....We however are not as self-sufficient. We need suns, energy, time to grow and become whatever it is we are to become. We are the vulnerable ones because we have needs. Ii must learn to account for our fears.*
3381
Ii mimicked Robbie and sent them a chuckle that sounded just like his.
^You pretend to show all your thoughts Robert so as to hide the ones that matter. What would you have? ^
*We have explained what the Sparklers are and you have met their representative Solomon. Why not do as he does and send a part of yourself to us in our form so that we can communicate in ways we understand? It is important to us to see a face and gestures help make meanings clear when words alone do not. Will you visit us on our spaceship-world?*
^I have not taken a form for millions of your years... ^
*So what? To you it is not the same. Even while you speak to us a part of you, or parts of you have form.*
Solomon sent a chuckle. *Robert seems to have understood your time-sense better than I would have expected him to.*
We watched as they all returned with a hundred questions in our minds. Claudia explained, laughing as she told us of how Robbie had handled it.
“Ii agreed to come here. Robbie has to return to collect him in a while.”
“Are you going to create his body for him Sol?”
“No, Ii wishes to do so for…himself.”
I grinned. “This should turn out to be quite interesting! Robert, can’t I come with you please?”
He laughed. “Only for the sake of your diary?” I nodded in agreement. Everyone laughed as he scooped me into his arms. “You are so transparent love. Give me a hug and kiss.”
As we entered the area of Ii I tried hard to sense where he was. Nothing. It was as if all energy ended outside the shell.
^1-2-3. It is you, the problem solver? ^
With pride (but also laughing) Robbie introduced me.
^Give me a memory Samantha. ^
Understanding I looked within my mind and chose a memory of sand, sparkling waves and sunshine. As I would exchange kiss, I sent it to him.
^A yellow sun, atmosphere of oxygen and I think it is that you require more than any other. Water. Forms moving, they are of your species. You have revealed more than Robert did Samantha. Why? ^
*You will soon know it anyway. Robert knows I prefer to treat aliens as friends, only trust builds friendships. What will you show me Ii?*
^You also trade? ^
*Is not friendship a form of trading?*
Robbie was worried when I accepted a tiny swirl of energy that formed before me. I took it in and allowed it to become a part of me.
A sun, slightly more orange than ours; green vegetation that tossed in winds that stormed wildly. Nothing rigid, no (or few) trees. A smooth flat land. Water, ochre in colour. A feeling of joy and excitement - of life coursing through me. I passed it all on to Robbie.
*Thank you Ii. Was it your home-world?*
3382
^It is. ^
*He cheated you Sam, no forms of their species.*
*He will show us soon Robert. He did not really cheat, he gave me a sense of what it was like for them to be alive on their planet. That was special.*
^May I cheat again Samantha? ^
*Call me Sam. I suppose so, what do you want this time?*
^If it frightens you tell me, I wish you no harm. Sam, may I examine your memories? ^
*Sam…*
*Let me answer Robert. No, not all of them. I will open some of them to you. Do you know how to enter my mind safely?*
^For me or you? I told you, no harm Sam. ^
I felt a presence and for the first time sensed a glow, an outline or rather, a center to the glow, but it was as if it was not entirely within this reality and made me dizzy trying to see it. I showed it what I was willing to share and felt a soft warmth where it touched my mind. Suddenly it was gone and even Robbie felt it’s distress.
*I’m sorry, did I harm or offend you in any way?*
It did not reply to me. ^We must come with you now Robert. ^
Robbie explained that he has to wrap it within energies to protect it. To do so he has to know where it is. It formed in a soft ball of light and Robbie sent his void energies flowing over it. Covering me again he withdrew.
^Do not release me when we arrive Robert. First allow me to see your spaceship in this form. ^
It made no comment about the void, but as Robbie passed through the shell of Freddie it recoiled, as if in shock. The interior was immediately visible and we sensed it pulling into itself. Softly it asked Robbie to travel around, approaching the Sparklers and then down to the surface. It took us a while to recognise the bursts of emoting. As the landscape flew by under us, Robbie pausing briefly over points of interest or beauty for which it emoted.
^ How can this be? A whole planet next to me and I cannot sense it? Such beauty Robert! May we now approach others of your species? ^
He went directly to his own body and identified it, then he pointed me out. It was strange seeing my own body - it is not something we have occasion to do often. He did not identify the others, only passing close to their faces. They sensed us and either smiled or looked up with a slight concern.
^Please rise and then release me. ^
Taking him at his word Robbie rose close to the Sparklers, released him and returned to the void as quickly as he can. We both returned to our bodies from there.
Robbie smiled, it was the first time ever Candy was not staring into his eyes. She had placed herself on him, but was staring in awe at our sky. It looked as if we have acquired a new sun. Abashed she belatedly looked at him and he pulled her face to him and kissed her. He stared into her eyes and feeling his love she squirmed, rubbing her little bottom against him before recalling this is a special occasion. Robbie managed to get to his feet with Candy held against him. The ‘sun’ moved and we all stared.
3383
Soft childish laughter drew our attention and our eyes jerked to the ground in shock. A girl of about ten, deeply golden and radiant stood before us. Long clean limbs, slight body with dark cat shaped eyes flecked with blue and wild black long hair all the way to her knees. It was as if the sun above had concentrated its light and beauty in one creature of magic to enchant us all. Her perfect upper teeth bit her lower lip as she stared back at us, but her eyes were not bashful. There was something fey in them, a wildness of another world.
“Solomon said you will approve.” Her voice was unearthly in its smoky timbre in contrast to her tinkling laughter of a moment ago. She spoke again and her voice had adjusted, slightly higher and apt to the form of a girl child. “I noticed there were no other males and Solomon confirmed my thoughts. Samantha, will you come to me please?”
I went to her side and she placed her arm about my waist. Only then did she take a step forward. She looked up at me with a smile. “It is a strange form you have. Two legs are not very efficient, most of us are used to four or more.”
“Oh we manage alright, we only fall down now and then.” A concerned look turned to laughter and her eyes crinkled up. Damn, how has she learned our emotions and mastered emotional subtleties so quickly? “You took the information from my mind?”
“Cherine helped. May I meet her now? She has a strange mind and I want to get to know her.”
Ordinx stood by Robbie and he spoke softly to him. “What is it about you Robert? Another little girl?” He turned to look at Ii and back at Robert again. “What is it?”
“How the hell did she manage it? Ordinx, she is literally oozing animal magnetism.” He laughed at the puzzlement of Ordinx. “That means she is incredibly sexy.”
On our way to Cherine we passed next to Goldi. Suddenly we all realised how strongly she was emoting. She had a crush on Ii and was desperately emoting her gift. Ii stopped to look at her and was lost to her magic.
Letting go of me she reached a hand out to Goldi and they touched. Her warm golden glow spread over Goldi who smiled in a rapture.
“What is happening to me?”
“You have been trapped by the sweetness of her soul.” I answered, laughing. Underneath it all I was just as awed as the others. How can Goldi have affected an alien so strongly? Ii was more deeply affected than any of us have ever been. We let Goldi have her moment and then Cherine put her hand on Goldi’s shoulder.
“Enough for now love. Blank yourself, you are not being fair to our guest.”
Ii shook her head and looked at Cherine. “You all have the power to withstand her!?”
We all laughed. “No, she enslaves us too.” Cherine replied, that funny smile of hers on her lips. “Where did you get your clothes?”
“Robert showed you to me so I copied you, making small adjustments to be in accord with my appearance.”
“I’ll say you did! You must have the heart of an artist. You asked to speak to me, why?”
“This is the moment of meeting a myth. When whole galaxies are searching for you I will say, I met Cherine.”
Robbie called out, his voice terse, “Careful Ii, we do not wish to know of our future! What do you mean missing?”
None of us laughed, we only wished he had rebuked Ii after getting that crucial information. Since Ii came to us as a girl I will speak of her as a female - at least for as long as she is with us.
“You are illogical. I do not often dwell on the times I have a body, I see I should not have mentioned the future, you fear it.”
“We do not fear the future, we fear trying to alter it. That is why we do not want to know.”
She changed the subject. “Most of Ii is up there and where you collected me from. I am only a tiny part. It is better you give me another name. Goldi, you will do this for me?”
3384
“A…a name? I don’t know…”
“You do not know any names?”
Goldi giggled. “I’m trying to think of one that suits you. Meli, can you help me?”
“No love, this is your opportunity to give her a name we will all remember her by. You chose it.”
“She looks like a goddess, a goddess of love maybe. Aphrodite?”
“That is a bit of a mouthful and old-fashioned.”
“You said I must choose her name!”
“I did love, just try one that is easy and pretty.”
“How about Shiyra?”
“Shiyra? Is there such a name?”
“It doesn’t matter, I like it. Shiyra I will be.”
“May I speak to you? My name, as they pronounce it is Baritte. I am of the Duirphon race.”
She smiled at him. “With pleasure, you have questions?”
“Yes. I heard it said that you are part of a ‘mother’ soul, made up of your entire species. How did that happen, they tell me that souls move, are reborn on different planets. How did you maintain your purity?”
“I believe you come from a different reality? My species are a very old one. We probably died out at the time your species came into existence. At the time we lived in material bodies, there were very few species in our galaxy - or the explored part of it. If it gives you an idea of the time scale I talk of, some of the stars you see in this galaxy were still new-born or busy being born. It has been suggested that our solar system came from the remnants of an older galaxy.
You speak of purity Baritte? Does a soul belong to any species? Are we not all the same, whether our bodies were of flesh or, as the Sparklers, chemicals taken out of the dust of space?”
“I see a difference. I have seen the souls of this family, of the Eminixx, the Anadir and others. A difference can be seen.”
“True, but those differences are not definitive. They are shaped temporarily by the bodies and the auras they live in. You ask about the ‘mother’ soul, do you believe your soul will have any shape when that comes about?”
“You are saying our collective souls will one day be exactly the same as yours?”
“Not exactly. I am saying there is no shape, no differences in energies or anything else, only in wisdom. Surely the more lives you have lived, the wider your experiences, the more you bring to the collective soul? It has been said that at the end of time when all souls, mother or collective souls are formed, they will become one. Prejudice is only possible to those who are blind to the possibilities.”
After hours of discussions Shiyra asked Baritte to enter her mind and learn for himself some of what she knows - though she has had to adapt herself to our linear time sense, she retained enough to shatter his thought processes. He left us and wandered alone for days. Robbie kept an eye on him, sending food and drink ahead of him.
During those days we stayed close to Shiyra, everyone of us enchanted by her. She in turn remains enthralled by Goldi. I’m just as enchanted by Shiyra and find it difficult to tear myself away from her presence so as to write in my diary. None of us can understand why Robbie is holding back from inviting her to our bed, especially once Shiyra made it obvious she will not refuse us. We can feel how his body and imagination are inflamed by her and we have had some of the best nights of sex we’ve ever had, thanks to the way she affects him, but he fights himself and us, refusing to bend to our common needs. Goldi tried sitting on his chest and staring at him soulfully, eyes huge and beguiling in their need. He came close to telling her to call Shiyra to us, but suddenly he thrust his arm out, pushing her off him and as she fell among us, he turned away from her. There was just as much grief as anger in him so none of us, not even Dommi, said anything.
3385
On the fourth day I realised something is eating away at me. It is Baritte. I don’t know why, but I feel responsible for him. I looked up at the Ii sun and wondered if it looks down and records everything that happens on our world and if it does, what does it see of Baritte, and is it capable of knowing what is the anguish that eats at his beliefs?
Finally I could no longer put it off and forcing myself to leave Shiyra, I jumped to Baritte.
“Do I intrude?”
He looked at me and I saw a gentleness in his eyes I’d never seen before. “She is like a Duirphon goddess, all that elevates a female above us males.”
“She is able to affect you even though she looks like a Terran female!?”
“Terran? She is a Duirphon female!”
“Jesus! Robert, you heard?” He had not been listening to me, but did so now. I shared what we’d just said. He did not want to leave the others and asked to speak through me.
“Baritte, this is Robert. You say she looks like a Duirphon female?”
“You can speak through Samantha? Have you taken over her body?”
“No. I am repeating his words as if he is speaking directly to you.” I smiled at him. “He can Baritte and I would gladly let him, but he does not like doing it.”
“Robert, she is definitely a Duirphon female, very young, but so gentle, tender, she glows with a golden light. She must be far advanced compared to us.”
“We see her as a Terran girl-child. The same golden glow and irresistible charm. I had noticed that all species seem enamoured of her.”
“She is then the best of each of us!”
*Sam, you better return soon.*
Baritte does not like being touched, but I sat next to him and put my hand on his. “Are you suffering Baritte? Can I help?”
“I am suffering at the thought of what I tried to do, at my blindness. My time is over Samantha. I will need others of my kind, but if they cannot be brought to me, will you help?”
“You are changing?”
“It has begun. Shiyra helped me let go. Before you saved us - at the time of my death, I was already elderly for a male and about to change. Will you know my name Samantha?” I nodded, tears filling my eyes. “Fe’jene.”
“It is beautiful, did you choose it?”
He seemed genuinely shocked. “I would not presume Samantha, it is her choice.”
“You are already able to communicate with her?”
He shook his hand in agreement. “You have not answered me.”
“Of course I will, I would be honoured. Baritte, please, will you trust us and allow males to be present?”
“You left the only other male back at the wedding which has not happened.”
3386
I smiled. “It must seem strange to you. Since we can return at any time we want, to them we will only have been away for an hour. Baritte, if it is to be me, will you help me, tell me what is to happen and what I must do - more importantly, what I must not do. If you will allow males, I cannot think of any better than Sharipya and Ordinx.”
“Not Robert?” He looked into my eyes for the first time. “You are shrewd. What about Solomon?”
“He will not affect you as a male. I think the others are too strange for you also. Unless it is just me being prejudiced. We will send the protector to bring the other Duirphon from the wedding.”
“No, let that be. He is not to be my mate and will only be confused.”
“Damn! I forgot about that. You must have the one who is to be, here with you, so that you trigger changes in him also. Robert, can the protector bring whoever it is Fe’jene is to mate with?”
*He must be identified.*
“Who is it to be Baritte?”
He gave a short bark, a laugh. “You cannot pronounce his name. Call for Iniquion, he will understand - if you truly brought him back to life.”
“I hope he comes, speak his name as you would call him, the protector may be able to pass the sound to your people.”
The protector did not only have a reality and time to cross, their planet is distant from us. He will not be back within hours, more likely days. I was now anxious. Baritte patted me.
“Do not worry. Samantha, you have a tender way about you, thank you for caring. There is nothing much you can do to help me, your ways are too different. Just having you by me, by Fe’jene, that will be enough.”
“Has your life as a male been good Baritte?”
“You mean before you came to us?” He barked again, at a higher key. “All of it, till this very moment has been good, a rewarding life, for I have learnt much and grown. Becoming Fe’jene and someday melding with her, it is something to look forward to. Will you be her friend also?”
“If she is as nice as you, you need not worry.”
He bent forward, averting his face as he laughed, his body shaking. When he settled down he looked at a peak in the distance, glanced at the dome overhead. “As the Sparklers say, ‘Samantha, friend of all aliens’. You may tell Fe’jene that I did come to appreciate you at the end.”
“I would be far too modest to do that. Why don’t you tell her yourself?”
The protector managed it in record time (I think), he was back within seventeen hours. Iniquion arrived looking just a teeny bit afraid and bemused. We bade him welcome and he too was captivated by Shiyra. She exerted her charm, making him feel as if she had been eagerly awaiting his arrival in her life. I tried to see her as he is seeing her, but was not successful. That is some gift she has!
We left the future couple alone for them to make their adjustments. Shiyra’s sun is making Freddie warm, warmer than Robbie wants it and he is trying to compensate, without much luck it seems. Still, the vegetation might be suffering slightly, but it makes for great swimming.
“Shiyra, I’m puzzled. From a cursory examination of that sun of yours, it should hardly be emitting any energy as heat. How is it heating this world?”
“I don’t know Robert. If it is causing problems I should leave perhaps?”
3387
Not only had she charmed us with her beauty and sweetness, she was also in the middle of doing a storytelling about this galaxy in general and a little about her people. We were all fascinated and she has the knack of ending each session with us hanging on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what happened. Even the effect she is having on Robert (to our benefit) is reason enough for us to want her to stay for as long as possible. Her offer dismayed us and I’m certain she must have felt it, for she gave Robert a sweet smile as she gazed into his eyes, waiting.
“No, it is not a problem Shiyra. We are surrounded by water and the void outside is at far below freezing so I can compensate. I was only puzzled as to how it can emit heat.” He dropped the subject as he had to go for a swim to get rid of his erection caused by her looking so intimately into his eyes.
*For god’s sake Robert, why are you being so priggish? Let us invite her to join us tonight.*
*No.* And that was all he would say.
After checking that evening on Baritte/Fe’jene we sat at the taverna, eager for the next instalment. Now I was certain, it can no longer be ascribed to coincidence. Shiyra is avoiding me. She always seems to choose to sit as far from me as possible while staying as close to Robbie as she can. She somehow manoeuvred it so that Goldi was facing her and Cherine next to her. Robbie must have noticed her wish to avoid me, for I saw him looking at me through his eyebrows. He was not prepared to make a joke of it nor do anything - he could have easily and very naturally asked me to sit with him. I decided to bide my time and watch for other anomalies or quirks. I guess I can be forgiven for being so naïve, it was so difficult to think of her as a creature made up of trillions of souls, with all the cunning and wisdom almost all of eternity has taught them. Or perhaps, since all of time ‘is’ for her she knew…I wonder, if I can see my path from original inception to final…whatever, will I need any cunning or wisdom?
“If you do not mind, tonight I will rather talk of other things. Samantha, may I speak of what has upset me and kept me withdrawn from you?”
“I have done something?”
“No. Samantha, you are unique and it is that which hurts me to be close to you. You are the only sentient being I have ever met or heard of who will die. The idea that it is possible frightens.”
My heart sank. I could feel my face drain and turn into a tight white mask. These are the words of a creature that sees far beyond any future I can bear to imagine and she sees me as no longer existing. I tried, but there is no way I can hide from my loves and I saw or felt tears in every eye. Sol disappeared and almost immediately Solomon appeared, a far taller and imposing figure than he has been adopting for many years now. I have never seen anger on his face before. Robbie stopped himself and sat back, willing to let Solomon have his say first.
“Ii, do you speak as a stupid Terran girl-child or as a wise time-gazer!?” Though he did not raise his voice we were certain it must have carried all the way to her sun.
Everyone was looking at Solomon when he spoke, except for Robbie. He was looking at Shiyra and feeling him I looked in his mind. She had quickly concealed apprehension/anger, masking it with a contrite, ready to cry look.
“I’m sorry, I did not think of how you will take my words. You are right Solomon, I spoke as a stupid child. I did not look for Samantha in time. Ever since she let me look in her mind and I saw the time loop she is caught in, I have been struggling to avoid seeing her - here or in time. Through the millions of years, as creatures subject to the ills and fate of flesh, it has been a consolation that whatever happens, however or for whatever reason we are killed our individual souls continue. To find out that something can prevent that, it is a shock to us. I apologise for not explaining clearly before.”
Thank God for Goldi. As Shiyra exerted her ‘charm’ on me, which was far more powerful than Goldi’s, even though I could not resist it, I was still able to recognise what she was doing to me. She came to me and knelt before me so that her face was slightly lower than mine and she looked up at me with an imploring look that broke my heart, silently asking me for forgiveness and I took her in my arms and kissed her cheeks. When I let her go I was trembling. These sharply contrasting emotional upheavals were knocking me into a loop. Solomon, as if Shiyra was not there, came to me and lifting me in his arms floated away into the sky.
He muttered softly, “We cannot even escape to the purity of an empty sky, she, it, is everywhere.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. After a while I whispered, “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”
“If I answer no, you will do so now? Even if you have told me, you tempt me to say you have not. How much Sam?”
3388
I giggled. “If my love was a mist it would cover all the land in that world of the Sparklers.”
“All the way to eternity!?” He sighed, not in sorrow, just a soft gentle sigh. “I envy Ordinx being the first to call you friend.”
With light banter and affection he drew my mind into calmness. I was surprised to sense a warmth emanating from his body, as with a Terran body, and he has even acquired somewhere along the line a slightly musky and comforting scent.
“One thing puzzles me Sam. When you arrived to welcome yourself and meet your family, your soul was of a mature Terran female. How can your soul be within your mother and outside at the same time if it had already returned to be born?”
“When I found the family in the future I was already with them Solomon. She must be the one who returned to see herself begin as daughter of Robert.”
“How then did she return to her time if there was-is a loop?”
“I don’t know. Did she return Solomon?”
“I disagree with Robert. We should go into the future and find out.”
I pulled back in alarm. “No Solomon!! I’d prefer to hope than know there is no escape. I trust my Robert, he will find a way.”
“But, perhaps we have misunderstood and there is no loop, no reason to fear.”
I agreed. “Perhaps, but the alternative, if there is a loop and no hope I will know it then, so will all of them. The girls expect me to find a way out of it, they cannot believe they will continue without me and I look to Robert.”
“And Robert?” I didn’t answer. I knew he was wracking his brains, having meetings with the protector, the scientists, whoever he felt might have some sort of answer. He was not looking to his own powers to solve the paradox, as it will only cause further paradoxes if he does.
“Shiyra was not talking as a little girl Solomon. I feel there is something she is not telling us.”
“The Ii does not know us well enough for us to expect it to tell us everything. Most sapient beings are like that Sam, only Robert and his crazy family tell everyone their weaknesses.”
“Now he is no longer the crazy one, we are?”
He chuckled. “We all are. It has made life far more interesting.”
He returned us to the taverna. Diana discretely fussed over me, but I was surprised when Bernie took over and secretly shooed them all away. I was soon amused as I sensed her need to talk and her efforts to find a nice way of asking.
“Just ask me Bernie.”
“You know who Shiyra will be perfect for?”
I brought to my mind all those from home, but nobody in particular seemed to be right for her.
“You’ll have to tell me.”
“Arthur.”
I giggled and let her see the picture in my mind. Golden little Shiyra sitting on the lap of an old man with a big belly and a bald head and Bernie laughed at the expression on Shiyra’s face as she sat looking up into his wrinkled face.
“You’re being nasty!”
“No. I will be nasty when I write about it in the diary. Bet you he deletes it.” I can’t help giggling at the thought of him typing it out and then having to decide what to do.
3389
“Aren’t you afraid of him?”
“No.” It was a shock and I was excited. “Bernie, I had not realised. When I thought I had forever to live it made me afraid - to lose it will be so terrible. Now that I know I’ll die, I’m not so afraid anymore. What can be worse than losing you all forever?” I was so involved in my own excitement at my discovery I did not pause to think of the effect of my words on her and of course on all the others (not such a great Cherinian after all, am I?). Bernie went white as a sheet and then crying hugged my neck tightly, pleading with me not to die. Helplessly I held on to her and as I saw the sorrow in all the faces around me I also began to cry. Robbie looked on helplessly while friends wondered what the hell was going on.
Even as we awoke in the morning we felt the change. Baritte is no longer Baritte. Fe’jene gives off a different aura, delicate and sweet. For a while I enjoyed the feel of her and thought of my friend back at the wedding and then of course I began to cry again for the loss of Baritte.
“I can’t believe it.” I stuttered. “After all he did to us and I’m crying.” Robbie picked me up and lying down curled himself around me. Cherine made way for Diana and she lay behind me, softly caressing my hair as she murmured soothing words.
At breakfast Claudia smiled at me. “You’ve turned into quite a cry-baby. I must say I’m glad.” Startled and a little shocked I looked at her. “You were too perfect, always had an answer for everything. Now I feel you more and it…it is easier to love you.”
Robbie saw the funny side of it. “What a thing to say Claw. You know, I suppose that is why Cherine loved me. If I’d been handsome, self-confident and rich she would have stayed away. For her to love me, a child loving an adult, it was because she recognised my need for her strength.” He wagged his finger at her. “And you played along letting me think I was being the daddy you needed.”
“Excuse me, I do not understand.” Shiyra was obviously totally lost. “You are saying you do not love each other for the qualities you admire, but because of the faults?”
We all had a good laugh in our minds, struggling to keep a straight face so as not to hurt her feelings. Goldi thought to make a point.
“They love me so much because of my bad points - you know, this gift thing that makes them love me. It is bad and hurts them and that makes me sad and my sadness makes them really love me.”
Dommi kissed her. “That is perceptive of you my baby.”
Robbie explained. “Shiyra, if you meet a god who is perfect in every way, you can wish to emulate him, strive for his approval, but how can you love him? Every weakness of yours, every failure, small thoughtlessness or hurtful thing you do will only accentuate your unworthiness. Let that god though make one mistake, show one weakness and you feel you can understand him, relate to him, and it becomes possible to love him. Many religions on our planet evolved gods that were human in their weaknesses and they were not worshipped any less than other gods who were supposed to be perfect, infallible. It is one of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed so much the myths of the ancient Greek gods. Those gods I could have loved.”
“You Terrans are strange, none of the other races are as odd as you.”
For some reason he took umbrage and in a serious voice said to her, “If that is what you think then leave us. Go stay with them, become part of their families so that you grow in your understanding of them. It is not good that you have concentrated on us only.”
“How can she stay with the Sparklers Robbie?” Noelle asked, puzzlement in her voice.
Sol answered, her face serious. “Shiyra does not really look like she does now my love. She is made of the forces and energies souls are made of. She can adapt herself to be part of them too. Tell me my love, do the Sparklers have any weaknesses that endear them to our family or do we love them only because they are so good?” Sol waited quietly, but her eyes were bright with curiosity, waiting for her reply to her answer. Noelle looked at Sol and a smile split her face.
“Oh that is easy. We love them because they are so good and they love us.”
Robbie looked at the rest of us, but we kept quiet. Those of us who understood know it is better he do the explaining. He sighed.
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“That is one of the results of you all keeping yourselves as children.” A sudden grin brightened his eyes. “God but I’m glad you do!” He pulled Noelle onto his lap. “Do you know when I began to love them? It was when they had the courage to examine what was new and frightening to them. It made me admire them. Then when I showed them the harm they had done and they wanted to die, that was when it became possible to love them, treasure what is unique about them. It is strange, isn’t it, a race without bodies, no eyes to look into, no hands to hold and yet they are loved by us as no other. Hmm, the Anadir come very close, but that is mostly because of Ordinx and Ashiir.”
“It is like the Elipians, we don’t love them very much, but Sharipya we love because he tried to do bad things to us and then was sorry. The others are so proud that they think if they poo on the grass it makes the grass prettier.”
We all laughed at Lucy’s way of describing them.
“What you are saying Lucy is that Sharipya showed himself to be human. Come to think of it, there are a lot of people on Earth who sound exactly like your description of the Elipians.”
“You will be…” Shiyra began impulsively and stopped herself. Robbie looked at her with his head cocked sidewise, but when he saw she did not want to explain herself, he let it go.
“Sam, time to visit your new friend?” I nodded.
“May I meet her too?”
“Of course Shiyra. Spend some time with them and ask them what their theories are about attaining perfection. You will get a totally different point of view from ours.”
“In what way?”
“Well, for instance, they think that only by becoming female can their souls be refined whereas we Terrans know that only by being a male can the totally transcendental state of perfection be achieved.”
That was one argument he lost very quickly and many of the girls who rarely do, found a way and reason to tease him. Argue and struggle against us as he did, he could not conceal the pleasure he got out of it and the way his heart blossomed with tender love. It is silly of him, for it makes many of us go to extremes (I guess I’ve been guilty of it many times). I just pity the others, friends or newly met aliens who have to put up with us, for Robbie is not prepared to sacrifice one single instant of joy or love any of us can be made to feel.
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)1st December, 2019
- posted: 1st December, 2019
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