we do not make any changes that could affect the life of the local Arthur, but we have found him and his life is being recorded. I know this will upset you Arthur, but he is being monitored every single hour, which includes all his private moments. The scientists and leaders of each of the species recording him, have undertaken not to release his private times and they have promised to hand the visual records they have over to Robbie - or to our Arthur, should he manage to join us.
3307
Robbie has reverted to an older idea which is proving to be very useful. When we first travelled in the air, we used compressed air as our shield. It is far less conspicuous than our electrical mesh shield and can also be made invisible to radar - though not to the human eye, so we must remain careful.
Another huge advantage of the air-bubble, is that any of us can create our own, should we want to. Now that we can, none of us feel the need to fly around on our own.
Robbie is experimenting with a compressed-air personal shield, but we do not see it becoming very useful or comfortable enough for general use. The other disadvantage is that should we wear such a shield and walk among people, the effects of the compressed air and the way it flattens our clothes against us would make us stand out - there is no way we can wear our clothes on the outer side of the shield. If you are asking yourself why we need a personal shield, since this is Earth, the same bio conditions, the answer is simple. We are used to living and thinking like Cherinians and it means we use our gifts without thinking about it and the local reality is going to object in a manner that could harm us. Being thrown out of this reality into space in the reality we came from would not offer us much of a chance of avoiding an explosive death, even if we can protect ourselves - being sent there is bound to be a painful shock and the few seconds we’ll need will be too long, the sudden lack of pressure and air will cause our bodies to explode.
The Anadir want to recreate a spacesuit they used to have, which is invisible and can be used in the vacuum of space or on planet. However, they cannot just create the spacesuit, they first have to re-invent and build a number of other tools, so it will have to wait for the future.
We are staying away from Greece so as not to affect the life of alt-Arthur by accident. Not that we are able to physically affect anything, but even the sight of us could panic the world, if they realise we are not of their planet.
I’m not the only one! I was feeling uncomfortable and it felt as if my bones (and teeth and ears) are aching. I did not want to spoil it for everyone else and the pain was bearable, so I hid my discomfort from them. They were each doing the same, but luckily Dommi decided to spy on us and when she felt us, she forced us to stop blocking our pain from each other. It took Robbie only seconds to realise what is happening and Freddie returned to become Freddie V.
Sol had reverted to being Solomon and he sat with us at our taverna, an amused look in his eyes as he explained. “For us Sparklers, pain is not yet a warning, it is viewed by us as an interesting variation of what material bodies can feel. Since nobody else seemed to be experiencing the same feelings, I thought my discomfort was something solely felt by me because of our difference, my people belonging to the void, not in normal space.”
Meli asked him, “Why do you say that? You are not of the void, your souls also originally formed within normal space.”
He nodded. “You are right, but our origins are so far in the past that the void is truly our home.”
“I don’t think so,” Meli said, “when you procreate, you still ensure you pass on a part of your matter body - I do not think you would need to do so if you now are creatures of the void.”
I added, “The Anadir have existed as souls for thousands of years, though they had their Kaleidoscope Worlds to remind them of their origins. Still, the moment it became possible for them to experience again the sensations of having material bodies, they did so with great enthusiasm. Are your people that different Solomon? Do they not also rejoice at experiencing material bodies, even if it is mostly within your own World?”
Solomon no longer looked amused and shook his head. “You are trying to change the way we think of ourselves.”
Meli paled. “I hope not, if we are, it is terrible of us. Solomon, we thought we are only speaking of how we see the truth, but if it distresses you, let’s change the subject.”
Solomon soon excused himself and returned to be at the top of Freddie with the other Sparklers. It took hours for Sol to return and when she did, she was mostly silent for the rest of the day. I think she returned to being as she normally is because of our slightly anxious continuous monitoring of her.
3308
Cassie had a dreamy look in her eyes as she waited for us to join her in bed. When we were all present, she said to Robbie, “I wonder what we are like in the last Freddie. At first I thought they aren’t much older than us, but now I am wondering just how much older they really are.”
“It’s more fun finding out this way, my love. Otherwise…it would be like jumping to just after making love to you, instead of living through it first.”
For once the imps did not make any jokes about it, not even when we all turned to sleep after only experiencing one orgasm. At least the one orgasm dealt very nicely with the already fading aches from the alt-Arthur reality.
The scientists have come up with a theory which works on their computers, so they are eager to try it out in real life. According to their working model, we only need to provide or create a dampener (I am not certain yet of which alternative word to use, as, if we use our healers, we will be providing, whereas, if we need to use some kind of electronic dampener, then we will be creating). The present problem, they theorise, is caused by our shields trying to counter or neutralise the vibration differences between our realities, and since neither of the rates of vibrations are absolute and constant, there are, every few milliseconds, differences that resemble the vibrations of the screeching of chalk on the board (I’ll check later to find out whether that saying is true, as I’ve never heard chalk screech). Their theories show that if we use energies in two or more layers, we will no longer be affected.
Creating a number of layers of energies vibrating at different rates worries us. It is difficult enough controlling one layer, it means more ‘passengers’ will have to keep their minds focussed on the different layers, while also remaining synchronised. I said that it is a pity we don’t have thin sheets of invisible rubber to line the shield on the inside, as it would greatly reduce the tiny spikes of clashing vibrations and Claudia said we do.
“Doesn’t water act as a cushion?”
Diana added, excited by Claudia’s idea, “The water must be from our realities so that it vibrates at our rate, which would further dampen any differences.” Cherine sent to us, *We should name this the Robert effect - since he is so good at dampening our vibrations.* None even came close to guessing why we all burst out laughing.
In the end we used a very thin layer (membrane) of a synthetic gel our scientists developed, which is more absorbent of shocks and vibrations than water is. We were all mentally girding ourselves for our next visit, when Robbie changed our plans.
“I want to go home.” He gave me a nice grin as he teased me. “When we return, we can go there, to the Arthur reality, directly - so that we don’t become Freddie VI, without having done anything in-between.”
Home does not mean our Athens; we do not want time to pass there while everyone still waits for the wedding. We decided to visit a new to us reality. Robbie asked Lynda to try and send us to one which is nice; he does not want any new challenges, he told her. Of course, all our guests who are not really meant to be with us, are ecstatic about sharing another trip with us.
I think Lynda tried too hard, for she found us an Earth where those we will be meeting are nice, but they are also a bit silly. I personally prefer challenging to silly!
Just a hint of some background. When the local Robert was a teenager, he refused to return to school and because his father was angry, he had him sent to a farm even further away from Nairobi, where the manager was asked to force him to learn how to repair Landrovers and tractors and other engines, while also keeping him very busy for all his working hours. Robert hated it and was very angry, but he grew to love what he is doing and after a few years he found the remains of an antique Rolls Royce - the person selling it to him said that it might have belonged to an ex-governor and the idea appealed to the romantic part of his nature. He bought it and began to scour the world for parts. In the meantime, he worked on it during all his free time - even sometimes when he should have been fixing farm vehicles, if no one was around to see him.
3309
Up to a certain point, no vintage purist would have objected to what he was doing. But then he began to make alterations so that the car would end up looking like something out of a crazy science fiction story! He was aiming for an exact copy of the original, with bizarre futuristic changes in the details. Our Robbie was amused, for he felt it will look ridiculous, but, of course, what made all of us laugh, was that seeing the designs and what Robert was already doing, his father went into a rage. I think Robert was lucky his father did not actually hit him for wasting so much of his money - and for what he thought of as sacrilege. To him, Rolls Royce represents all that is the best of Britain, especially as it is a vintage car.
Dommi ignored the humour of the situation and asked, “Why did we arrive here so early? Cherine must still be a baby.”
Lynda replied, “I suggested we come at this time, or else it may be difficult to save the local Robert.”
“From what?” Even if he died, we could save him, so we were puzzled.
“From marrying the wrong girl.”
“How will it happen?” Goldi asked, obviously already prepared to do whatever she must to stop him.
“A local girl has just returned to Nairobi from England. Her parents sent her there for school and she got into trouble, so they brought her back. Because she has come from overseas, England, she will seem exotic to Robert and he’ll be fascinated by her for a while.” She grinned, knowing how we will react to the last bit of her news. “The father of the girl will do all he can to convince Robert to marry her and he will promise to have him accepted as a Freemason.”
“Oh goodie, we’ll have a Teller Knight Templar!” Robbie loved her humour and gave Rosie a hug.
I guess we were all curious as to what she will be like, so no declarations about not allowing it to happen were made. I wondered whether Robert is attracted to the ‘bad’ girl image of her. We were all watching as he met her that night…and what a letdown it was.
As far as looks go, she was fairly okay, though not the type that our Robbie finds attractive. It was mostly her personality and mind we girls did not approve of - remember, we are thinking of the local Robert as being ours, of our family - and never mind that we are determined he is supposed to love his Cherine.
Whatever we thought, what we were not taking into consideration is that Robert is shy and a virgin. Being with a girl of looser morals and more forward than most girls he has met, gave him some hope that she may agree to let him have sex with her. I was going to be a typical prude and make a fatuous comment about what men will do for sex, sacrificing their lives for something that soon will not seem so important, but then, I thought of what I have done in the hope it would make Robbie want to have sex with me - just how dare I be critical?
Samantha wrote the above while being cognisant of how her loves will react, but she did it anyway, I think, so as to make all of us a bit less critical of Robert. I don’t know if it worked, but I haven’t had so many laughs for a long time as the girls teased her. Well done, Sam, and thank you.
I don’t think he is supposed to laugh; he should have been touched…oh well.
Being on an Earth which accepts us was the best medicine for us. We had not realised how much we had been affected until we found ourselves being defensive, watching for a sign, maybe a wavering light; a jab of pain, indicating that we are about to be rejected. As we adjusted, perhaps it made us a bit silly - or else that is just how things work out in this reality.
Robbie decided to visit and become a friend of Robert (he changed his appearance and made himself look about the same age). He is hoping to talk Robert out of bonding with Gracie.
Robbie went on his own and we felt how it felt strange to him, for he always has at least one of us with him, usually Cherine, and we were also just a little bit on edge. I think it shows we should do it more often. It is important we never lose the strength for being on our own for a time.
Robbie looked about twenty three, but he did not think of disguising his ease with women, which helped make Robert think he is sophisticated and enjoy his company. He was a bit puzzled as to why Robbie has come to Kenya, since he cannot imagine himself ever leaving London should he make it there.
3310
Robbie grinned, “I love chocolates, but I still need to eat food. Travelling, seeing the world and all the different aspects of it is food to my soul, London is just an indulgence, my chocolate. Robert, I am an artist and if I am to remain creative, I must explore and discover new to me secrets of nature and the inner worlds of mankind all the time.”
“I went through a period of wanting to be an artist, but I was convinced I am not good enough for me to make it my way of life.”
“Who convinced you - was it your father?”
“Yes. He was right, but how did you know?”
“I went through the same shit,” Robert winced slightly and Robbie was amused, “sorry old chap, but us artists do tend to use some coarse language at times - it is needed by our souls.”
“You’re joking…you are pulling my leg.”
Robbie made a point of looking, since he loves reacting to clichés. “You have attractive legs, but I think I’ll leave them for Gracie to play with…her name is Gracie, isn’t it, the little girl I saw you staring at with such interest?”
Robert nodded. “It’s not likely - more’s the pity.”
Robbie shook his head. “I don’t think it will be a problem - as long as you don’t expect too much from her. She is the kind of girl who makes her own plans and I don’t think they include any serious kind of relationship at this time. She feels she should first enjoy her life and she can sense you are serious and will want more from her than she is willing to offer, so that is the biggest obstacle you face. Robert, don’t bother trying to convince her you will be happy with just some sex, her instincts will warn her of your true feelings. Convince yourself first, if you can, and only then make your move.”
The wonderful thing about Robbie is that he thinks he knows himself. Lol.
Robert devoted himself to his work for the week, working harder than usual, but by the weekend he had convinced himself that he can make Gracie fall in love with him - not that he took the time to work out where success could lead him. Luckily we were too concerned about Robert for us to upset Robbie by being amused at his dismay.
We girls felt it is our turn now to handle Robert, which we planned to do by affecting Gracie, but Cherine surprised us by asking that we do nothing for now.
Robert was invited to a party in Nairobi and he was told Gracie will be there, so he arranged to stay with a friend and agreed to attend the party. Another friend came to give them a lift to the party and Robert was disappointed to see Gracie was not in the car. When they arrived at the party he saw she was already dancing with another man, someone older than most of the group. He did not like to watch the way she was dancing with him so he pulled out a beer from the tub and walked around.
An hour or so later he had drunk three beers and needed to eat something. There was no buffet, as there usually is, so he walked into the kitchen and found others had also come to eat and were picking the platters clean before the hosts could take them through to the dining table. Robert grabbed a cold chicken thigh and quickly ate it. Suddenly he felt a fire travel up the outside of his thighs, to his hips. Shocked he turned and saw Gracie. She was grinning, pleased by the effect she’d had on him from running her fingertips up his thighs.
We giggled, for Robert actually took the time to think about how it is possible for her fingers to have been felt by him so violently - as if he were being branded, without him knowing it is her. I guess it is the Robert tendency to want to read something special into everything that happens to them.
“Dance with me.”
They danced a number of songs and then she left his side. When he was called to the car as the driver wanted to go home, he found that Gracie was already seated. He was the first one dropped off and as he stood outside the car, wanting to be funny, he suddenly stood stiffly, clicked his heels, saluted and wished them all a goodnight. As the car drove off he could sense the serious gaze of Gracie fixed on him - it was almost as if she had just become aware of him.
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)29th November, 2019
- posted: 29th November, 2019
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