Pleased with what they learnt, the two of them returned to us, while Coral went to bring little Cherine up to date and give her a little time to adjust to our returning so soon.
3341
Later, after the welcomes and kisses, Robbie asked Cherine to sit by him and he leant forward, his chin cupped in his hand as he talked to her, as if in a confiding manner. “What I am going to say to you, it is at great personal sacrifice, for family and friends are not going to let me forget what I say to you now for years to come, and I’ll be teased endlessly. Cherine, you kept on saying that Robert is an old man and that is why you cannot be interested in him.”
She nodded, agreeing and obviously still of the same frame of mind. He gave her a tiny smile. “What if I told you that you fooled everyone, including your Robert, but you did not fool me. You see, I’ve always known that any Robert is far more immature than any Cherine. Take your time and do your best to feel him, as deeply as you can, and then you’ll see that I told you the truth.”
She did not look as if she is going to do as he asked of her and we all know from our Cherine that she will not bend unless something, some occurrence or somebody, finds a way to change her mind. We could feel the tenderness in Robbie's eyes as he looked at her and added, “The reason I am telling you is because, although we did not stay away for as long as we were supposed to on your side, from our side, with all he experienced, I think you will now find him old enough for you.”
It is not clear how he got through to her with his last remarks, probably it appealed to her quirky sense of humour, and though she kept her eyes fixed on Robbie, we felt her reach out to sense her Robert. The girls have helped her grow stronger and she was able to reach in deeper and she must have sensed something that tantalised her, for she tried even harder. When she stopped, it was as if she was totally drained, yet there was a sense of awe and jubilation.
“You were right, I can feel he has changed.” She turned to her Robert and Robbie sat back, knowing that he now has been forgotten.
They were given homes next to each other and Freddie jumped, with Lynda’s help, to a new to us reality, so that they can stay with us for as long as they need. For as long as they are in Freddie, they are now Rob and Cher, for this is our home.
A comment about them and what it augurs for them. Cher is not as impulsive as our Cherine, she tends to think over her ideas, trying to prevent herself from making mistakes. With regard to her reactions though, she is just as impulsive, but, luckily for her Robert, not as quick to anger.
When we took a look at the local Earth, we were surprised to find that this one is only two months after our Cherine first met our Robert at the Kolonaki flat. We did not sense Cherine and as has become our way, when Lynda does not volunteer information, we do not ask, since it is likely she is hoping to surprise us.
Rob and Cher have been bitten by the bug and are curious about the new Robert and Cherine, so Cassie put on a doleful but determined face and explained that we first have to finish with them before starting with another two of them. Rosie added that it is not fair to Arthur when we don’t, as it messes up his story, making it too complex.
“Why,” asked Cher, knowing exactly what she is doing to me by asking her question, “Are you saying his readers are too stupid to work out who is who?”
I grinned. “Sorry love, that is not the problem, they are quite a bright bunch, it is Arthur who can’t write well and when the story gets too complex he flounders and messes up the story by forgetting who is who, for instance, if you are Cher and the new one is little Cherine, he might call you little Cherine and the new one Cher…and so on. I try to fix it afterwards, but I can’t always, as sometimes his writing becomes fact and then you two Cherines get stuck as being the wrong Cherines in love with the Robert of the other Cherine forever after.” I thought I was laying it on a bit thick, but she swallowed it for all of two minutes. She then promised to pay me back and when she sensed how delighted all my loves were, she thought she’s got a good thing going and threatened Cassie and Rosie, giving me the opportunity to laugh at them also.
“Actually,” Em-e asked, “can’t we place all the Roberts and Cherines on hold and do something different? Maybe we can find an alien species to save?”
Robbie nodded. “Freddie, are the Anadir and Sparklers here?”
“I assumed it would have been reported by now by the Anadir and Sparklers who went to take a look. I cannot sense either of them.”
3341
Dommi said, “This is another strange reality - no Cherine that we can sense and our friends have not arrived yet. Which is the most urgent, love?”
“Dommi, I’ll do a quick check on the local Cherine and then we’ll go search for the Sparklers. Not much point in searching for the Anadir first.”
Claudia corrected him, “Actually we will be searching for them also, since they must have come from the same direction…in our void.”
Robbie did not find Cherine and so the Sparklers went down en masse, but returned with a negative report. Robbie assured us that Marian does exist and that she is in despair, for Cherine disappeared about three weeks ago. Since we do not have any clues, it could take us quite a long time to find her, so we decided to deal with the local Anadir and Sparklers first, then Freddie will double jump so as to arrive back here within seconds of us departing, so that no time is lost in searching for Cherine. We are doing it that way so as to give us time to calm down, for we can’t think straight right now.
We found the Sparklers; it helps that Robbie has searched for them before, so he knew more or less where to search. Once they had formed their own Solomon and he visited, we asked whether there are any Anadir survivors and they reassured us that there are and that they were tracking them. They were surprised that we did not find them at the same place they waited in other realities.
Jade tried to keep the thought to herself, but I heard her say to herself, ‘Oh good, we have a puzzle!’. I gave her a grin, agreeing with her, even if it may sound a bit heartless of us. Arthur, we do need other realities to be different from us in strange ways so that we remain interested in searching through them - and, if you thought of it, no, we still have not asked Lynda about the local Cherine…but we did sort of sense she is not sure of the truth, whatever it happens to be. I have a feeling her instincts chose the time of our arrival, which means that once we return, we will be under pressure to find her quickly.
All the local Sparklers entered Freddie, but none of them complained about being crowded, so I guess they don’t mind being so many in such a small place (there have been larger number during other trips, much larger, but they already knew each other for a time; I guess I was presuming that it is with them as it is with our species, that we tend to dislike being crowded when we are surrounded by strangers.)
An advantage of meeting new to us alternates of the Sparklers is that once they have shared with our Solomon - we suspect maybe also with a number of Thinkers, because all the Thinkers share very deeply and thoroughly, they instantly are friends to all of us and need very few explanations and the only major adjustment is in transferring what our Sparklers feel for us to their own Teller family (Cherinians). We find it odd (and alien of them) that none of them seem to find it a problem. The only answer I can find is that because emotions are still new to them, they are able to use logic to justify switching their alliance and friendship. Once they have accepted and grown in the ways they can feel love, I think they will not be able to transfer their feelings and loyalty as easily - actually, all of them do seem to retain a certain degree of loyalty to us…well, mostly to our Cherine.
When Freddie jumped back to the reality of the Rob and Cher travelling with us, he had to delay returning so as to allow the new to us Sparklers time to visit the new to them void. Robbie had to ask the local Anadir and Sparklers to join us as we do not want to stay here for long, or else we will have to return Rob and Cher. We were pleased, for the more of us there are, the more thoroughly we can search for the missing Cherine.
Arthur, everyone is very angry with you, for they accept you have the right to mess with our lives a little, but do not accept that you have the right to have an innocent Cherine child tortured. I don’t need you to respond, as I have already argued that they are wrong, that you are not capable of doing anything like this…but once I tell you what we have learnt, I think you will understand why everyone thought you must be responsible.
Robbie decided to cheat, maybe because he read my thoughts about the timing of our first arrival here and Lynda’s instincts. We returned to the place the Anadir should have been at a time of one day previous to our previous arrival here and then Freddie dashed off in pursuit of the Anadir. We were presuming they will have taken the same direction our Anadir did when they thought we were losing the battle with the Sparklers.
3343
We suddenly felt an exultant Freddie jump, spacewise, that is, teleport, and suddenly stop. We did not need to ask, for we could see the Anadir Worlds on our screens, but the Anadir did not give us time to wonder, for one of the Worlds left the others, which had come to a standstill, and returned to us. Without asking for permission (Freddie allowed them anyway), nine of the Anadir jumped into Freddie. We were awed to sense that one of the nine is the Entity of their World! Five of the eight were females.
Robbie stepped forward to greet them, but the Entity and the eight following him walked past Robbie. He turned and watched as they came to a stop before Cherine.
“You are Cherine - the Prime?”
“Yes.”
All nine of them sat on the ground and covering their faces wept. Their Entity said to Cherine, “We have failed you - we have failed our Cherine.” He must have sensed our Anadir, who had previously changed themselves to look like Terrans, for he asked, “One of you is Ordinx, friend of Samantha?”
“I am Ordinx. Welcome and please come to your feet, for you are distressing both the Teller family and ourselves.”
“How can we? With what courage can we face any of you after failing your Cherine, your Samantha and you Ordinx? For know it that you too are venerated, as are the Teller family, for you have given courage to our people and reminded them that deep within we still are what we were like before we lost our bodies.”
Ordinx sensed we are also puzzled and asked, “In what way have you failed us Father?”
The Entity paused and then said, “The story of our shame must be told in the correct order so that you understand why we are so penitent and feeling shamed.” He then explained, “Earth has provided us with the time references we will use.
We arrived close enough to Earth to sense the wealth of life and though we did not wish to become known to them, a few of us were curious enough to visit and learn of those living there.” Ordinx sent to Robbie, *The same was done by us, which is how we sensed the arrival of Samantha.* The Entity continued, I do not think it ‘heard’ Ordinx speaking to Robbie, but if it did, it gave no sign, “As it has proven to be with life on other planets, there was great joy in watching them, but also great sorrow and pain, for we knew the enemy, the ones you call the Sparklers and friends, would not be long in arriving and then they will steal all the souls from this planet, leaving no intelligent life to continue and grow as it explores the pleasures of learning about our universe.
Then we learnt something that shocked us; it almost made us hate the Terrans, for we learnt that those who control their world are planning to kill off their populations by the billions! Such a horror is rarely experienced Ordinx, yet in your reality you were able to overcome your aversion to them as a species because of the coming of Samantha?”
“Not entirely, for we spent longer than you did monitoring and came to understand that they are not as different to us as we would like to think - or so our World Entities told us.”
“At our time of greatest despair and pain, a miracle happened; a child was sensed and it was as if she filled our universe with light. She is the alternate of your Cherine, though far less powerful and experienced.”
A dread filled us, for now we understood their abject despair and feelings of shame; we guessed they are going to tell us they failed to save Cherine from death…we’ll have to show them through sharing, or else they might not believe us, that as long as they can show us when and where she died, we can bring her back. We also felt awe at hearing of how she affected them, no wonder we love the Anadir so much.
“We made our presence known to the child, first ensuring she understands our existence must not be spoken of with others of her kind. She was delighted by us and mostly had no wish to tell anyone about us, for she treasured having such a secret.” Despite our fears, we chuckled and our Cherine even slightly blushed. “As she grew to trust us, she confided that she has a secret and told us, solely to provoke us, we are certain, that she had known of our existence from long before our contacting her. We thought she meant she had visited the void, but then she shocked and even frightened us, for she told us that we are not of the Prime Reality, that other Anadir are. She asked if we would listen to her stories about them.”
3344
At last we had an explanation of how they knew of the Sparklers and us! This Cherine must really be special to have shared from us so much before she has met and grown through sharing with her own Robert and Dommi.
Our Cherine sat on the grass before the Entity and bowed before speaking. “If you wish to be friends, will you agree to treat us as equals? If you do not mind, all of us would like to sit on the ground, as you do, so that we hear about your Cherine in equal comfort.”
Her bluff worked and we all sat on the grass, including Ordinx and all the Anadir of Freddie, for by now they had shared from our friend and wanted to be present - plus, as I previously mentioned, the Anadir have always enjoyed meeting new Cherines, though I think it is largely because of their scientific curiosity, hoping that the differences will help explain our Cherine a little better. We have given up on such ambitions a long time ago, not so much because of her, but because we love her being a bit of a mystery to us, just like Robbie does.
“She knew too much of us for us to question her knowledge, but we found it difficult to believe all she told us, especially when she explained why our enemy has been hunting us so ruthlessly, for so long. She asked if we can help her visit the void so that when the Sparklers arrive she can explain to them in what ways they have erred. To allow her special soul to take such a risk was impossible for us to contemplate - especially since we could not help reacting to her as a child…a female child, which also explained her reckless courage.”
Ordinx asked, “She did not explain herself and the Teller family well enough for you to avoid taking upon yourself the guilt of failing her? Our Teller family is the same, they do not allow anyone to assume such guilts. I will admit to you that they do make it very difficult for us, for we are constantly forced to strive against our instincts, since, as you see, they mostly prefer to remain little children in appearance.”
The entity gestured his agreement. “Our Cherine had explained their unique among all species propensity and we sensed she was half in love with your Robert, because he made himself a criminal for the sake of loving his Cherine.”
Robert laughed, so our Robbie smiled and said, in a pretend weary tone, “The things I do for my Cherine!”
“We mostly visited Cherine during her evenings, after she had retired to sleep. During the last evening we saw her, she seemed disturbed and refused to explain, only saying that for the first time ever you have failed in saving a life and it is a life important to all of you. She told us that you might be coming, but she feared the Sparklers may arrive first and she was distraught, for we had made clear that we refused to help her soul visit the void. She complained that she felt the need to sleep and we left.
When we arrived the next evening, it was to the sight of her mother sitting on her bed, softly caressing her favourite games as she grieved. We could not ask her, but a great fear took hold of us, for we thought we knew what had occurred. She must have tried to go to the void and her soul was now lost to us.
Urgently we called and hundreds of millions of our people left their Worlds to help us search, just in case she is still in the void. We did not sense even one mote of hers, which made it unlikely she had arrived at the void. Our scientists debated the possibility of her having arrived in some other dimension and we wondered how we are to find her.
Time is different in the void, but we estimate about four days of your planet had gone by when we sensed Cherine pleading to be allowed to enter our World, for her soul was being torn by the void. Urgently she was surrounded and brought in.” He sat without speaking, in obvious agony, and then he cried out, “How do I tell you…?”
Goldi surprised everyone by moving to him and sitting next to him, taking his hands in hers. As he looked at her with surprise, we sensed her emoting her sweetness and he was enraptured by her. Goldi said to him, “Tell us so that we can share the pain, it will be easier then.”
Almost as if the words were being dragged out of him, he told us, “The soul was still connected to her body, so the void had not really been eating her as she’d thought, it was mostly her fear of the void which had allowed the void to tear at the edges of her soul, so she had not suffered that much as a soul in the void, yet we sensed great suffering in her and used what few abilities we have to soothe her.
3345
Whatever even one Anadir shares or experiences with Cherine, every single Anadir, of all the Worlds, also experiences and grows in knowledge of her. What she then told us sent all our Worlds into paroxysms of grief and shame, for we had not thought to keep Anadir by her side at all times, knowing of the need for privacy your kind suffer from. While we had been absent, Cherine had been stolen from her bed, without being allowed to awaken.
The one who stole Cherine is not much more than a child herself, about double the age of Cherine. Her parents had recently died and she lives in her home by herself, but Cherine has not been able to tell us where the home is, as she has not seen it with her physical eyes, nor has she seen the surroundings. She was locked and chained in a room below ground, so she could not hear any sounds from outside.
This monster who has stolen the body of Cherine, we have been shown glimpses of her mind and never have we sensed anything as evil. It seems that even as a child she spent all her time fantasising and imagining herself torturing and cutting to pieces other people. She started by doing so out of hate for the other children who did not like her, but she has grown to imagining herself killing every single human being of your planet.
The only facts we know about her is that her home is somewhere within London, Cherine sensed it from her, but her name is not static, for each time she reads of a female who was cruel and tortured many, she adopts that name, but her last adopted name is Isabelle or Isobelle. Cherine, we have come to the reluctant conclusion that she caused the death of her parents so as to have her home to herself so as to steal her first victim and torture her without having to worry about her parents interfering.
Yes, she deliberately chose Cherine because she could sense her goodness and gift of empathy and it sickened and enraged her, until, as she told Cherine, she felt compelled to teach her through pain that her gift should be used for making millions suffer.”
We not only were reacting to what we were hearing, we were also sensing how Robbie was struggling to control himself, his fury turning him into an avenging force of destruction. Dommi and Cherine touched hands and entering his mind, reinforced his controls and soothed his emoting. It was almost as if he could not sense them, for the Entity had continued talking.
“For days, Cherine has been tortured. Cut open, long and deep slashes which are held open and sprinkled with salt. Wounds of acid which burn into her, at places where organs will not be harmed but bones will be damaged.”
“Stop!” Robbie forced out. He took a breath and told the Entity, “Whatever more there is I will share from her directly. You have her soul on your World?”
“Yes. we did not bring her with so as to speak to you of what has happened to her without her having to re-live those days of horror, plus we needed to see for ourselves that she saw you as you truly are. Robert, if we bring her, can you provide her with the body of a Cherine?”
“Yes, a body will be created for her from our Cherine.”
He looked at Cherine. “She could not have dreamt of such an honour and will be filled with joy. If you truly will allow it, all us Anadir of this reality will be eternally within your debt. As for our Cherine, I am certain she will not wish to be returned to her own body, should you find it in time, for having your body as hers also, directly, will be something to treasure and give her the courage to face the worst her planet can do to her.”
Cherine replied, “She is both my sister and myself, how could I not wish her all the happiness she can experience? Robert will return with you to your world…would you invite us so that we all can come to meet her there? Can you also explain why you left the area you were waiting in?”
“Despite the little comfort we were able to provide Cherine, plus our assurances that she is safe and protected by us, she feared her torturer will come after her when she discovers she has managed to escape her. We travelled a great distance so as to provide her with the feelings of security she needs. When she sensed your arrival, Cherine asked us to return.”
Of course we were invited, the local Anadir and other species included, and we left our bodies and travelled with them, taking our guest Robert and Cherine with us - they were excited by the idea of visiting an Anadir World, so it was fairly easy to take them with us.
Except for Jade and Cassie. They disappeared, taking their bodies with them within energy bubbles. Robbie extended his senses and told us they have gone to Earth to bring the local Robert to Freddie. They were right, he must share from now, for it will help bond them deeply. I am surprised the local Cherine did not ask the Anadir to help her find her own Robert, I would have if I were her and could share the lives of the Prime Tellers.
3346
Knowing what our two loves intend forced us to alter our plans. We waited, on the Anadir World, for her Robert to arrive with Jade and Cassie, but not close to the local Cherine. We rejoiced when we sensed him arrive in Freddie with them and waited as they talked to him, explaining the urgency. He found it difficult to leave his body, to trust them quite that much, but in the end he let go when Jade took hold of his hand. It is funny how so many Roberts react so tenderly to our Jade. Maybe deep down most Roberts do love themselves?
We moved and waited back in the void, wanting the two girls to dance with him first, before we all take our turn. Then he was allowed to sense our Cherine, just so that he knows what her potential is. Only then did Robbie welcome him and share, so that he too can sense what he may become if he bonds and links with his Cherine. Robbie should not have been the one to do it, a gentler sharing of the sufferings of his Cherine would have been experienced if one of us girls did it, but Robbie was determined to make certain Robert knows how much his future love has suffered. It sickened him, causing the local Anadir further pain, but then he asked to meet her.
The Anadir had created a Terran looking body for Cherine (she actually looks exactly like she did in her real body), and as we appeared, we too were provided with bodies that exactly mirror our real bodies. Robert stared at his Cherine, shocked by how tiny she is. She must have sensed which Robert he is, for she ignored the others and looked into his eyes. We felt his heart swell and he fell to his knees with arms outstretched. She stepped into his arms and as he wrapped them around her we felt how secure he made her feel.
Because we were fully sharing with our other Robert and Cherine, something totally unique happened, causing some confusion. As Robert cradled his Cherine, she reached out and they linked. Thanks to our sharing with them, the other Robert and Cherine (the first ones, of the Gracie reality) were overwhelmed by the emoting and also linked. The simultaneous linkings caused them to lose definition, so that it almost felt as if the four of them were linking to each other as a group. Shocked, we stared at them, not knowing what to do, but then we felt the linkings sort themselves and they became two couples, but they also remained slightly linked to each other. I hope it does not fade, maybe it won’t if they visit each other often.
It is a pity that the Robert and Cherine who were already in love when we met them had also linked on their own a bit earlier, for a three-way link would have been amazing!
The Anadir Worlds all flared, free at last to rejoice as they felt the linkings. People being people, I guess they also felt honoured that something so miraculous happened on a World of theirs. Despite sharing from their Cherine, the local Anadir have not learnt to party in the way we do, so they celebrated by dancing in the void, where the Sparklers joined them.
Ordinx made a suggestion to Solomon, who talked to the local Solomon and everyone was invited to a party in the Sparkler World. Only our family would not be free to fully enjoy the party, as the local Cherine pleaded that we do a telling so that her Anadir can see for themselves that she only told them the truth, without exaggeration, as they had thought. Not one of us could refuse her, for her suffering has opened our hearts to her (guess we better see to it that all the alternate sets of Cherinians grow a second heart).
The party started off with the locals mostly watching their alternates so as to get an idea of what we mean when we speak of having a party. Once they began to get into the swing of it, they seemed to have a good time. Still, many were relieved when we announced that we are about to do a telling.
Our Solomon spoke in privacy to Robbie. “You do not feel any urgency regarding the recovery of the body of Cherine?”
“I am, but the best way to find her is by sensing from Cherine the personality of her torturer. Then we’ll find her within minutes, for London is not such a large area when the Sparklers decide to search for someone. However, Cherine is rather fragile right now, we need for her to grow a little stronger before having to face her memories of that person.”
“I think not, Robert, it should not be us. Teach the local Anadir and Sparklers, ask it of them so that they find her.”
3347
“Yes, especially the Anadir need to be the ones…thank you my friend.”
Robbie was right, once we had the flavour of the soul or personality of Isabelle, it took but minutes to find her. Even once we were in her home, her fury threatening to spit sparks of fire at us and all around her like a soldering arc as we held her prisoner, we still could not sense the body. When we finally found it, even her nails and hair had stopped growing.
Grief etched its way through us, but it was a grief we willingly offered to her, for she has suffered enough for us to feel she has earned each twisted ache of it. Robbie left his body and flew out into the void and from there returned in time and claimed cells and brought them to us frozen in time.
Our Cherine asked, “Can our healers modify her cells? I would like her body to be the daughter of the Cherine that was and myself. If it is true that it will bring her pride and pleasure, I wish for it to be done.” And so it was done.
Cherine has been returned to her deliriously happy family, for once Marian forgetting to be hard and suspicious of everyone. She was told a mini lie, that Robert found and saved her. Once the police had accepted the story, her mother did and he was welcomed as a hero, as a friend of the family. I’m wondering how that can be changed so that she accepts he is a necessity in the life of her daughter.
We have put off dealing with Isabelle, for it is difficult to kill someone so young, even if there is nothing young in her mind or heart. Finally, recalling what we did with Richard, I had an idea.
“She cannot be cured, her entire life has been a dark gothic dream of suffering, so that it is all that gives her pleasure. To kill her would probably condemn her new life to the same kind of obsessions, for we have seen how often the new life is affected by the previous one. Why don’t we do with her soul as we have done with Richard? As we have said of the likely fate of those dying on the prison planet, let her be born as a non-sentient being. If we control it so that we know what she is born as, and we then help her soul find a sentient new life, with a kindly and loving family, perhaps her obsession will have been shattered and her gifts can once more take a more humane direction?”
It has been agreed that this will be done as an experiment, for we are bound to find other lives we dare not allow to return directly, for their gifts or powers will enable them to keep all that is the worst of their previous life. If this works, then Isabelle will not have died in vain (of old age or accident on the prison planet - being watched over by Sparklers, so that we can guide her to her next life; being born a crocodile, for instance might not be helpful, but perhaps a herbivore would be good for her) and Cherine can think of her suffering as being the cost that needed to be paid for many lives to be guided to a new and happier future.
We knew it is time for us to leave, to return our other alternates to their lives, so that we can resume our efforts to save the Arthur alternate, but the truth is, we were not at ease and felt we should be helping the local Cherinians become a reality before we leave. We had wanted to leave without doing so because we had felt we must stop doing so much for our alternates so that they have the opportunity to grow in their own directions. However, theory is not always compatible with what our hearts demand of us.
Marian teased Robbie, “I think you just don’t have the courage to face up to a Marian who has not been manipulated into thinking of you as being a good influence on her daughter.”
He nodded. “You may be right and I cannot think of anyone better qualified for achieving such a change in her as you. However, if you are afraid to try, I will understand.”
“Sometimes you show yourself to be even more of a bastard than I had originally thought you are.”
Bernadine gave her mother an odd look and asked, “Is that really possible mum?” Marian just stared at her for a moment and then, amused by the implications and that it was her Bernie who had asked the teasing question, she laughed.
There was little reason for the discussions, since we already knew what we will have to do. The parents must be brought here so that they have all the time they need for adjusting to who and what their daughter is and how important her Robert is to her growth, to her survival - and to their own survival. It will take time and there will be anger and hatred within Freddie, but in the end the Marians will accept their Robert as a necessary evil. Maybe one day they will each grow to admire and care for him. What I do not know, or do not foresee as clearly, is how the father of Cherine can be convinced, even though he spend months within Freddie.
3348
The Cherine who now likes to think of herself as being too old for her Robert - at least, that is what she teases, smiled. “If we need to leave this reality once her parents are with us as Cherinians, then why not first return to my reality so that we can bring my parents also. That way we can get done with both parents at the same time.” Her face turned serious as she asked our Cherine, her hand first taking hold of the hand of the other Cherine. “We must help our Roberts and parents, for we need to visit each other as often as possible, for I want us to remain part of each other forever.”
Since their need means we will be spending time with them, Robbie frowned as he told us, “We’ll never return to save the alternate Arthur if we keep on going to realities where our help is needed. This time we go to a reality of a Teller family who are waiting at the wedding site (he gave Latreia a smile), but we don’t go anywhere close to Earth. That way they will not sense us when they return and we won’t affect their lives. I don’t see how we could create a paradox, so it should be safe.”
Once Robbie gets those kinds of ideas, we end up doing more than we had anticipated. We had expected to flit around some other part of our galaxy, but Robbie jumped us to another galaxy, what he called a mini galaxy, for it is less than a quarter of the size of our milky way.
Robbie told the scientists, “This galaxy should provide you with many unique problems and if you want to go to a particular part of it or to a solar system, just ask Freddie to take us there. All I ask in return is that you don’t take us to any inhabited planets - well, by sentient beings. With my luck, if we do meet another species, it will turn out that they are facing some calamity and we have to spend years saving them.”
With apparent seriousness, a Freddie-born Anadir female, she is an astronomer, asked, “If the system we are interested in studying does turn out to have a sentient species, would you like us to first check that they don’t have any impending calamities?”
“Mourissa, has your husband adjusted to your weird sense of humour or is he still suffering?”
“Still suffering Robert, for it makes him love me more every time I amuse him. I think he is like you, for he tells me that the reason he loves me more each time is because my humour is that of a little girl.”
We all gave her a big tick, loving the way she is teasing him, despite the glares of the two sets of parents who interpreted what she said as a further indictment of us and Robbie.
I am not going to report the ups and downs, the angry and bitter words and all else that was part of the two families having to adjust to their daughters being the lovers of adult men. Let it suffice that I remind you that we have experience with this kind of problem and that having even one Marian on our side helped tremendously. Our sense of humour sometimes acted against our interest, but it is what makes situations like these bearable, so we do not regret even one laugh.
Perhaps one of our biggest laughs came from the dead Cherine. The morning after making love with her Robert for the first time, she privately told us, so as not to upset her parents, that we are very lucky that our Author is a paedophile - which is quite funny, since he claims he isn’t really, not as the word is used by the media. We did not share her comment with the other Cherinians, I think it must remain as something shared only with our alternate Teller families. Hmm, I paused, waiting, giving Arthur the opportunity to comment, but nada, he remains silent and enigmatic(?) like most gods - lol
At least the scientists, of many branches of science, are happy and filled with excitement, for they say this little galaxy is highlighting certain laws that were not obvious in our own galaxy. What I found exciting was a small planet they found (no life, thank goodness, though any life there would have to have been as weird as it gets). The planet is made out of solid foam. The evidence suggests that thanks to its orbit that goes far out and then back into the solar system once every twenty nine thousand years, it passes between two strong gravities and it breaks down and ‘boils’ for a few weeks and then it solidifies again into a frozen foam substance, with the entire planet weighing less than a seventh of our moon, despite it being at least fifty percent larger. I was asked whether I find anything about the existence of a foamy planet odd or impossible.
I gave it some serious thought, for I know that it must be something obvious, even if not an anomaly visible to the eye. As they expect a lot of me, I feel I am under even a greater obligation not to let them down. Finally I asked them, while still in search of the answer, “How does matter foam and create pockets of air when the object is in the vacuum of space?”
3349
“You have thought of the question - I am impressed, not many of our scientists did. A clue to your answer will be another bit of information. Samantha, a million years ago the air pockets, as you call them, were much bigger and thus, the planet was also larger. Within the matter forming this world, there is gas. Each time it melts and boils, it loses some of the gas. Millions of years from now it will become a solid planet, solid from the heart to the surface, unless its own internal pressures manage to keep the core soft for an extra few hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Are its properties similar to our pumice stone?”
“Only very superficially, the material of this world is unique and we’ll be studying samples for many years. I said it is superficially similar in the sense that we believe that this was a part of an immense planet or small sun during its formative years and an explosion or impact with another solid object caused a temporary layer of foaming material to be blown out into space.”
I shook my head. “Surely any planet at such an early stage would not have enough gas to keep this child of its upheavals so porous for so long? I can only think of one way it could happen as you suggested.” I stopped to re-imagine what I had pictured and took the chance I’ll sound stupid. “At the time you estimate it happened, I see the planet forming an internal pressure that was relieved by something similar to a volcanic eruption. The heavy matter must have quickly fallen back, leaving gas and the lighter material elements to travel out into space. However I try to imagine it happening, I see a ball made out of the lighter elements forming, with the gas remaining separate so as to form a temporary atmosphere. It is obviously not what happened, so I am guessing that it passed through an icy cold cloud of gas or water or a mixture of the two, that froze the material while it was still mixed. If it then had melted due to heat, it is likely all the gas would have quickly been lost to the planet, but if it melted due to pressures, the effects would not be as drastic, allowing the planet to hang on to its gas for so long.” I flushed. “Do I sound very stupid?”
A smile was sent to me (our alien friends, of all the species, have been very quick to learn the value of a smile, or the emoting of a smile, to us Terrans). “As you were talking a number of scientists have started experiments to prove or disprove what you told us. May I reply regarding your apparent intelligence at such time as I have an answer?”
Goldi told her off. “Even if she was wrong, she was not stupid; I think she was brilliant!”
“Goldi!” I blushed fiercely and Robbie made it worse for me by laughing.
The scientist ignored me and slightly bowed to Goldi. “You are right, I was trying to be humorous and expressed myself improperly.”
Robbie knew better than to try and hold me and waited for me to recover my emotional balance before apologising, but Jade knocked me off balance again. In a sotto voce, she confided to Dommi, “When we get back to Athens, we must buy a big pumice stone as a gift for Sam to have as a memento, so that she remembers forever how our Goldi stood up for her.”
I felt just that small, for Jade had touched on the one thing I did wrong. I wanted to weep, but instead I opened my heart to Goldi and she came flying into my arms, emoting such sweetness and love that everyone forgot what they were doing or saying for a while.
A few days later we were met by a group of scientists. They politely walked away, having established their need to talk with us. We didn’t dawdle over breakfast, anxious to learn why they have come to us.
“We calculate that within half a million years this galaxy will have reached the point of no return and it will fly apart.”
“Do you think it is happening because of the small size?”
“It is a possibility.”
“Have you found any inhabited solar systems?”
“We have not been looking for them, so we cannot confirm that there are none.”
Claudia asked, “Do you think it is falling apart because it does not have a black hole?”
3350
“We are split in our opinions. Some of us think that for any galaxy to remain a galaxy, even though its form alters over time, it must have at least one black hole at its center, though having a number of smaller ones throughout the galaxy helps it to retain its shape. We think it is how galaxies were formed. The others who do not agree with us say black holes are not necessary…”
I asked, “Are there other small galaxies without a black hole and do they seem to be stable?”
“There are a number of them, but not many in relationship to the number of large galaxies, just as the number of giant galaxies is also rare.”
I finished off my glass of milk and as I was about to place the glass back on the table, I saw a wet ring where it had been. I placed the glass slightly to the side and with a fingertip I used the water for doodling. I realised nobody is talking and looking up I saw everyone was looking at me - it felt as if they are waiting for me to speak. I wondered what I was supposed to say, but then a question occurred to me.
“In the gulfs between the galaxies, are there many planets…what about solar systems or even just suns?” I turned to Tasso, “If I have two packets of firewood that are exactly the same and all conditions except for one are exactly the same, no wind for either, for instance, but the one fire is set alight in the Sahara, on a very hot day and the other is placed at the North Pole, on a freezing day. Would both fires last the same amount of time?”
“I have no knowledge of such matters, Samantha; do you wish me to return to Earth to perform the experiment for you?”
I pulled a face. “With Robbie and Freddie as our examples, no wonder everybody wants to be a comedian.” It made a number of people chuckle. “I only asked because it occurred to me that since the temperature is lower in the gulfs, it might affect how fast the suns burn out…I wonder whether any sun in the gulf has ever gone nova.” I then asked, “Do many of the larger galaxies lack a black hole?”
“There are a number of them, but their continued existence could be explained by their size, the added attraction of so many large bodies plus a multitude of tiny black holes would help hold them together.”
“Despite the various spins and revolutions? Still, I am more interested in learning how the other small galaxies hold on to their solar systems. Do all of them have black holes?”
He was silent for a while, we guessed he is communicating with his fellow scientists so we waited for him to finish. He looked at me and said, “No.”
“Are they all drifting apart? Maybe you can initiate a program for checking what is happening? I don’t think we will find many of them drifting apart…if many of them were, including some larger galaxies, surely the gulfs should be littered with the dead solar systems that strayed away from the comfort zone within their galaxies? Could it be that they seem to drift apart and then, they reverse themselves until it seems they are in danger of collapsing into one mass. Maybe then something reverses them, something similar to a momentary flip of gravity, giving them that push that makes it look as if they are falling apart.” I grinned. “I was just being fanciful, but if you are going to look for explanations, I thought having some odd possibilities to consider may make it more interesting.”
“More studies are required Samantha.”
Once he was gone, little dead Cherine spoke, her voice filled with amazement. “I felt you! I could feel how all you said and asked, it is a game to you!”
I grinned. “Not a game love, but I do find thinking up crazy questions and learning a pleasure, I enjoy it, but there also is an element of teasing in my interactions with the scientists…of all the species. I think I would not be so bold with Terran scientists - one of them just might decide to put me across his knee and spank me.”
Her Robert said, “Actually, I was thinking that whether your questions and ideas are legitimate or not, and I bet only you know, by you asking them and stirring their interest, the scientists find themselves looking at the universe in a slightly different way and discover new facts, so they and we benefit.” I like him! 
While all this was happening, we did keep to our monitoring of the two sets of parents, not interfering, but sensing what is helping them soften their stance and then, what helped them accept their Robert as the man (husband) of their daughter. We also felt those hidden moments when they stayed home so as to weep without us seeing them. It is heartbreaking feeling so much pain, but knowing they will someday love their Robert and live, maybe, eternal lives, gives us the courage to bear their misery.
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)30th November, 2019
- posted: 30th November, 2019
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