“It was after we freed our first soul from a Sparkler and were celebrating…”“Good! I was wondering about that. None of my girls were feeling guilty about it and I was puzzled. Now that I know it was you, I can relax.”
1111
“That is fantastic Ordinx. I’m so happy for you. Have you freed many others since then?”
“No, we need your girls to…Robert, it is not what I wanted to discuss, I want to apolo...”
“What!? Ordinx how can I apologise for delaying you like this. Please tell your people how sorry I am, but it…”
“Robert! There is no need for you to apologise, I am...”
“No need? How can you say that Ordinx?”
Solomon began to laugh and whispered to Ordinx, “Give up my friend or else he will drive us all crazy, forcing us to forgive him and so on.”
Sam kissed the little hand of Candy. “You did well Candy, he is still the Robert I love.”
Robert stood up and tinkled a knife against a bottle.
“Everybody, a moment of silence please. I stand here to make a public apology.” I saw Ordinx cringe and smiled at him. “Today as you all know is the wedding anniversary of my wives, Laura, Meli, Bernie, Claudia, Tina, Rosie, Sam, Alexis, Nicole, Aganthi, Maria-Elena. That just goes to prove that despite rumours to the contrary, my memory is still good - I remembered all the names! I reckon that if the names become too many for a man to recall them all, it is not proof of old age or bad memory, it just means he must settle down with the wives he already has and stop marrying any new ones.” That earned him a few cat-calls and jeers.
“I started by saying I had an apology to make; here it is. Girls, I forgot to get you a present. I’m sorry. I know how important this day is to all of you and I hope you will not hold it against me. I’ve heard that many wives under similar circumstances even refuse their husbands any loving for forgetting their anniversary. Don’t do that to me please.”
He got his laughs and of course got his little wives all excited as they realised he wants a night of loving them. The rest of us tried to stifle our own yearnings and envy. He just gave us a suggestive leer - I wondered what that signified.
As usual, when the meal was over he was his normal rude self and asked everybody to stay and enjoy themselves if they want to, as he is taking his girls home, and then suggested that the last to leave should pay the bill (he had already taken care of it). Surrounded by laughter and gibes we all stood up and jumped home.
I asked him, “Roberto, how are you going to manage to make love to eleven girls in one night. Some are still virgins, you are not going to make it special for them?”
“Are you trying to make me feel guilty that some are still virgins? Anyway, I think we will still have a virgin or two afterwards. What do you say Sam?”
“I’m not that crazy dad, I have waited long enough and after losing you again, this time I can promise you I have no wish to wait again.”
“Okay, so, eleven you say? What about the rest of you, you just going to bed to sleep?”
“Oh Robert, please stop teasing and tell us what you are thinking of doing.”
“Ahh, my impatient little Rosie, I’m going to enjoy teasing your petals tonight. All of you wait here in the lounge. I need a few minutes. By the way, I’ve put up my ‘privacy’ sign, so no cheating. Wait for the door to open. If I do not count Ulya and Lucy, there are sixteen of you, is that right?”
Distracting us he closed the door behind him. We were all too tense to chat. There was very little speculation and I think the only one who was relaxed was Ulya. She looked at each of us and there was an amused look on her face. She could not believe that all, from babies to old me, were so eager for a little loving from him.
Robert opening the door stuck his head out. “All of you shut your eyes until I say you can open them. No mental peeking either. Ulya, you can keep your eyes open, but please don’t give away my surprise.” She nodded as we all closed our eyes.
I felt Robert put his arms around me, his lips tender with love he kissed me and whispered, “You can open your eyes now my love.” I did and looked into his, my heart hammering with love for him. Then it slammed into me - all the girls were feeling as I was!! I saw that each of us was being held by a Robert!!
1112
All of us pulled back startled.
“How…what…which one is the original?”
“There is no original, we all are. I got the idea from Ordinx and Solomon. We swing like the pendulum in our mistakes. Remember the cats, the extra penises, all the funny things we tried out? Then we found out that altering our age actually does happen and is not a projection? So we stopped doing our fun things.
Tonight we start again. What I have done is a combination of altering myself and projecting. Even with the use of the healer I could not handle such a great difference in mass. So each of us is smaller but by projecting we returned to our normal size. Put it this way, you each have the real Robert. If we were making babies tonight you would all be having my baby
.The healer says I can last like this for about twenty eight hours, so each of you has time to be special. Whoever wants to stay here can do so, if you want to jump to Cyprus, London, Seychelles, wherever, do so.
One last thing. Cherine my love, if you swirl the feelings of sixteen of us, well, with me thirty two, it will be too much for any of us. Try dampening each one so that we all feel each other and yet are not overwhelmed. It should be quite a unique experience.”
“What is the maximum Robert?”
“If I had given my healer time…maybe a few hundred. Why?”
“What if I had made ten of me, with ten of you and we shared the feelings of our lovemaking”
“Dommi, that is a great idea! Shall we try it next time?”
I heard Cherine laugh as she said to her Robert, “I think you are finally going to have a very happy harem.”
I had a little worry nagging at me. “Robert, are you really going to make love to Candy?”
My Roberto looked crestfallen, his eyes disappointed. “Am I so different now that you have lost your trust in my inability to hurt any of you?”
“I’m sorry. It was just my fear for her, I…” I do not know why, but I began to cry. I am told that a number of us cried that night. I think it was all too sudden, this change from the agony of trying to get our Robert back to actually having him in our arms and feeling his warm heart filled with love for us.
For the kids and grandkids who are reading this, I’m sorry, I am not Robert, I cannot describe our love scenes. All I will say is that I could not get enough of the scent of him, the solid feel of his warm skin against mine and we made very good use of all the hours that were available to us. Cherine obeyed Robert and still it was almost too much to bear. The feeling of Robert against ’my’ skin another fifteen times, it blew me out of my mind. The feelings in his many bodies and minds as he loved us, the joy he took in each body, in each and every centimetre of those beloved bodies, even the joy he took in my more mature body, it was all too much.
I do not understand how he was able to cope with his own feelings multiplied so many times. As for Candy and Irene, he was at his most tender and the sweetness brought back memories that were bittersweet, poignant and precious beyond words. Within hours he had wiped away all memories of our pain and grief and refreshed our hearts, giving us back all that I feared our precious girls had lost. Robert my love, if there is a craziness in you, it is the craziness of a gift for giving love far beyond anything a woman could dream of. Those you love are made pure and sweet by your love and the tenderness of your heart. There is only one person I grieve for, sorrow that she cannot feel the magic in you. I dream of the day your love is able to touch her heart and bring our Ulya, our lovely fair Ukrainian maiden into our circle.
Since Cherine and I first joined our Robert, I think this was the first time ever that not one of us saw another one of us for over a full day without our missing such contact. We were all too busy drowning ourselves in the love he gave and in the sensual pleasures he constantly re-ignited in our bodies. We each had our day of heaven and all else was forgotten.
Even after we lost our Roberts, we slept in our beds that were still warm with the scents of him. I do not know how he managed it, but he did not gather himself into one body in the bed of one of us. He did so in the lounge, not one of him disappeared from the bed of love he was in, so there was no way any of us could feel that they had not had the real Robert. I regret only one thing, at such a time of loving I should have asked to have our second child.
1113
Chapter Ninety Two
The whole house has come alive. On awakening, Robert called all of us to a meeting after breakfast.
“I have decided that none of you need go to school anymore. I will explain why and then I will leave it to each of you to decide. First of all we should start with the advantages of your attending school.
By going to school you should meet other children and make new friends. As you live the problems they face you should be opening your hearts to them. I have noticed though that you have all been throwing away the opportunity and have been keeping each other company. Even to the point where the older ones are teased for preferring the company of the younger ones.
Let’s discuss the education you receive. The advantage could be seen to be the pieces of paper you will get when you finish your university studies. To compete in the world of Normals and do better than they do, is satisfying but meaningless. If you studied properly, the way you should, you could tackle the subjects you are interested in and complete the courses within one to two years, depending on the subject.
You all suffer one terrible disadvantage. The difference in your ages with me. You may be younger, some of you may be my daughters, but you are all also my wives. I often disregard the last and concentrate on your ages. This is good in many ways, but is also wrong in some.
Due to my age and my upbringing I tend to be blinkered in my attitudes. Your going to school was one of them. I can see you are all wondering what has come over me, maybe you are wondering if I have been affected by the damage I did to myself these last few months.” He grinned at us, taking the sting out of his words. “Who amongst you know anything about brainwaves?”
“I know that our brainwaves change when we sleep or dream.”
“That’s right, Dommi. We need not discuss all the brainwaves, just those that affect your learning. The normal human spends most of their time in Beta. When they are totally relaxed or being creative they are in Alpha.” He explained how school forces children to use their Beta brainwaves, teaching by repetition. He then explained that Alpha brainwaves make it easier for us to learn and absorb what we have learnt.
“All infants learn while in Alpha. Take a young toddler. It is born with certain instincts, such as suckling, blinking of the eyes and so on; there are a tremendous number of things it has to learn though. Walking for instance. It has to learn the art of balancing itself. Babies start off by crawling on their stomachs, they reach the point where they crawl on hands and knees and then they start to raise themselves, trying to stand on their feet. If they were in Beta, they would be analysing what they are doing. After a number of attempts they would get discouraged. In Alpha level they do not analyse, they just try until they succeed.
Thanks to Claudia we sometimes watch some sports, mostly tennis. You will have noticed that the top players have days when everything flows their way, every shot across the net seems to be perfect and they find themselves in the right spot for the return of service. At other times they struggle to get things right.
When things are flowing they are using Alpha, they do not need to think about every move, they are acting instinctively, their arm aims the racquet in the correct direction at the correct angle, speed and with the exact power needed. On their off days they are in Beta; they are trying to analyse how they should hit the ball, at what angle to put the spin, where they should be for the return.
I bet you are all wondering what brought this on, why my sudden keen interest in brainwaves. I have known the above for a long time, but, like most people, never applied it to my life. Fortunately I began to wonder about our gifts. How is it that we are able to open those doors in our minds. Somewhere along the line I correlated our spurts of growth with our attitudes. I saw that as one of us acquired a new gift and passed it on, the rest of us would calm our minds, going into Alpha, so as to learn. Not Beta which analyses and tries to understand, but into Alpha which allows us to learn free of our conscious mind.
My loves, if you can acquire these amazing gifts by using Alpha, what could you learn by using it for your studies? You each have your own computer with a fast connection to the internet. You have encyclopaedias, atlases and a world of information at your fingertips. We may need a bit of help in organising what and how you study, but even on our own we can do far better than the schools. I am going to ask Themi to find people to assist us in organising ourselves and we all go to school,” he smiled, “yes, that includes me. We set apart our time for studying - studying means learning something we did not know or understand before. Grow in any direction you want my loves, just remember to include general topics that round you off - no point in knowing everything about the subject of your choice and nothing about everything else; god but you would be boring if you did so!”
1114
We laughed, but there was a buzz in the air, we were all excited and eager to try this out. He showed us how we normally slip into Alpha, made us do so and told us to make note of how it feels. He asked that we always do so before our studies - and not to worry if we find ourselves in Beta as this can happen when we get excited about what we are learning. He told us to use that excitement and then to revert to Alpha and go over what we learnt again, fixing it in our minds.
If he is right, and I trust Roberto, he would not send us off in this direction at a whim, then our lives are about to change. Even I could begin to study again and grow. I have often felt some regret that I had not continued my studies by going to university.
Themi got interested in the potential, agreeing that he knows all this has been verified, but he said it has only been put into effect, organised in a way to help people, by certain individuals who then sell this knowledge in courses that are costly. He decided to present it as a project at the university. He asked of his students that they work out how such an education should be organised by a student studying in Alpha on his own. He assured us we will be astounded by the ideas and original perspectives their young minds will come up with
Robert has been spending more time with Ulya. We were all pleased to feel a friendship grow between them. He is careful to touch her as rarely as possible and any jokes he makes are never of a sexual nature. He showed her a picture of the moon and the picture was titled “Ukrainian moon’. He did this deliberately so as to sense her homesickness. He made a point of taking her thereafter on walks through Odessa, buying her the delicacies she loves and magazines and books she wants. Sometimes some of us go with, but our curiosity was soon satisfied. Whatever the city may have been in the days of the USSR, it now has little to offer us. That is, apart from the pleasures of shopping. Dollars stretch a very long way, especially if she does the shopping. Mostly though, to benefit from the low prices we have to buy goods made in the Ukraine. That did not leave us much of a choice.
To start off she was nervous and frightened that someone from her town may see her there and recognise her. Robert laughed it off, even claiming he looked forward to that happening. Since they could jump back instantly he claimed there was no danger. Still, I insisted he take the precaution of altering their features, which provided the extra benefit of it helping Ulya relax and enjoy her visits even more.
When it became obvious that she would continue to want to return there, he found someone to rent a tiny apartment for us, so that he can use it as a landing and departure point. The neighbours were a nosy bunch, though they were careful to keep their faces bland of all interest and I feared his sense of humour might end up causing a problem, but Ulya, with her practical little heart always saw to it that nothing went wrong.
He told me that he is finding it very difficult to refuse her anything, especially when she stares into his eyes. I think the circle would have snapped her in if she had only loved him too.
One day, after they had spent a day walking about the old parts of Athens, wandering into tiny shops that were below street level and buying a lot of weird junk, she decided to have an early night and after changing into her nightie she came to wish us a goodnight. She caught Robert by surprise when she leant over and kissed his cheek. She was in her room before he moved. He put his fingers to his cheek, but all he said was, “I need a shave.”
Niko is very careful not to tease Robert about Ulya or her daughter. Lucy is a real toddler and though she has grown to love us all, she has not been taken into our circle. I think Robert is holding back, not wanting to alienate Ulya. None of us mind too much, as we have a sample of her tissue and know that if anything happens, we can bring her back.
By now the Sparklers are able to identify who comes from our home and Solomon has taken a look at the souls of Ulya and Lucy so there is no way the void would get them. We pressed Robert to do something about getting tissue from Ulya. He was afraid to ask her and did not want to trick her. As usual it was Wendy who tackled her. She explained about the tissue and how we can create a new body for her if she dies, as the protector can bring her soul back. Being vaguely Russian Orthodox (the orphanage did not take them to church) she crossed herself, but agreed to let Robert take her to Dr Maria.
1115
She slowly became more like a child of her age, walking and talking with Robert in a carefree manner. She also began to tease him deliberately in a sexual way. He was careful not to show the slightest interest which piqued her and she became more blatant, trying to tempt him so as to rebuff him. She still has not understood that we can see into her mind and emotions, so her games only help to reinforce the safety she is starting to feel around him.
We wanted to celebrate the birthdays of Tina, Rosie and Diana by going to the club, but as this is the season of apokries (street parades and masked dances) we had to book for about ten days earlier than the birthdays. Most of the girls changed their age so that we could all dance and feel like adult women. Wendy convinced Ulya to let us change her too. When we did so, she went to the bathroom and stripped again, turning in front of the mirror and examining herself. When she came out she asked me in a soft husky voice, “Dominique, is this really how I will look?”
“Exactly how you will look, unless you decide to change yourself for any reason. You would have to be pretty stupid to do so - you look stunning!”
“Do you think Robert will like the way I look?”
“That is the least of your worries. If I were you I would worry about all the men who will be chasing after you.”
“None will. I will not allow them to.”
She was wrong. After good food, some wine and a few dances she was glowing, no longer the frigid goddess. Robert felt all his patience and love were being undermined by all the young (and older) men who kept ‘accidentally’ bumping against her as she danced and then tried to chat her up despite his presence.
“Ulya, you do realise that you are to blame. You are radiant with your beauty tonight. They can’t help themselves. If you like we could take a walk outside for a second or two and I could change you so that you become quite unpleasant to look at, or, and I prefer this, why don’t you just enjoy it. Put on an act and tease the hell out of them. Make them go home tonight eating their hearts out for you.”
“I thought Cherinians do not make people suffer.”
“Oh, I think this is permissible - and it would certainly be satisfying!”
As he pulled a face she laughed and kissed his cheek. “Okay but don’t blame me if it gets you into a fight.”
“What would a girl from the Ukraine know about getting men into fights over her!”
She knew he was teasing, but she is a female after all, any man says something like that deserves to have his head knocked off. She became the siren that called to Ulysses, tempting every hot blooded Greek male, from twenty to seventy. Her eyes flirted and her body teased them all. She’d get up and dance by herself if the dance floor had other dancers and soon she was being surrounded by eager Casanovas who thought she would be easy prey.
She chose a couple of very tough looking young guys and concentrated on them. They were self confident and aggressive which were of course the very qualities she hates. Robert talked and danced with us, but there was a gleam in his eyes and a smile that his lips only hinted at as he watched her.
“The little minx is going to succeed. Looks like I just might lose a couple of teeth.”
Cherine laughed at him. “You deserve it. Do you think she will fall in love with you if you fight for her?” Her question was made in a joking tone, but he pulled back and turned serious.
“Damn Cherine, I was just beginning to enjoy myself. If I fight for her, she will see me as being the same as them. How do I get out of this?”
“What if you lose the fight?”
“It will not matter, she will still think of me as the typical male who thinks he owns his female. The effort will still turn her against me, whatever the result.”
1116
“Then refuse to fight.”
“If I do that, she will think of me as a coward or claim I don’t care about her. It is a no-win situation.”
“You better woo her then.”
“You’re joking Diana?”
“I’m not! Make her feel special, show her you care enough to try and keep the others away from her.”
Sam shook her head. “It is not a good idea Diana. She has been teasing him, trying to get him to do exactly that. Then she would have the proof that he is a man and cannot control his sexual side.”
“Appetite is the word. I think you are right Sam. Any other suggestions?”
“You will think ours is crazy.”
“That sounds interesting. You mean you twins have come up with an idea?”
“Get your protector to come here looking like a man, it must be big and scary. Tell it to scare the others off.”
“And then?”
“When we are leaving it can disappear.”
“A good idea, but not much fun. I think we let it take her home. Then she finds out it took her to our home and is the protector. Poof will go all her thoughts that I chickened out. She will realise I tricked the other guys and her. Anybody think she will get angry?” Unfortunately for Robert, nobody answered his question, we all loved the idea and pushed for him to do it. With a resigned look he closed his eyes.
When the song ended we saw Ulya gesture to the men that she is tired and wants to sit this one out. She knew they would insist she sit at their tables and was trying to provoke Robert, bring things to a head. She even stole a look at him, her beautiful white teeth biting her lower lip. At that moment a monster of a man, at least five inches taller than the other men and twice as large pushed his way through and taking her arm pulled her into a dance.
The ’brave’ young men took one look at his size, the glowering look he gave them over her shoulder and they melted away. He monopolised her for the rest of the evening. She was beginning to give us looks of despair and fear when we all stood up, putting on our coats. She said something to him and tried to pull away. He held her arm in his huge fist and brought her over.
“Don’t you worry about the little princess, I’ll bring her home.” Before we could reply he dragged her off to the entrance and they were gone while we slowly got ourselves ready, chortling amongst ourselves. The only one who thought to monitor her was Robert. Suddenly he ran out after her. We followed him mentally even as we rushed out behind him. He slammed into the protector, knocking it away from her and pulled her into his arms. She fought him, her fists hitting out as she cried.
“You didn’t care. You let him take me! You hate me…” and so she carried on while he let her scratch and hit him, hanging on to her. The protector quietly faded away.
Robert grabbed her face with one hand and brought his lips to hers. It was just a soft fleeting kiss, but it shut her up. She stopped fighting and putting her face into his shoulder, cried.
He walked off with her towards the beach. When they stopped at the edge of the water she hammered him a few times again in frustration. He did not respond and she stood back and glared at him. “You kissed me. You promised to never touch me.”
“It was not a kiss of passion. Ulya, whether you like it or not, I love you. It can be the love of a father for his lovely daughter, or it can be the love of a man for his woman. The choice is yours. However, you do not have a choice about me loving you. It is too late for that. Far too late.” His voice and eyes held just a hint of sadness, but even in the moonlight she could see the tenderness and lack of animal passion. She took a few steps away and stood with her back to him.
1117
“You will have to give me a new name.”
“You do not want to be that little girl the terrible things happened to?”
She turned in a flash of anger. “Fuck you! Why do you always have to talk and talk to show how you understand me. Why couldn’t you just do what I asked?”
“If you think I understood you it means I was right. I do not understand you, it was just a lucky guess. Ulya, you scare the shit out of me. I love you, but dare not show I do. If I do not, will you ever love me? I treat you as a daughter, but you want to be treated as a woman. But if I treat you as a woman I lose you. I do not know what to do.”
She stood up close to him and her eyes searched his face. “You really do love me!” He did not answer. “Then just give me a new name like I asked you to.”
“Theresa.”
“Why that name?”
“No reason. It is not a soft name of love, but then you are not a soft girl of love. It is a name for a woman who is strong and has a proud bearing, who knows her own mind.”
“You are mocking me. I do not know my own mind.”
“It is not a name of the moment - it is a name for the woman you will grow up to be.”
“You can foresee my future?”
He laughed, a hollow sad laugh. “If I could I would not be standing here with my heart racing with fear that you may decide you hate me. What I say is because of the strength in you. It is there and as the nightmares lose their grip on you, you will be Theresa.”
“Thank you for a good name.”
She walked back towards us and he followed. He sent us a cheeky smile that showed he was not quite as dejected as she thought.
Already by the second time of our loving, with each of us having our own Robert, I began to feel I missed something. It was a wonderful feeling having Robert to myself for the whole night and when we finally slept, thoroughly worn out, he held me to him and it seemed all my dreams had come true. When I got up and went to the kitchen to surprise him with a coffee and toast I found Cherine sitting there. The instant she saw me her face was aglow, but I had seen her face before she saw me.
I caressed her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips. “Don’t pretend with me Cherinaki mou, you feel it too, what is it?”
“You don’t know? We can’t say anything Dommi, we mustn’t let him feel it in us - he is so happy that he can love all of us, we mustn’t spoil it for him.”
“But why should we feel like this. There is nothing wrong with what he is doing. I don’t feel less loved because he is also with you and the others. Feeling him and all of you is fantastic.”
“We are…never mind, just take him his coffee and toast.” She giggled. “What would happen if we all made him toast and coffee and then he became one again?”
Silently I waited for the water to boil and the toaster to pop up. As I buttered the slices I asked her, “You know what it is that I feel is wrong. Please tell me.”
“No. He is happy like this.”
“Don’t be silly Cherine, you know that he will realise it himself soon. He will be upset we did not tell him. I cannot go and say to him, Robert, something is wrong. It would not be fair to him.”
“Dommi I’ve been dreaming of having nights like this, I feel as if I have returned to our days at the flat. But I have also changed and I had not realised it. I miss loving my wives also. I love feeling all of us tangling ourselves all over him, touching each other as we love him and that touching becoming a loving of each other. When our loving finished, I used to feel so warm and loved by him, but my heart was also filled with love for all of you. I also love it like this where there are just the two of us, but I want to sometimes feel we are all a family.”
1118
“You have changed a lot my little Cherine, no wonder Robert gets sad. You never would have kept your mouth shut before, you would have spoken out for all of us. Why are you so afraid now?”
“I have learnt to, I have caused too many deaths, too many moments of pain, I cannot do it again.”
“This will be his worst pain of all. Maybe you do not realise it, but when he feels a strong love for me, or, say Candy, it is wonderful, but it is for that person only. When his love for you blossoms, when he is complete in his love for you, when he is content and happy from you, that love, contentment, pride, joy, it all flows out and becomes part of what he feels for us. Why do you think not one of us, even jealous Claude, have ever felt the slightest resentment for the special way he loves you?
You know that what inspires that love is not just your face and body, it is that something special inside which makes up his Cherine. He loves your cheekiness, your word games and teasing. He loves your courage and the way you will fight for us, he loves your mysterious smile. How long is it Cherine since he last saw that smile?”
“You are asking me to hurt him, to take the risk of losing him.”
“Are you really so blind? We did not lose him when he was weaker, we will not lose him now, he is far too strong.”
“But he keeps on finding new ways to die or leave us.”
“And he keeps on returning. Do you think that if he really wanted to leave us he would have returned for little Wendy to find him? Do you think he did not sense her in time for him to disappear? Cherine, you can only lose him if you fear losing him and change. Fear may make him tender, but it does not make him love you. When you fight with him, make him angry or hurt, but you stand up against him, that makes his love for you grow. Do not ask me to explain it, I can only say what I see without claiming to understand it.”
“But even you got angry with me so many times!”
“Of course I did. I would rather have the Cherine who could make me angry, than the Cherine I feel sorry for. Damn it! I miss you!”
She came to my arms and I held her and the love flowed through us. As I left her, I felt the change in her and I was very pleased with myself. I had not thought I would have the words to speak what was in my heart.
While my Robert had his breakfast, I concentrated on Cherine and her Robert. As she entered the room his eyes lit up. “Something happened, is my Cherine coming back to me?”
“You know?”
“I know nothing my love, all I do is feel. My little mouse walked out and I feel my lion cub returning.”
“When do I become a big lion?”
“Whenever you feel I am threatened. The cub though, that is the one that stands up to me, that teases and gets cheeky. What happened love, how did you change so suddenly?”
“I’m not telling you.” She sent me a kiss and a thank you. I looked up to my Robert and saw his eyes were crinkled in amusement, but he did not say anything, just enjoying his breakfast while his heart beat steadily with his love for me.
“Robert, last night was wonderful. These last two times, they have been a dream come true.”
“But you don’t want it to happen every time.”
She was caught unprepared, startled by his comment. She should not have been, of course our Robert would be the first to pick it up.
“Not every time. I miss my wives, I like feeling all of us being loved together, feeling us love each other.”
“Not possible my love.”
1119
She stared back at him, sort of dumbfounded for a moment. “What do you mean not possible!!”
“No way we can all fit on one bed anymore.” He chuckled and ducked as she tried to hit his arm. He swerved around and grabbed her to him.
“Last night does not count. I think you and I are going to spend the whole day and night locked in this room. For the first time for a long time I will be making love to my real Cherine, not just some little mousy girl.” He was broadcasting his love for her so strongly I am sure it must have affected the whole neighbourhood. We all rejoiced, for we felt in that how his love for us also has augmented and I put my face in my hands and cried from happiness. Robert pulled me over to him and held me as if I was his little baby instead of his woman.
“I guess they have buggered up any plans you girls might have had for today. No way are you walking out of that door before giving me all the loving you still have inside you.”
”Oh yeah? You think you could survive it?”
“Try me love - just spend your whole life trying me.”
Robert was keen to see the people of Ordinx who’d been freed. We all went with him to Meli’s world. Ordinx was waiting with Meli for us.
“Robert, you will be pleased. Things are going well, the damage from being held in the Sparklers is not as difficult to repair as we thought it would be. We have already rehabilitated over a hundred and twenty and the pace is picking up. We have decided that this world is off limits to those of us from our Worlds. The elders who live here are helping the new ones and we have to give them the time and space to fully recover. They still are a little disorientated by the amount of time that has passed and the changes - some of them lived at the time when we were still living on our home planet.”
“That is good. They will be the ones to help your people adjust to being alive on a planet again. How many are you planning to bring here?”
“We have decided to stop at ten thousand and then wait for our own world to be created.”
“I’ve tried telling him Robbie, they could easily bring half a million. That way there will still be space for more of them to visit from their Worlds.”
“Meli, can you say it would take you one year, fifty, one hundred years to give them their own worlds? If it will take years do not forget that they will be mating and having children. If you start at close to the maximum you want here, what happens then? Let Ordinx be the judge on this, he knows his people.
Ordinx, that brings up another question which must be solved. Where do we place your Meli-worlds. My suggestion would be that each species we recover should have their own worlds placed in close proximity to their home worlds. Once you have re-established the technology needed, you could even re-seed your home world.”
“No!” I, we, all turned in shock. I had never heard Meli shout at Robert before. “No technology Robert. My worlds must not be polluted with technology. They will kill my worlds!”
“To what degree my love. Are you offering them worlds that they must live on as savages? No clothing, homes, none of the things you take for granted in your own home?”
Ordinx placed his hands on both of them. “Please, there is no need for argument. If it is necessary, we will gratefully accept the terms Meli places upon us. I fear that your concern Meli is due to the conditions you see on Earth. Our technology passed that stage a long time before life ended on our world. Our technology is hundreds of years ahead of yours. We had a world which had been repaired, no pollution, our population stabilised. Cities had been razed and we lived in village clusters. Please remember that the gifts the Cherinians have, we have most of them, some you have that we do not and some we have that you do not, but those are basically the gifts that are species orientated.”
Robert became excited. “Meli! Do you realise what a grand vision Ordinx is giving us? Once the Cherinians are the majority on Earth, we will no longer need ships, planes, cars. I think I am going to have fun compiling lists of all the things we will not need. There might be species you revive that will not have the gifts nor the technology. Ordinx, will your people help and teach them? They must not destroy the worlds Meli gives them.”
1120
“Robert, you still do not understand. The worlds I make for them, even if moved into our reality, they are still mostly made out of my dreams. They are fragile, like bubbles. As they are lived on and thousands of years go by, their worlds will become more real and solid, stronger. A part of me will always be in them though. If they hurt their world, they will hurt me.”
“Gaea!” Robert whispered in awe. This required an explanation for not only Ordinx but for most of us girls also.
“We too had our stories about such a mother spirit of our world. You are right to be awed Robert. Wait until I tell my people. I regret Meli, no, Melina from now on, that you will have to accept that you will end up becoming a Mother and Goddess to our people. Robert has taught us that you people do not like being worshipped and we will not make that error again, but your existence will be a comfort to us and ensure that your worlds are treated with respect as living beings.”
With his words, the jigsaw pieces still in Robert’s mind came together and he recalled all. He flushed as he recalled his reactions. “You have put my memories back in place Ordinx, I now recall what happened. I think I need to return to our home and apologise to my loves for the hurt I caused them. I also apologise to you. I should have had the understanding to accept your words as being those of an exhilaration you could not control. I have hurt you too and I regret it.”
He felt he did not only owe an apology to us girls, but that he also owed one to all friends and loved ones. He called for all Cherinians to join us. They are always glad to meet, and that Robert had summonsed them was a pleasure in itself.
He stood there, his slim body bent as he struggled within himself; it was a good struggle for us to see, for he was hurting from all the love that he was being inundated by. When he decided to speak and raised his head I could understand why people like Savva still insist on feeling a reverence when in his presence. His eyes glowed and there was a joy and serenity in them that also gave to all a feeling of power held back, but always ready to envelope and protect us.
“Sometimes I call you Cherinians, sometimes friends. Sometimes I say loved ones and my meaning is not clear. You think that at such time I speak of my girls, my mother or Alki. It is true, there are degrees and different kinds of love. It is also true that I love all of you for as Cherinians you are all a part of me as I am a part of you.
It is for that reason I have selfishly called you here. I have taken you from your homes, from whatever plans you had for tonight, for I needed to indulge myself a little. I have sinned against all of you and I needed to not only apologise, but to also receive the love you always find in your hearts for me, despite my many mistakes. I caused you all pain, because you thought I was trying to leave you or die. I owe all of you an explanation.
It started off as a trick, a political game I was playing. Ordinx was speaking to me and he was treating me as a God! All that was missing was the down on knees praying nonsense. I saw we were at a critical moment and I was distraught, not thinking clearly. If I allowed this, even if I argued with him, the pattern would be set.
My loves, it is hard enough for me to see you treat me as a leader. To be treated as a God, I would have to stop being Robert. It would change me, if not now then gradually with time. I would become a curse upon mankind, Cherinians and all the races of the Universe. I am honest enough to see the possibility within myself and I love you all enough to care to prevent it.
I knew it would require something extremely dramatic to stop it happening. To just die seems to have become accepted by you and them as just one of those weaknesses of Robert that endears me to you. It is ironic but true.
I acted impulsively and emotionally and set about destroying myself, including all my memories, for without memories what is left of a person. I would become nothing and when brought back I would be just as a baby. I would need to be fed my memories gradually and I knew I could trust Cherine and Dommi and my other girls to see that it was done in such a way that I would become the Robert I was and not some idealised version of myself. They did not fail me and I am proud of them.
How was I to let them know that this was not a genuine withdrawal, but just a ploy for reasons of my own? I reasoned that if I took my healer and protector with me they would know that there is no way I would leave them unprotected and they would guess I wanted them to help me come back. I also kept my protective instincts for them and programmed in the childish shadow that was to be left of myself, the need to return frequently, hoping they would manage to capture it and heal me.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)12th June, 2019
- posted on Steemit: 12th June, 2019