That sent them into a panic and our money was returned, but they forgot to take back the certificates. We were escorted through customs and left the airport hardly able to contain our laughter.
1251
“I do not think they would have believed you if you had not been able to speak their language.”
“I pretended to know more than I do. I have not spoken it since I was a small child. There used to be a Greek lady who had a small hotel in the centre of town. Let’s try there first.”
She was still there and gave us a room, though we had to share. It was interesting talking with her. She did not remember my family from Nairobi, but was friendly, especially when I spoke to her in Greek. She warned us not to expect any white person to invite us to their home. It is impossible to buy paint, light bulbs and so on - it is even difficult to buy toilet paper. Common things like aspirin, toothpaste, soap, they are only available on the black market. People are ashamed to invite visitors from abroad, they would rather pay to take us to a restaurant.
The next morning I hired a taxi to take us around town and to the beach. We got in and the door handles were missing. I looked how to close the door and saw the owner had fitted a sliding lock, the kind one often sees on gates. I was amused by his ingenuity. He turned the steering wheel and asked me to hold it. He got out and started to push. Manoli jumped out and told him to get back in and he push started us. I think he was laughing so much he hardly had the strength to push us.
At least once it got going it kept going, though we decided not to chance going out of town. We were shown a number of boring things, like their hospital, where he told us they do not have medicine; the Government House, or whatever they called it where Nyerere lives as President. We asked him to take us to a good restaurant by the beach. We found ourselves driving on a sand road amongst coconut trees and arrived at a shack. It was soon apparent he had brought us to the right place, for we saw most of the clientele were white businessmen. We were both amazed to find that ordering a whole lobster or tiger prawns was cheaper than ordering a portion of chicken. We stuffed ourselves till we were bursting with both of these luxuries. I had never seen prawns of this size, they were almost half a kilo each.
We took a walk along the beach to help digest the meal. A local came by walking on a leash a lobster. I had never seen a lobster so huge. He suggested we buy it and get the restaurant to cook it for us. He weighed it for us and it was nearly five and a half kilos. Apart from already having eaten our fill of lobster and apart from the probability that it would be too tough to eat, it was impossible to imagine killing it. To have reached that size it must have been a grandfather of a lobster. I almost imagined it had acquired some wisdom and would know what we are about to do to it.
Our taxi had waited for us and after pushing we got back to our hotel. The lady greeted us as we returned, asking if we’d had a good day. We told her the anecdotes of our day’s experiences. She brought us the menu of the hotel restaurant and showed us the prices. Here too a portion of chicken was more expensive than a lobster thermidor, which includes expensive topping made of mushrooms and cheese. She explained that after independence, a government minister woke up with the idea that it was stupid of them to be importing chicken meal when they have so much maize. Within a couple of years the chicken population went to almost zero. The minister in his wisdom had ignored the fact that imported chicken feed includes medication.
The next morning I took a walk and bought from the pavement some second hand books, a couple of green coconuts, mangoes and a fruit I seemed to remember that turned out to be a custard apple. All I’ll say about them is they are now definitely my all time favourite fruit.
We spent the day either in our room or in the lounge. As we sat there after lunch (lobster thermidor again of course), an elderly Greek came in. After shouting good-naturedly at the lady owner he came over to us.
“You are Greeks?”
“I am, my friend is English, but he speaks Greek. He usually lives in Athens.”
“If he speaks Greek then he is a Greek. Who cares about passports. I am Dimitri Kalogeropoulos.”
We made all the polite noises and offered him a drink. As everybody else seemed to do, he ordered a beer. He asked us a few questions and then got around to telling us about himself.
1252
“I used to own a very large sisal estate about forty miles outside Dar. Then they began to nationalise. Most Greeks gave up and left. I fought them in court and refused to leave my farm. They let me keep my house and three hundred hectares of sisal.”
“That must have taken guts.”
“No, it only took stupidity. All those who left, they got on with their lives and made enough money to be comfortable. I have stayed here, stuck with this miserable land, the sisal market collapsed and I have not a cent to my name. Years spent without even the bare necessities while the fat politicians destroyed this country. Guts! Pah! Stupidity I tell you.”
“Well, maybe a mixture of both.” I thoughtlessly answered.
His bushy eyebrows gathered in what he must have thought was a thunderous frown; I grinned at him and he chuckled, hitting Manoli with his elbow in the ribs. “See? I told you he is a Greek! Why are the two of you wasting your money staying in a hotel?”
I grinned. “Just an unreasonable preference for having a bed to sleep in when I can. A roof can also be fairly useful.”
“Without air-conditioning? It is the best way to suffer. Come stay with me on my farm. I have a very large house, lots of rooms. There is also a large tree to keep the sun off the roof, so it will be much cooler at night. No food though. You can walk over to the local hotel and eat there.”
“Thank you, that would be nice.”
“What are you doing here. On business?”
Manoli answered for me, his sense of humour getting the better of him. “No, we are hiding. This English Greek man is crazy. He married seventeen wives and now they are after his blood.”
“Po-po!! That is serious, we must help him.” I found that the conversation with him seemed to verge on the serious at times, but would soon turn to the ludicrous. I got a sort of feeling of how it must have been for my Cherinians to have to deal with me. I rather liked the effect.
He drove us out in his old battered Landrover, never going over thirty kilometres an hour. He explained there are no spares, what can be found has been stolen and black market prices are charged, so he has to be careful. None of us were in a hurry and spent the trip chatting. Amongst his remarks, when he tried to poke fun at us, he would let some little gem of information slip through. Listening to him I began to get a feeling of what a strange and lonely life he must have lived.
“Dimitri, if you went to Greece you would get a pension. Especially if you have family there, you could be comfortable. Why stay here like this?”
“Never! Me live on a pension! You think I am a beggar? Listen to me carefully. Do not start a fight, especially with those who have all the power, but if you do, you carry it through to the end. If I left now it would make a mockery of twenty years of suffering, of living as if I were in a prison. I will stay to the end.”
Manoli looked over at me with a grin. His thoughts were obvious because I think I was having the same ones. The old guy dropped us off at his house, told us to walk in and choose whichever rooms we want and he drove off. Manoli stood there as if bewildered. He spoke to me over his shoulder.
“Since meeting you my life has been stranger than it has ever been before. Are people truly able to stand being around you for a long time?”
“I’m told it only gets worse with time.”
“That was meant to reassure me? Roberto, I like the old guy. I hope I still have his spirit when I reach his age.”
“At his age, if things go well with us, you will still be a child.”
That made him turn around to look at me. “You are serious? You would want me as a Cherinian?”
“It is not what we want that matters. If you want to be one, you are one.”
1253
“Then we must make things turn out well, for I want to be one. I want to see the Sparklers and those millions of Worlds you speak of. I even dream of them.”
“It is almost impossible to phone overseas from here. How do I get hold of my girls?”
“This healer of yours, it cannot tell the protector where you are and that you want to talk to them?”
I hit my forehead. “I should be hung for stupidity!! I could have been sending them messages every day! Thank you.”
I promptly told my healer to tell them where I am and that I cannot phone easily, but all is well. I looked down from the top of the hill where we were till I was gazing out to sea and told it to send the picture of what I had been looking at so that they can see the beauty.
Within a minute Candy appeared and then Irene and the twins. They ran straight into my arms. My joy at seeing them made me forget all, neither the danger nor Manoli crossed my mind. When I finally did notice my surroundings, it was to see him sitting on the dirt road, staring at us with eyes popping out of his head (I trust you stupid kids of the future realise that it is just an expression, his eyes did not really pop out).
After kissing my girls and hugging them to me I led them to him and introduced them. “My twins will take you with them Manoli. Just close your eyes and when they call to you just let yourself float to them. Girls, take him to the void and taste him, let him see our World and introduce him to the Sparklers. That way, should anything happen to us, he will know and be known.”
Things were moving too fast for him, but he sensed my urgency and closed his eyes. When his body fell backwards I knew he was there and I was happy. I knew that if I am attacked he is likely to be killed and had worried about it. Now it will not matter so much. I pulled Irene and Candy to me.
“Tell me your news my sweet loves. No, first let me kiss you again.” Their voices were music to my ears, I hardly paid attention to the words, just the sound, the happiness in their voices, their excitement, it was all I had missed and had dreamt of. For one short hour I was in heaven. We had to stay where we were to watch over the twins and Manoli, but we were too filled with our joy and love to care. When my sweet Wendy also appeared, I felt my heart would break as I held her to me.
“Is my little songbird still writing new songs?”
With sad eyes, Wendy replied, “Yes she is, but they are all sad songs.”
“Then maybe today you will be able to write a happy one?”
“I will have to write it while I am here then, for soon as I am back I will be sad.” I got her to hum me a song and her magic soon transported me back to the days when we were all together and my life had been filled with their love. As I returned to the here and now my eyes filled with tears at the thought of them leaving soon.
Manoli stirred and then the twins. He sat up and he was obviously still dazed by what he had seen. I called the twins for a last kiss and long hug. “Now listen to me. Today was unexpected so maybe it was safe. If you do it again it will not be safe, I cannot allow you to take the risk. Take back your visit and share it with all the others. That must be enough for all of you until it is safe for us to be together again. From now I promise I will send a message every day through my healer and phone when I can so as to hear your news.”
We said our goodbyes and they also did so with Manoli and they gathered in front of me to leave. I heard the old Landrover coming and the girls looked at me with a question in their eyes. I gestured for them to leave and they disappeared. I heard a squeal of brakes behind me. Dimitri had come to a sudden stop and sat there looking as if he were about to have a heart attack. As if coming out of a daze, or perhaps as one who has seen a mirage, he shook himself and slowly got out of his vehicle.
“I am getting old. I could have sworn I saw little girls - there have been none here since my own babies grew up and left. You think this is a sign? I hear that when old people are ready to die they see the past, those times when they were happiest.”
I had thought to bluff it out, but I could not. “You are not getting old Dimitri. My girls came to visit me for a short while.”
1254
“And pouf they are gone?”
“Yes, pouf and they are gone.”
“And when they come, pouf and they are here?”
I laughed. “Yes, always just pouf and pouf.”
“That is fine, as long as I am not the crazy one. Pouf, ha!!”
He picked up something wrapped in a newspaper and held it up to us. “You are like all the tourists I bet. Lobster and prawns and lobsters. It is not food for a man. I got some beef, steaks they said. We make a fire, nai(?) and grill them with lemon and black pepper.”
“You said no food Dimitri. You must allow me to pay.”
“You are foolish, never offer to pay - unless you are a millionaire. Are you a millionaire?”
“No.”
“Typical, you young people think money grows on trees.”
Manoli whispered to me, “Please do not argue with him.”
“He is enjoying it, you want me to spoil his fun?”
“Stop whispering and come help make a fire.”
“Where is the wood?”
“What wood?” I did not know how to answer without making him seem senile. He slapped his leg laughing at us. “Ha, you thought I am senile! See, you do think I am old.”
“I actually think you are a ten year old boy who never grew up.”
Manoli was shocked at my disrespect, but Dimitri laughed again. “Exactly what my wife told me when she left. Do you know my wife, did she tell you that?”
“I think I heard a little voice whisper it to me just now.”
“Aha! One of those little girls that go pouf.”
“I’m going to look for wood, the two of you belong together.”
“Manoli, how would you be acting if you had spent twenty years alone and had visitors? I’m tempted to ask my girls to return and give him a kiss.”
“You would risk it for that?”
“Yes. That is what life is all about.”
“You are bluffing.”
“Dimitri, you want to see the girls go pouf again?”
“I have not seen little girls for so many years. White ones that is.” The girls returned and he stared at them fascinated.
“These are your pouf girls Robert? They are pretty.” He suddenly looked apprehensive. “I have not bought enough meat for so many. It does not matter, I’ll not eat any.”
“They did not come to eat Dimitri. They just came to kiss you hello then they have to...”
“…go pouf?”
1255
The girls listened to us and they were delighted by him. They crowded around him and each gave him a hug and a kiss on his leathery cheek. When they went ‘pouf’ again he stood there for a while not speaking. He brought the meat to me.
“You, go behind that tractor, you will find wood there.” He waited until he was gone. “Now you tell me, why did you show me that? You are not afraid I will talk?” I did not reply. “I see, you think to yourself, he is an old man and nobody would believe him, they would say he is senile.”
“What I thought was you needed the joy one feels when kissed by a little girl. It has been too long for you.”
“Bah! Then you are a fool.”
Manoli answered him, “I agree with you pappou.”
“Who are you calling pappou!”
“I’ve brought the wood, where do I put it?”
The meal was good, even though the meat was tough. I really felt comfortable with Dimitri, as Manoli is always rather reticent, so I relaxed. “If you were twenty again Dimitri, would you hang on here again, or would you leave and live a new life?”
“Pouf and I am twenty? Okay, I will answer you. I would leave. There is so much I do not know, that I have never lived.”
“You would probably end up getting a job, hating it and wasting your life again.”
I saw that he was looking at me in a penetrating manner. “You have decided you like me and you are trying to tell me something. What is it?”
“Please answer me first. Why should you be given the chance to live your life again?”
“Because that is what life is for. There can be no guarantee that the first time or the tenth will not be wasted, but at least if one has lived it, that means everything.”
“I think you are a man who could live his life to the full if he makes the decision to do so.”
Sam obeyed my summons this time. “You are impossible Robert. You say we must never come here again and then keep calling to us to come.”
“Don’t get sassy with me love. Give me a kiss and then take Dimitri to the void.” I gave him a brief explanation and he did not bat an eyelid. As if embarking on a joy-trip he let her take him.
Manolis stared at me. “You are very open Roberto, for a man who has so many enemies.”
“Do you know what is the only safety for my loved ones? To have millions of Cherinians. I cannot work that fast, but now and then I see a person or two I want with us.”
Cherine arrived and it was as if Manoli were meeting a queen. He knew how important she is and he was awed to be meeting her. Behind her back she gave me the thumbs up sign and she linked him. I could feel nothing, but I saw his delight. It was almost as if he were in a religious rapture. She left him and came to sit on my lap. I held her sweet face, staring into her eyes.
“You still love me! Losing your link with me has not killed your love?”
“That will never happen. Even if I have to wait until you die.”
“Cherine! That is the answer. All I needed was the guts to die! That would release me from their mind prison.”
“We were afraid you would think of it and do it before talking to us. We have discussed it and all of us, even Rob, do not want you to do it.”
“Why not?”
1256
“We think the spider wants you to do it. It could be that as your soul is released from your body she can then take you to her.”
“You’re going too fast for me. Her?”
“I’ll explain just now. Robert, the last three attacks, they were not real attacks. Rob says they were panic attacks. We have disconnected over three thousand. The attacks tried nothing new, she even sent a cat with a bomb.”
“I hope Irene did not have to see that.”
“The cat was not killed Robert. The protector took the bomb out of the cat.”
I nodded. “Thanks. You want to explain the rest?”
“We tried some experiments as you asked us to. Honey has got some of your drawing talent from you - which has upset Meli, as she feels cheated.” I grinned in response. “We got her to draw a huge spider without a face. We made copies and everybody closed their eyes and tried to imagine the face. It was the face of an old woman. Thirty four of us drew a woman. Seventeen drew the same face. She does not look nasty Robert. She looks sweet, a little plump and smiling.”
“You realise that creates a new problem for me?”
“Of course. You cannot hurt her.”
I swore. “This sex thing is really stupid!!”
“Don’t worry. None of us females are worried about hurting her. Just let us get our hands on her.”
“There is another reason love.”
“Aw come on Robert, you can’t be wanting to change her.”
“She has a whole treasure chest of powers and gifts. It would be a waste to lose them all.”
“We kill her first and then worry about that. If she dies you will be freed and you can return. That is all I care about.” I saw Manoli smile to himself and I knew she had captured him too.
“Manoli, Dimitri will be back just now. Soon as he returns the girls have to leave. Can you find me a sharp knife?”
“What for? I thought she said you must not kill yourself.”
“She did, the knife is not for me. I need to cut you and Dimitri.” I reminded him of our tissue bank and he jumped up in a hurry to find a knife. He returned with an old razor blade.
“This was the best I could do.” He handed it to me.
I sat waiting and seemed to slip into a light trance, fascinated by the blade. I decided to check that it is still sharp enough and put the corner of the blade to my wrist to nick myself. My hand slipped the blade all the way across my wrist in one sharp deep cut. The blood spurted out and though I heard shouting in the background I was too mesmerised by the sight of the blood being pumped out to respond. A sharp smack across my cheeks followed by a second one brought me back and I knew immediately what had happened. I called to my healer even as Manoli cut off the flow of blood.
“Trellathikes? (You gone mad?).”
Cherine got down onto her knees between my legs, careless of the blood. “You alright my love?”
I looked into her big dark eyes and my soul cringed at the pain I saw. “Yes, the healer is fixing it. Cherry baby, we made a mistake discussing my death. She now wants me dead.”
“Then I’m not leaving you!”
“You are, all of you are. By making them Cherinians they are now also in danger. Can you and Sam manage the two of them for this distance?”
1257
“I’m telling you, I will not leave here without you.”
“Have you worked out where Aganthi is?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. No, I haven’t, something must be very wrong.”
“I’ve been thinking about it. I think she followed me to Italy but then lost me. You have to find her, she could be in great danger. Use your sliver of her to help you, it should have a natural affinity for her, even perhaps indicate more or less where she is.”
“Roberto, I am sorry but I could not help overhearing. If you had been here alone you would have been dead by now. Since you are certain she now wants you dead, you are in even more danger. I agree that Miss Cherine and Samantha should take the old man, but I have to stay with you - that was our agreement.”
“Who are you calling an old man?”
“Welcome back Dimitri, I hope you enjoyed the experience. Manoli, if you are going to call Cherine and Samantha ‘Miss’ then you better call them ‘Mrs’.”
He grinned, “It is not easy calling girls so young ‘Mrs’. I think I will stick with ‘Miss’.”
“Manoli, you are not my servant! You call me Sam or Samantha!”
“While Samantha and I danced she spoke to me, explained about you. What made you decide to choose a crazy old man like me?”
“I have a special liking for people with your kind of craziness.”
Cherine explained to Sam what had happened in her absence and of her refusal to leave me.
“I cannot leave either. Robert, you may be my father, but you are also my husband and I am not the kind of wife who leaves her man when there are problems.”
“I am not going to order either of you to leave. If you stay then I will have to try to send a message through whatever connection I have with her and offer not to resist if she agrees not to harm you.”
“That is blackmail!”
“I am not your leader anymore so I cannot order you to leave, so of course I’ll use blackmail.”
Sam came close to me, fastidiously avoiding my blood wherever it had splattered. “You have hurt all of us more than you can imagine. You have shown us that we are not equal to you. Even Alki and the other Cherinians. We are to stand by and allow you to risk your life for us, but we are not allowed to do the same for you when you are in danger. Do you think we would fear death if we are with you?”
“Leave him Sam. I always thought he is the way he is because of his protector, but it is not true. He will not give in and he will do what he threatened, I know him too well to doubt it.”
Dimitri asked, “What are you hoping to achieve Roberto, why do you wish to stay here alone?”
“That is the damn problem, I don’t know! There is something I am searching for, but I do not know who or what it is.”
“With the whole world to go to, why here? If it is a person, could it be you are searching for someone with certain gifts?” I shrugged. I really did not know. “I will not argue with you about staying, not if even these two special children cannot. You stay here in my home. If you have to leave do not worry, there is nothing of value to be stolen. Robert, there is an old man, much older than I am. He claims he is a prospector and spends nearly all year out in the bush on his own. He does not even always take a servant with. He has often stayed with me and we have had long conversations. He has told me many times that he cannot bear to be around people. If you stay here on your own he will come. If it is him you are searching for, he will know. Tell the old bastard that I’ve always known he cheated when we played chess. I had not known how, but I can guess how he did it now. Will I be able to return here later?”
1258
“If you want to. Remember our conversation about having a second chance? You have that chance now, how you use it is shauri yako (your business/problem). Kwaheri my new friend and thank you for your help.
Manoli, I am not being stupid in asking you to leave. Please trust me on this.” He did not answer, but I knew he would go. I turned to my girls. “It is your leaving that breaks my heart. You have lost your trust in me because I lost my gifts and you leave with pain; you are hurt because you think I reject your help and therefore your love. You have always known that when there is danger I have a compulsion to see to your safety first. Did you truly think I would change because the protector is not with me? Your words Sam, they may have been the truth and in a way I am glad you spoke them, but they have also wounded me. If you are to grow up to be the person I see you being, then you must learn not to drain the strength of those who fight for you while they are still in the middle of battle. Now I have to carry with me a weight in my heart, thinking of how all of you feel about me. Did you truly think you would be strengthening me or that you would change my mind? Weren’t the words spoken to hurt me?”
“I did not think,” she whispered in a low voice.
“What I said was harsh my love. You get angry and impatient with me when I say you are still a child, that all of you are and that I want you to be able to be children also. What you did today, it was not the deed of a mature wife standing by her husband, your words were the cry of a child who fears to lose the one she loves. For that reason I will treasure them, holding them tenderly at moments when I am afraid and feel alone. Thank you.”
Cherine gave a small giggle and covered her mouth with her hand. Sam looked at her, not understanding. “I’m sorry, I was just wondering how he was going to turn things upside down so that you will feel good about how you spoke to him.”
“I can’t hug you, you’ll get full of blood, will you at least both give me a kiss before you go?” Cherine stared at my clothes and I felt the change, I looked down and they were clean again, all the blood gone. They came into my arms and hung onto me with a desperate passion, trying to fill their hearts with the feel of me. Neither of the men spoke when the girls went to them and taking their hands they all disappeared.
I sat foolishly staring at my surroundings. I had no idea what to do.
“How could you tell them I had lost you?”
“Aganthi!! Where are you?” I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes and looked up. She was sitting on a branch high above me. She jumped and I panicked until I saw she was not falling, but floating down to me.
“You should not have told them I lost you, I would never lose you. You only confused me for a little while in Nairobi, I was not expecting you to leave so soon and went to see the farm where you lived as a baby.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“The spider, maybe she can block your soul, but I can still, sometimes, feel my piece in you.”
As she landed it was with her arms around my neck and legs around my waist. I held tightly to her and kissed her. “You are a girl of surprises!”
“Not now Roberto, take me inside and love me. I need to be held.”
The healer let the protector know she is with me and I would not have been surprised to find the girls dropping in, but none did. I found out later that Dommi stopped them. I lay down on a bed with Aganthi still wrapped around me. Even as I did so I asked the healer to help me transfer myself into the multitude of slivers I hold within me, hoping to break out of the barrier that way. I suppose it could not, for nothing happened.
I tenderly kissed all over her face which was nut brown and freckled from the sun. As I kissed her eyes I pulled back. “Aganthi, try to send me some of your love through your sliver in me.”
“I have tried Roberto, I really did try.”
1259
“That’s okay then, we’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way. Aganthi, my heart is bursting with my love for you. It feels as if I am holding a tiny piece of the sun in my arms and you are making my body burn.”
“I love you too, my Roberto.”
As I kissed and caressed, slowly undressing her gorgeous little body, words of love continued to stream from me and even psychically blind as I was, I could feel the glow of happiness in her. With an adoration of her adolescent beauty I licked around her small nipples, feeling the texture and tasting the clean saltiness of sweat from the tropical heat. My Aganthi is not one to lie back and enjoy the luxury of being loved like a cat. She prefers to give lick for each lick and a kiss for each kiss. Her hands roamed over me, setting new little flames of fire alight over every part of my body. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and flung myself over her to protect my love as I looked around wildly. A woman stood at the side of our bed and I recognised who she must be.
“You are a disappointment Robert. I attack you and within the hour you lie here making love instead of looking for ways to escape me or to even counter attack. You are not a worthy opponent, it is more as if I am fighting a child, a child with a very simple mind.”
I chuckled, “I think you hit the nail right on the head, that sounds like a better description of me than I’ve ever heard before.”
“Don’t think of attacking me, this is only a projection. So, what now? Are you willing yet to concede victory to me, acknowledge me as your master?”
“I’d have to call you mistress and that would not be right, I already have too many wives as it is.” Aganthi giggled, but our visitor ignored her.
“You are incapable of taking anything seriously. I know you still have that part of your mind you call the healer and I presume it makes you feel you are invulnerable. If this house were hit right now by a missile, if a dozen soldiers were to burst through that door and shoot at you, do you really believe your healer could save you?”
“No. But then you would not do that. You would be acknowledging defeat. You need to have me crawling at your feet.”
“You are wrong. There have been many men and women who stood up against me and the worthy ones I allowed them to live their lives. Despite what I perceive as foolishness and weakness in you, you have succeeded in causing me more damage than anyone else in my entire life. I need to study you. I am willing to extend to you an olive branch. I will tolerate you and your group and allow you to exist without fear of attack by me. In return my terms are that you stay as you are, I will not open my lock on your mind. Your group may grow slowly through natural means and the odd person you feel compelled to bring to your group. There will be no drive to grow as a group or to take positions of power and you will stop all attacks on my people. I will give you a hundred years truce and re-evaluate our positions at the end.”
“Must I continue to call you the spider or do you have a name?”
“Call me…Doris. I always enjoyed her silly movies.”
“You choose the name of a person who represents the antithesis of what you are? So you do have a sense of humour!”
“Yes, humour, one of your weaknesses.” Her face became stern. “You have not answered me.”
“Doris, you did not need an answer. Send your missile or whatever else you wish to. I will not have the Cherinians exist at your tolerance. To accept terms by you is to accept the death of my people. Anyway, you have lost the battle already and you know it. How long do you think you can last. Even if every single Cherinian were to die, you will still have lost. You cannot live forever despite your powers. The day you die you have lost. You will never be able to develop any powers over the void, I am the ultimate power there and I will decide what happens to your soul. I know that you are aware of it and that is why you need to keep me a prisoner. You hope to control me so that I am not there to punish you for all the suffering and deaths you have caused.
1260
That is stupid Doris. You cannot keep me powerless forever. Should I ever become convinced it is otherwise, you still lose, for then the Sparklers become the masters of the void and they will exact my revenge upon you the day you die or the day you enter the void for any reason. Your soul is marked and unlike the priests, I do not ask you to take it on faith. You know I speak of facts.”
“You are the same as the priests. You threaten me with what may happen in the distant future.”
“It is only the ultimate threat. What happens to you during your life on Earth still lies under my control. You did not like that? Doris, without your organisation, without a large number of people to help you keep your power base, how long do you think you will last? You have already lost over three thousand of your helpers. You cannot stop the aliens, even if you destroy us. For as long as you live they can continue to deprive you of your assistants and there will always be the fear that if you use your own powers, they might burn them out of you..
They are used to thinking in terms of millions of years, they are not Terrans and will not weary. If they also start to punish even the normal humans if they co-operate with you, who become your pawns, what will you have left? Without your empire you are nothing. You will be more alone than any human has ever been. For how long do you think you will want to live?”
Aganthi put her hand to my lips. “Roberto, offer her flowers.”
“This is the simpleminded one, the flower girl you picked up off the streets?”
“Simpleminded? You must be joking! You are the simpleminded one to think that you could win. She has spoken and her few words have shown more wisdom than all your arrogant words and threats. I will do as she says, I will offer you flowers. I will allow you to live for whatever your span of life is. I will not allow you to hurt or kill again. You will not take over anymore bodies of children. You live for as long as you can keep your own body alive. You may keep your money and play your political games as long as I do not perceive them to be to the detriment of mankind. When you do die I will not destroy your soul, I will allow you to find a re-birth, in the natural way of all souls. I see you are angry, but I suggest you do not answer me, do not even make any further attacks. Return to your body and think about what we have said. Once you calm down you will understand that you do not have any other alternatives.”
“You are mistaken and you will soon find out what alternatives I have.”
“I fear your attacks may cause the deaths of innocent people so I will give you one final word of warning. Doris, you made a huge mistake coming here. You thought a projection was safe from attack and it is in the sense you meant. You forgot though that for you to maintain it and for it to be able to converse with me, there had to be a path of energy from you to your projection. I asked the Sparklers not to attack you and any time you decide to project to me again you will be safe from attack. However, I now know where to find you and will soon know your real name.”
She vanished and I laughed. Aganthi asked, her eyes huge, “It is true?”
I shushed her without speaking. Either I have panicked her and she will take desperate measures or else she will cower until she acknowledges defeat. I tried to think of what she could possibly do and I paled. If I thought the way she does, I would not hesitate to destroy all of Athens to get at my enemies. I ordered the healer to warn the protector. Any object flying towards Athens must be investigated. If any are nuclear bombs - or any kind of bomb, it must throw them out into space.
“Get back home my love. You have gifts and they will need every bit of help they can get. The real attacks will start now. She is not a wise woman, she will not allow herself to see that she has lost and will try to attack in every way she can. I have ordered the protector to throw into space any bombs meant for Athens, but I cannot think of everything. Be there and help them. Try to think as she would and take precautions.”
“Please let me stay with you.”
“Your whole trip, all you suffered so as to be here today, they were worth it for the joy you gave me and for those few words you spoke. Now I have to be alone. Take back what you saw and let the others see and hear. I have a feeling the end, either way, is near and we will be together again. I promise that you and I will have time to ourselves.”
“You think I did this for that!?”
“No, but I think we both deserve some time for loving each other alone.” I gave her a long soft kiss, at first she resisted me, but then she melted and held to me tightly. “Go my love.” She stood up and tears brimmed her eyes as she jumped.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)27th June, 2019
- posted on Steemit: 27th June, 2019