Haven was staring intently at Alki and he turned to look at her. She hardly blinked as they stared at each other, but it was obvious he did not understand why she was staring, so she gave up.
3731
Where Alki had been exasperated, he now stood before us with a heavy heart. There was worry in the minds around us as they felt him. Quickly he spoke to spare them their own imaginings.
“During the break I sat with Roberto and talked. I was puzzled, was he trying to avoid our judging him? I could not believe so, but needed an explanation. I’m not certain he gave me one, but let me tell you what I understood.
He sees no point in us judging him unless we can do so from a position of strength. If we decide he deserves some form of punishment or control over what he does, we must be able to enforce it or else it is pointless. It may be that he genuinely is troubled by future Cherinians turning bad while having extraordinary powers, but let us address the problems we face today.
Roberto has power over us, how do we establish power over him?”
Most faces were pale and it did not surprise us when Tim stood to speak. “I do not want power over him! I revere him, not for his powers, but because of his heart. What you ask is wrong.”
Socrati asked, “Which one of us does not feel the same? I do not pretend to understand why Roberto asks this of us, but I trust him and I am prepared to try. Would it help if he gave power over his protector to one of us?” Robbie nodded to himself, pleased.
I replied, “It would not, Robert has implied and even threatened the protector, claiming he could reabsorb him at will. There is only one way that could be prevented. Robbie must give a part of his soul to the protector, making it an independent human being.”
Britta asked, “Could Robert protect us from the protector if he does so and it turns against us?”
The protector appeared. “I was not invited to join you, but since you are discussing me I thought I should explain very clearly that I do not approve of this suggestion.” He turned to Robbie. “You have offered to do as they now ask and I have refused. Why are you trying to lead them into forcing me? It is not time for me to separate from you.”
“Why? Why is it not time yet?”
“You know I cannot answer. Let it suffice that my need to protect your primes warns me you will need me as I am.” He turned away from Robbie, showing, I suppose, he considered that discussion is at an end. “Britta, Robert could protect you from me, but not for all of eternity. It could happen that with time I grow stronger than him. When none of you are in danger he is a reluctant protector, seeing his powers as a danger, whereas I do not. To me they are the tools I need to carry out my duty. Powers tend to be sensitive creatures, abandoning those who do not want them.”
Cherine pulled away from Robbie in anger. “Then I accuse Robert of not performing his duty to all of us! He has claimed the role of protector and should be doing all he can to acquire powers, not allow those few he has to wither away.”
Athia stood up. “Alki, you must then note that I accuse my mother of withholding from my father the right to be a human being and the right of becoming a Cherinian.” Cherine was genuinely upset by the words of her daughter and kept quiet.
I spoke then. “Alki, may I suggest we do not accept either of the two accusations at this point? Once we have dealt with the matter we met for, at that time any further accusations, if the accuser wishes to make them, can be noted for a new discussion. We must stay focussed on the accusations we already are dealing with.”
“Thank you Samantha, I agree.”
The protector smiled at Cherine. “You think you see behind his reasons and consider a judgement of importance in helping him cope with his own feelings of guilt. You…”
“Protector!!” Robbie was on his feet, his face white.
“Yes Robert? Do you deny me the right to put forth my case, to argue for or against you or to expose your true reasons for asking these people to sit here in judgement of you?”
Robbie paused a moment. “You claim you do not want a soul, to be an independent being, and yet you demand the rights of one?”
3732
“You have split your soul into many parts, some of them so small that they are only capable of being the executors of a small number of repetitious tasks - are you saying they would have a right to speak, but I do not because I do not have a soul?”
“Any sentient being has the right. I would not dispute that. The difference here is that you are using my sentience!”
“A part of yourself does not have the right to express itself? Robert, if that is all that I am, why are we arguing? For that matter, why do you need me? Reabsorb me then.”
None of us suspected we were present at a historical moment in the history of Cherinianism. Cherine walked over to the protector and staring into his eyes she touched him lightly. He pulled back, startled as she linked him. He cut off the link immediately.
“You may block my link if you so wish, but it does not alter the fact that you now are one of us, a Cherinian.”
“A Cherinian without a soul!” he whispered.
“No!” Her voice was sharp. “A Cherinian with the heart of one. That is what matters.”
That broke up the meeting of course. First of all, all of us girls rushed to him, each wanting to give him a hug and kiss in welcome. Everyone else queued up to welcome him also. Only Robbie stood apart from us, his eyes dark and moody.
When all had greeted him, us girls made two lines between the protector and Robbie, stepping apart so that a corridor formed. Robbie began to walk over and the protector quickly stepped forward also. They met and the protector stood still. Not certain whether to put out his hand. Robbie hugged him.
“She is Cherine. None may dispute what she does. Welcome. Protector, will you now grow to be my friend also?”
“Do not ask that Robert. Rather ask, will you be my friend?”
Robbie nodded, agreeing. “Yes, you have been my friend for a long time. I have not?”
“How can you if you only think of me as a part of yourself? What about Freddie? He cares for you, do you think of him as your friend?”
Robbie turned to Cherine. “Thank you my love. It was time for me to have my eyes opened.” He hugged the protector again, squeezing tightly and whispered next to his ear, “Damn you; if I allowed myself to let go of my feelings the girls would pull you into our family.”
“That would not be good for our friendship Robert.” The protector, and all of us, laughed.
Alki asked. “Is there any point to us continuing Roberto?”
“Not tonight Alki. Nor any other night if the protector speaks of my thoughts to all of you.”
“You are wrong Robert. Do you think I would speak if it would harm you? The method you have chosen is wrong though. You are hurting many who love you. Help them understand what it is you wish and allow them to work with you.”
Alki asked, “Protector, would our judging him, whatever the decision, would it help heal him?”
The protector looked at Robbie who blushed, nodded and then jumped to Cyprus, to stand on the beach alone.
“No, it would not Alki. He has already judged himself. He thinks this trial is a sham. He knows you all love him and will try to exonerate him, or at worst find him guilty in a way that almost justifies what he did. That is why he has used this trial to force you all to consider problems that he foresees. He does need answers to those problems, more urgently than any of you realise.”
“Why the urgency? It is not as if he is likely to turn against us, not for the foreseeable future.”
3733
“It has been foretold that he will, but as you say, that is sometime in the future. No, he foresees talents growing now that will be a threat to all of you…all of us.”
“Do you agree with him?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Jade asked, “Are any of those threats a danger?”
“I don’t know. It would depend on what new talents of power grow among the people. If not a danger to all of us, then a danger to Robert. It could turn out that the only way he can nullify them, prevent them from causing damage to Normals and Cherinians, is by killing them or destroying parts of their minds.”
“Oh!”
Dommi put her arm around Cherine. “Then we continue with this… trial. Alki, we will ask him to speak plainly, explain what he needs from us and we spend as many nights as it takes arguing and searching for ways to find the answers he needs.”
Apostolis phoned his club and found out most of the patrons had left. He instructed his staff to prepare a light meal for us and then invited everyone over to celebrate our protector becoming a Cherinian. It was not only our family who were ecstatic about it, so were the rest of them. As for the protector, for the first time he showed he is bemused and the way he looked at Cherine would have made Robbie very jealous if it had been anyone else. When we got home it did not surprise us when Robbie concentrated solely on Cherine, his adoration of her little body almost violent in its intensity.
There is a peculiarity about our way of making love that I have not mentioned before, only hinted at. We’ve told of the way we share the sensations of our bodies. That is not done only between Robbie and the girl he is actually making love to. The rest of us can and do share, focussing on either of them since it hardly makes a difference. If I were to focus on Robbie I would not be feeling myself as a male only. His body is sharing-feeling whatever his partner is so I would sense both of them through him. There is also feedback to me from all the other girls. Robbie has to keep careful control of how much feedback he accepts or else he loses his ability to have an erection, needing instead to be penetrated.
There is one more aspect that could be called weird. Say he is making love to Cherine at a virginal body age of eight and I happen to have taken the body age of fifteen. When Robbie penetrates her I feel as if my vagina is that of an eight year old and it makes my older body translate that feeling so that I sense his penis as being huge. It does not work well the other way around and it is for that reason also that most of the times Robbie is to make love to any of us, irrespective of what body age we may have used that day, we transform ourselves to as young an age as we can, since not only is it more thrilling for us and Robbie, but also for all the others who are sharing.
Despite my feeling his touch on her body as if it were directly on my own I do need to be touched by him. It is the same for all of us and that in a small part explains why he is always touching or holding one of us.
Everyone had returned, none had departed. This evening everyone sat silently, waiting as Robbie gathered his thoughts.
“My friends, my family have learnt to take the prophecies of Tina very seriously. She has made two which have not come true yet, but we are certain will. The one refers to Sam only and is not pertinent at this moment, but the other refers to me.
‘Be sad for those you love for they shall pay a heavy price during the time you turn your face towards the darkness.’
Chilling words. They also frighten me. I cannot imagine what would make me turn my face towards the darkness or that I would willingly do anything to hurt those I love more than my own life. Be sad, she said. I am not sad, I am filled with grief.
The darkness, what does that mean? Does it suggest I will become evil or that I will despair? I hope it is the latter but I have to worry about the former being a possibility. If I do become evil, then, how evil? Would I harm my girls or any of you? Do you now understand what these last few nights have been about?
3734
I will digress a moment if you don’t mind. I will need to refer to the protector and I feel it is time he took on a name of his own. The girls are in favour of calling him Hector as it is the closest in sound to the word protector. I do not like the name and have a preference of my own. I have been and hope to be again someday an artist. I have been called crazy and hope to be called so again, so what more fitting than the name Vincent for him? It is a strong name, suggestive of the power he represents. If he agrees and has no preference of his own that is.”
“I like the name. Since Cherine changed everything for me yesterday I can see it is time for me to be named. I just hope it does not mean I will cut off my ear.”
Robbie chuckled. “It is more likely you will cut mine off. Vincent Teller the Protector then, brother of Robert.” They hugged and then Robbie added with a grin, “I know my loves, they have a propensity for shortening names. Please, do not call him Vince.”
Rosie called out, “Okay. Hi Vi” He wagged his finger at her and we all laughed.
“To return to my problem. Until last night I was convinced that even if I become evil it will not stop me loving my family. Now, I am not so certain. I cannot see anything within me that would make me evil, the cause or source must come from outside. If that is the case, I cannot afford to give myself comfort. Neither should you. We have to find a way for you to neutralise me.”
Charlie said, “You ask for the ant to fight an elephant?”
“A good simile Charlie, thank you. Perhaps one ant cannot, but an army of ants, could they not enter the elephant through the ears or trunk and eat its brain?”
“We are not ants and your brain is very well protected Robert.” Jonathan said.
“What if Vincent, Jade, Haven and Eddie joined forces, could their joint powers stop you Robert?” Cherine asked.
“I don’t know. We have to experiment.”
“You want us to attack you?” Jade said, looking ill at the idea.
“Not at first. What I suggest is that a team, more teams if possible, join their gifts or powers and see if the combination, the sum of all parts does not produce something new.”
“You do realise what you are creating Robert?” I asked. “As of today Cherinians on different worlds will form groups and if such groups acquire new powers, you will find yourself unable to control all of them. You hope they will become our police force, there only to protect us, what if some of them decide otherwise?”
“It was inevitable Sam, it may have already occurred to some of them. I can only protect Cherinians from outside enemies. If I try to protect Cherinians from themselves, I will become a dictator and enemy of all.”
Jade and Haven refused to group with Eddie. They insisted we form a group of our own within the family. We thought Vincent would also refuse, wanting to join us, but he did not. He said he prefers to join an outside group, whichever combination has the strongest possibilities. He also asked Hettie, Henry and Angelo to join them. I am convinced his need to protect his ‘primes’ drove him to that choice. When he asked Alki to join them, Alki got very upset.
He came and stood by us. “This is my family.”
Sadly we looked on as Robbie hugged Alki. “For us Alki, go to them.” We’ve never seen Alki look so crushed. He stood shaking his head as if all this was too much for him. I decided to hell with expediency and caution and entered his mind, blocking us off from everyone.
*Join them pappou for the same reason Vincent did. He wants to be part of the strongest group so that they can never attack us.* My words cleared his mind, but as he joined me to exchange love motes, it felt as if he was weeping.
Perikli had obviously been thinking more deeply. “Roberto, may I ask some questions? We came together because Cherine insisted we hold a trial and pronounce judgement on you. What of that now?”
3735
“You may do so, I will not interrupt the process again.”
“What made the matter of our defence so urgent? You have known of the prophecy for some time now.”
“The beggar. Here was a man that barely qualified as sentient, not even able to feed himself and yet, just by looking in my eyes he was able to draw me out of my body and trap me within a dark hole. His gift was not as pointless as it may seem. His soul fed off the souls and minds he trapped, I could feel myself being drained by him. John, who we know in this reality as a witchdoctor with real powers, told us that this dark power had also fed off the soul of the beggar himself. I find that difficult to believe. It is more likely his soul became part of the power he had. It does seem to me his mind was destroyed though.
Seeing this strange power made me face the fact that there are billions of Cherinians now. How can we predict what new gifts or powers will develop? Cherine has force-started evolution and we are only the first baby steps it has taken. What wonders and terrors await us?
I have sensed that all of you found my statement about evil Cherinians unbelievable. I don’t blame you, after all, being a Cherinian means you must have empathy. Tell me, anyone of you, who are the only people on our world Cherine has no choice about linking?”
“The babies! But they all have the gift of empathy!”
Robbie nodded. “Let me tell you a story. It is only imaginary, but could easily become reality.
One of the girls we met in a hospital and made a ‘cocoon’ Cherinian of when she was sixteen, four years ago, became a full Cherinian a year ago. She has the sweetest nature you can imagine. She met another Cherinian lad and they fell in love. Let us call them Susan and Cliff.
The couple married and it was not long before they conceived. It just happened that Susan has an uncle she is extremely fond of. He is the black sheep of the family, an amoral scoundrel who has even been in prison a couple of times. However, when she was a child he had charmed her and always treated her as being someone special. He arrived at her door needing somewhere to stay. Cliff did not protest, even though he could sense the evil in the man, because of the love he felt in Susan for her uncle.
The uncle stayed as charming as ever, not realising his niece could now sense his emoting. She on the other hand, because of the memories, her love for him and her innate sweetness, blanked out her sensing of him, safe in the knowledge that however he treats the rest of the world, he loves her and would never bring harm to her family.
What neither of the two thought of was that they have a man, whose gift is charm and he can use it to make his evil seem fun, within close proximity to their unborn child. The foetus senses the love her mother has for this man and as our Cherinian babies do, she or he, begins to tap into his mind. The baby being amoral does not judge the man or discard what is evil in him. She takes all of him into herself, accepting his values. By the time Cliff gets rid of the uncle it is too late. A Cherinian baby is born with the outlook of the uncle. Amoral, but also evil.”
Meli teased him, “It is just as well you are a painter, not a writer. Why is the baby not influenced by the sweetness of her mother?”
“Perhaps she is, perhaps not. What matters is we now have a Cherinian who thinks that as long as she can justify to herself her actions, she is free to do whatever she wants, even if it hurts others. Tell me, do we know whether the foetus is affected only by the family or do they sense the neighbours?”
Dr Maria said, “That is a bleak outlook for us Roberto. If we try to make the Normals become Cherinians as fast as possible, we risk taking in those who do not qualify and have no empathy. If we do not, then we risk our children becoming contaminated. No wonder the children conceived and born on Freddie are different.”
Marian took the arm of Alki possessively. “Alki, we must create Cherinian community areas where expecting parents can be shielded from the Normals. Would it cost a lot?”
“We have enough of a problem justifying six month pregnancies, if we do what you suggest Marian, people would really talk.” Annabelle said.
“They talk anyway. Within days they no longer see a baby.” Rose said, laughing.
3736
As everyone talked, it was amazing how many problems began to surface. With that instinct of his Robbie has helped lance the pressures which had been building up without any of us realising it. Free at last to tell of what worried them without feeling they will sound ungrateful, they poured their hearts out. It seemed as if only our family has not been aware of the problems those who stay on Earth have. We are also insulated by the generosity of Alki. Robbie not having to work and concentrating his mind and energies on other worlds and realities, in a sense has cushioned our existence.
A lot of the worries dissolved just by talking about them. Others needed solutions, but now nobody felt alone and suggestions were made and help offered. Tasso was able to solve a number of problems friends are experiencing with the authorities. For some, the only solution is to move their homes. Nobody wanted to leave their country and start again elsewhere under new names, but we also acknowledged we all will soon have no other options. Tasso has already had the documents of a number of our older citizens changed, making them appear to be fifteen to twenty years younger. It cost a lot, but is worth it. What we cannot avoid is the large number of friends and acquaintances who know them. When a man should be in his seventies but looks close to fifty, the usual explanations do not cut the ice. With most of our Cherinians, of their friends and family, luckily they have already brought in as Cherinians those Cherine felt are suitable and as for the rest, most of them being elderly, they stay at home or have died.
The trial was adjourned for the next evening so as not to interrupt the relieving of so many troubled hearts. Whether their problems or fears are small or large, they were all important and have to be addressed. What was beautiful to me is the way they are turning to their fellow Cherinians. When Robbie slept that night, we all felt this was his first true sleep for a long time.
“There is no point in analysing my guilt. Let us start off by accepting it and move on from there to how we deal with it.”
“I disagree. There are degrees of guilt and we have to establish those first, before a fair sentence can be agreed on.” Robbie nodded, allowing Perikli his point.
Poor Perikli, his heart was not in it and he was not a very good prosecuting attorney. Allan kept quiet, letting Perikli flounder. He kept on objecting to statements made from the floor about it not being murder because the man deserved to die, or because Robbie was protecting a child. Good old Manoli wanted to use his Union rules and demanded that they hold a vote as to how many of us would have also killed the man, claiming that if the majority of society would have acted in a certain way, then that way should be accepted as the norm and become the law.
Luigi was incensed by his statement and spoke out strongly against it. He spoke of governments that have resisted pressures from their citizens, refusing to reinstate the death penalty, have made abortion legal and relaxed the divorce laws, and been proven to be right. Robbie and I did not have the heart to explain to him how it is the Cabal who are doing so, as they have determined people will take everything to an excess and destroy themselves.
“When the death penalty existed men and women fought against it, citing examples of people executed and then found innocent of the charges. A large part of the population agreed it was time to abolish the death sentence. When the laws were changed, everyone felt we have entered a new era of enlightenment. As telecommunications improved, making the world a smaller place, gory detail after gory story was fed to the public and with every death the tide turned and people demanded the return of capital punishment. Despite Robert’s low opinion of governments, wiser heads did prevail and governments resisted the demands by their citizens, apart from the United States of course.
Many years ago a Governor of one of their States decided to go public with the figures of how many people in recent years had been sentenced to death and then proven innocent. It did not help alter the way the normal American thinks. Perhaps it is because they are used to living by the gun. I could continue with many examples, but it must be clear to any sane person that you do not prevent murders by committing murder. Manoli, your suggestion, if it were accepted, would mean that all it needs is for a good speaker to raise the emotions of the public and unjust laws will come into existence.”
“You are claiming that laws, if they are based on emotions are not just? We are Cherinians Luigi, the gifts that make us what we are, are based on emotions.”
“That is good Angelo. However, making laws or important decisions when you are in extremes of emotion means you are not able to use your mind clearly and logically and it will lead to the creation of bad laws.”
3737
Allan asked softly, “As Robert did?” His words made both participants forget their argument and they turned to him. “Was it not what Robert did? In an extreme of passion he made a decision and killed a man. His fault was in making a rule when he had lost control of his ability to reason as a Cherinian.” Robbie made to interfere, incensed by Allan, but Cherine and Dommi forced him to stay quiet.
Allan knew he has the floor now and he stood silently for a moment. He then walked to Robbie and standing over him pointed his finger as he spoke.
“Robert Teller, you killed a man. A man who was able to breathe, to think and dream. A man who could love and hate and was part of the tapestry of life. You killed him Robert. You stopped the dreams and the joy of being alive.” Robbie looked up at him, his eyes puzzled that his defendant was attacking him, but also miserable at the truth in his words. Having paused a moment for effect, Allan shook his finger again as he continued. “You stopped him from enjoying himself as he tore at his baby girl’s body. You stopped him from accumulating enough wealth to make his dreams come true by destroying his little girl. You released her from what would have been a life of pain, torment and degradation. And how did you do this Robert? Stand up and tell us, how did you help this girl, what terrible thing did you do? What crime must we judge you guilty of? Tell us!”
Allan has the gift of needling at Robbie in little ways, goading him until he erupts in unreasonable anger. Robbie is aware of it and swears each time he will not allow it to happen again. The problem is that Allan is no respecter of authority and has the gift of finding those little bubbles Robbie tries to hide behind and he pops them, leaving Robbie feeling he is exposed like some common garden variety idiot. He loves being thought of as crazy, but is not pleased when made to appear a fool. Tight-lipped he stood up.
“You know why we are here!”
“What I know may not be the same thing you know - it seldom is. Tell me, or aren’t you sure?”
“Murder! I committed murder!”
“Murder? Huh? I’m sorry, I’m not certain I know what the word means. Could you define it for me please?”
“The taking of a life. Usually reserved for the description of such an act when the victim is sentient.”
“Ah, the taking of a life! A sentient life!” Allan looked around as if wanting us to be amazed at what Robbie was saying. He was doing it to goad Robbie and he was succeeding. “Let us worry about the sentient part later - after all, I’m not really convinced that a man who can cause such awful damage to any child, never mind his own, is really sentient. As I said, we can discuss that later.” The fraud had no intention of discussing it at any time, so he quickly reverted to the prior matter. “Taking of life. How is that defined Robert, as the Normals define it or as a Cherinian would?”
Robbie did not like where the questions were leading, but he also thought Allan is about to make the classical mistake of arguing that taking a life only sends that soul on to its next adventure. Determined to use his own words against him Robbie demanded, “No, you tell me how you define it.”
Allan looked at everyone as if marshalling their support. “He is the defendant, I am the attorney and he demands I answer my question! Is that how it works in a Cherinian court?” Before Robbie could offer to answer he spoke, his voice very soft so that we could hardly hear him, without realising it extending our gifts to hear his thoughts - which meant we became part of his emoting. “The taking of a life. To a Normal it means life is a river and someone cuts off that river so that it stops going anywhere. To a Cherinian it means the river is bent in a new direction so that its flow passes through different territories than it would have. Robert, are the territories more important than the river?”
“You are trying to make this a philosophical debate! You know that each life should be experienced to the full. Since you used the river analogy I’ll borrow it from you. The river has a destination, an ocean in the distance. The soul maps itself a course that will carry it through all possible territories. As it passes through them it leeches from the land a variety of minerals. If that soul arrives at its destination after travelling through the land fully as it was meant to, then it enriches the ocean. Each and every part of the land has unique minerals and the ocean needs a sample of all of them. Turn the river aside and it misses a small part of the land and arrives incomplete. It is the ocean that is poorer at the end of the trip.”
3738
“I liked that! You’ve got a lovely way of painting pictures with words.” Robbie pressed his lips to stop himself from showing his anger, knowing Allan was needling him. “I like it so much that I am going to borrow it back from you.” He walked around, ignoring Robbie now, appearing to be deep in thought. He ended up by Cherine.
“Would you stand up please?” She did so. “Cherine, you have heard what Robert accused you of. By extending your gift to others you have caused that ocean to be starved of countless bits of minerals. As humans we were meant to suffer disease, torture, rape and everything else that is the lot of mortals, for those are the minerals Robert spoke of. Oh, we may enjoy a little bit of love, the occasional laugh or beauty that is offered so meagrely to us, but everyone knows Normals mostly suffer.
Because of you, Robert created a protector and acquired many powers. He used those to save planets from the fire-world. Billions of lives deprived of such a variety of strong minerals as they burnt to death. Not satisfied with that, you have gone out into the universe, encroaching on other realities with their own oceans and done your best to turn all people, of all species, into Cherinians so that they too end up at their ocean, mineral poor. You bear ultimate responsibility for all that Robert has done. How do you plead Cherine? Guilty?”
“That is nonsense Allan. The oceans will not be poorer, they will be richer.”
Allan put up his hands and shrugged. “I think you better explain, I don’t understand.”
“I don’t think of them as oceans, I prefer calling them mother souls. We have already met two of them and both were formed out of disasters. They came into existence at a time that the individual souls were tortured either by a crime that had been committed against them or a time they were burdened by guilt because of a crime they had committed.
The mother soul of our family which everyone here knows as Adam is not a true mother soul,” she smiled, “perhaps we should call it a baby mother soul. Adam has shared all our good and bad times. More than anything else, Adam has been shaped by the love we share as a family and our loves and friendships outside of the family. There has been very little hate for Adam to experience. If I were to compare Adam with the other two mother souls I would say he is healthy while they are not.
Every species we’ve met who believe in mother souls see the process of their joining such an entity as first involving a refinement of their own souls. They must first reach the stage where there is no hate, no selfishness. If they are right, what role do the early parts of the evolution of a soul play? Does the mother soul want to carry all the evil each soul has known? Isn’t it more likely that as each soul is refined it discards those parts of its past? Are pain, hate, torture and all the other evils perhaps only the lessons that help the soul grow to a certain point and thereafter it is the goodness and love that a soul experiences which bring about the final refinement and growth?”
“What you say worries me. Your ideas would seem to suggest it would be kinder of us to kill every person that is evil or suffering.”
“How would we guarantee their return Allan? You would have to kill most of the people on this planet.”
“You are suggesting most of them are evil?”
Cherine contained her anger as she replied, “Your words, to quote, were, ‘it would be kinder of us to kill every person that is evil or suffering’.”
“What if we killed only the evil ones then?”
“And when they return Allan, do we kill them again until we sense they are good? What if they never become good because they have not learnt that pain, inflicted or felt is bad? We have to allow them the time they need to evolve. As they reach the stage where they can become Cherinians, I hope that linking them will only be beneficial, giving them a shortcut to the refinement their souls crave.”
“Which will only happen if they are able to accept the gift of empathy?”
She gave him a wicked smile. “I don’t know Allan. You wrote that into your story, was it what you intended?”
He did not chuckle in response and answered earnestly, “Yes.”
She stood waiting for him, knowing he is not done yet. She was wishing he would choose someone else to ask his question, but knew he has chosen her and will not release her until he has used her to prove whatever point he intends making.
3739
“What do you think the effect of killing an evil person is?”
“It could depend on the soul. If it is ready to grow to the next stage it should do so. If it is not, it will return to complete its lesson.”
“So killing an evil person at worst delays the growth slightly?”
“In a cosmic sense. In a human sense it is still wrong Allan.”
“Thank you Cherine.” He now faced everyone else. “Do we judge Robert in a cosmic or human sense? As a man and leader it would have to be in the human, but as our protector in the cosmic.”
“No!” Robbie scrambled to his feet. “Only in the human.”
Allan faced him square on. “Is that so Robert? Thank you for standing up since I would like to be certain everybody hears your answer to my next question. You killed the man, rightly or wrongly. Personally I have no argument with what you did. What I cannot help wondering is this. Why didn’t you bring him back once you had cooled down? You could have then taken him to the prison planet. Can you answer me Robert?”
His question shook up Robbie. “I forgot! I did not think of it.”
“You can still do so Robert, so there is no case of murder to be tried, not if you bring him back to life. His experience then is only a minor punishment for what he did to his daughter. That does not concern me as your attorney, what does worry me as a Cherinian is, why did you forget? Was it because you still felt, despite your remorse and guilt, that he deserved to die?”
“Yes.”
“Will you go back to create him a body?”
“Yes.”
“I move for this hearing to be cancelled so that all of us can get back to living our normal lives.” Even as they all agreed, Allan turned to Robbie and whispered, “I’m sorry Robert, I know you wanted a ruling, but this was not the right time, Cherinians on this planet are still too vulnerable.”
PART THIRTY SEVEN
Chapter One Hundred Seventy Two
Dommi made Robbie and the rest of us promise that we will spend the rest of the year at home. We all know Robbie needs time to heal properly, but she was also concerned about the rest of us. Her maternal instincts were warning her that all of us have been through too many traumatic experiences and we needed a period of normal family life. Under pressure she allowed one night per week for helping children in distress and two for those in hospital. Everybody knows that on the three days after those nights they are not allowed to contact us in any way before lunch time, unless there is an emergency.
We all find it difficult to settle down and she claims it is proof she was right. The only ones who do not seem to feel the need to be doing something are Robbie, Dommi, Tina and Rosie. I don’t include Cherine, because to her the only thing she cares about is having Robbie close by. As long as she can sense him relaxing and healing, nothing else matters and she is content to read a book, watch a movie or chat with some of us.
The first week was okay by me. Haven has opened up and I found it interesting getting to know her. Neither of us expected to become especially attached to each other, but it happened. She seems to look up to me for advise on how she can help her people once they are back on their planet. I struggled with my conscious (I wanted Robbie to tell her) for all of two days before admitting to her that she is wrong. She thought Robbie will create the bodies, maybe give them food machines and then we will leave.
3740
“You are not the same as the Elipians. Your people will need housing, clothing, books and so on. At the start you will also need medical facilities. Maybe not as high tech as you’d achieved, but none of the knowledge will be lost and as you rebuild your civilisation you will be able to leapfrog back to the stage you were at.”
“Will I have my healer once you are gone?”
“You want us to leave?”
“You are teasing me? How long would you stay?”
I hooked my fingers in her hair and played with it as I sent a question mark to Robbie. He took a quick peek at my thoughts, went back in and looked more carefully. He branched out to Cherine, Dommi and then all the others. He even brought Alki and Marian in. They asked that he bring in the men and women who have not formed families yet or do not have children. Soon my thoughts were being examined by over a hundred people. I’ve never had that many minds active within mine and I felt lost, disorientated. Haven stared at me with concern as my lower jaw hung down and spit dribbled over my lip. Before she could panic, my mind emptied and I came to with a start. Robbie gave me his approval and sat in the background watching, wanting to enjoy her reaction. I suggested he come in and tell her, but he refused.
“I’m sorry Haven, I had to get the approval of our family and they called in more people and I was overcome there for a while. This is what I told them. Once your planet is ready and your people are brought there, it will become a very exciting period to live through. I suggested we share that time with you. We would like to spend years with you. We may have to leave fairly often, but then we will do as we do here. On whatever date we leave, we will return within a few days, even if we’ve been away a year or two. Haven, will you allow us to be part of the rebirth of your world?”
“You want to stay and help, you would stay for years?”
“What makes you think we could bear to be apart from you for long periods, Haven?”
She wept and I sat next to her, my arm around her. Only later, after we had been joined by the whole family did she ask a question we had not thought of. “If you are all going to be with me, does it mean I must keep this body?”
Robbie answered quickly, “No, you will have your Meéjeira body. This body will be for when you visit us here. Just like Solomon and Sol.”
Cassie asked, “How will your people feel about you being part of our family? We are aliens to them.”
Robyn grinned cheerfully. “They will learn to love you so it won’t matter.”
“How religious are your people Haven?”
“Our God was a gentle God, kind and loving; not like yours Em-e. It will not really matter, not after being a mother soul for so long. Robert, maybe they will want to make your family their gods.”
He smiled. “That would make the two of you their gods also. How would you feel about it?”
The two of them communed, their eyes on each other. “We would not like it Robert.”
“Then you explain us in such a way that they are not tempted to do so.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do that! Not after you’ve created a whole world out of nothing.”
“They will meet the Inguel and Kinytians. Blame them.”
Chantel became troubled. “We would not want that Robert!”
Maria sighed melodramatically in the Greek way. “Nobody wants to be a god!”
That night Robyn decided to return to Haven for a while. It was no longer strictly speaking necessary anymore, but it will help them both grow. Robbie offered to take Robyn’s body to the void in stasis, but we all protested. We want her here with us, even if it means we have to care for her body.
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)12th December, 2019
- posted: 12th December, 2019
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