LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 03 - post081

1618

Once we had all calmed down, Angelos asked Sam, emoting a respect for her we’ve never sensed from him before, “You started off by asking whether Robert should remain president if he acts to the detriment of our Cherinian dream. Since you did not accept his answer, you have left the question unanswered. What would your answer be?”

Sam nodded. “How many times have we thought Robert was wrong and acting against our interests - and even against our survival, and yet he has later on been shown to be right? How do we make a decision, do we allow time to first prove he was wrong? I also have another problem that worries me. Even those times when he has been wrong, time showed us that it was to our advantage, that his mistake contributed to our wellbeing and survival.” She grimaced. “It sounds as if I am saying that whatever he does we must not allow him to resign or be displaced, and that is wrong. I just can’t find a formula, a signpost, that tells us, here, this is it, fire him. My failure could be due to my reluctance to even think of him not being our leader, so maybe the rest of you should think on it for us?

We also cannot expect him to lead us under a constant threat of dismissal due to some difference in opinion or even due to an unimportant error. Another thing Angelo, I made a mistake, for the sake of the joke. The Cherinians do not have a president, all we have is a leader. There is a substantial difference and that difference is very important to us as a people. A president is an executive, the chief executive - an authority figure. On the other hand, a leader is mostly a guide and organiser. I know which of the two I prefer Robert to be.” I felt my heart explode with love - I had not suspected it is possible for my love for Sam to grow so much. She has found the words to make my role more acceptable to me.

Sam was a little overcome by everyone’s emoting, but I was surprised to notice Alki preventing everyone from opening a discussion - and I realised he is waiting for Sam to recover and take over the debate. I was amused to sense Cherine trying to peek at Sam’s thoughts.

Sam looked around, sensed none wish to speak, that they are waiting for her, so she softly spoke, “Today has been a calamity of a kind that we, as Cherinians, have never faced before. I apologise for the humour, but I felt we were too tense and anxious and any debate could have led to arguments. I hope we have regained our composure to some degree, and can talk calmly and with our love for each other guiding us.

Before we begin, I would like to point out that not everybody has the same questions or is troubled by the same problem, which I feel might keep us from finding suitable answers. Shall we break up the problem into various sub-headings? For instance, ‘Why didn’t Robert stop the attackers’, and ‘Should Robert have stopped them?’. They might sound similar, but I think they provoke different questions, which means they might also lead us to different conclusions. Perhaps we should also debate ‘Why did they attack’ and to what degree should we disguise the truth about ourselves so as to soothe their fears? Since Feizal was the host and the primary cause of attack was to assassinate him, does he have the right to expect us to stand aside while he deals with the problem? As Cherinians, when do we have the right to interfere? Must we take into consideration the possibility of our interference leading to a far greater number of deaths?

Cherine, my love, we all have the feeling that we must prevent Robert from speaking, so that we make our decisions before he says things we don’t want to hear. We would have been right if he had been allowed to speak immediately upon arrival, but now that he has had some time to reconsider, we must trust him to be a little wiser. If everyone has the time, let’s first make coffee and tea and cool drinks while someone dashes off to get us some sandwiches - since we did not get to eat during our short visit, I admit I am one of many who are hungry. While we are busy behaving like good hosts, Robbie, there are some of us who need help and your love for us to recover from our horrible experience, could you ignore our friends for a while and help us?”

1653

We did as Sam asked and she was right. After the sandwiches and pastries, a few coffees and, for a few of us, a cigarette, we were able to debate the various questions without anyone becoming over-emotional.

I was asked to speak first.

“Despite having a couple of hours to recover from the shock, I admit I’m not able to think as clearly as I should. I’m going to broaden the scope for a moment, in the hope it clears some of the grey areas. There have been a number of wars between the ex USSR countries - mostly with Russia, but perhaps the worst of them have been within what we used to call Yugoslavia. Reading and seeing on television the misery and deaths, I have often wished I could intervene, but we are too new and small a group, so I could not find a way to do anything that would make a difference without exposing ourselves.

I know that what I said makes me sound very selfish - and even un-Cherinian. But, let us imagine the Terran Cherinians number in the hundreds of millions, maybe even in the one or more billions, would or should we use our gifts and maybe powers to stop the wars? I don’t have one answer; I know what I want to be able to do on our behalf and I suspect I maybe am beginning to have some idea of what we, as Cherinians, have the right to do, if the war is between Normals. I have a feeling we may have to make up our minds in the near future. What we will never have to dither over is our responsibility should the Normals ever be attacked by psychic talents. Not even our own safety and survival can be allowed to negatively influence our decision.

If my thoughts are so unorganised and confused when talking about saving tens of thousands of women, children and men, then how do I deal with a situation that suddenly flares up over a couple of minutes? At the time, I felt it is important we respect the rights of the host and do nothing to increase his risks - which is what would have happened had I stopped the killing.

I think you all know by now that Feizal does not wish to become a Cherinian? I have a feeling that later on he may change his mind, but in the meantime, I see his group evolving separately from us. If we make an enemy of him, isn’t it more likely a war will be fought with thousands or even millions of deaths? I’m sorry, but at the time, the most I felt I could do is ensure the protector guards us and Feizal, his family and supporters.”

From the comments and emoting, I felt we had reached a temporary understanding, and then Gilli asked, “Maybe we could not save the sixty, but can’t you bring their souls back and make new bodies for them?”

My love has moved the ball back into my side of the court and I don’t feel I can handle it today, so I asked her, “Can we decide tomorrow? I’m too tired and confused to make such decisions - and I believe that if we choose to do it, we must first warn Feizal and ask for his advice…as an example, maybe he will prefer they are brought back in another country…or as babies.” Everyone agreed we should wait a day and soon returned to their homes. I held Gilli and Sam to me, while Cherine lay down upon me for a while. I was far more tired than I should have been and soon fell asleep.

1654

I waited until most Cherinians have finished their work of the day and called for them to join us. Sam insisted we invite Feizal and John to be present so as to give us their opinion. I refused, as I know they will choose to go along with ‘A’s’ offer, as they will not want me to feel guilty and it means there will be no loss of honour for them. Sam knows what will happen, just as well as I do, which is why she insisted. I love her trying to protect me, but I told her that what she wants as my daughter and wife must never bias her opinion when considering the good or survival of our dream.

First reactions to reading the letter? Disbelief & Fear (yes, with both in capital letters).

The fear part came from them sensing that Cherine and I, believe. For the first half hour we fought to convince everyone - and the result was that those who came to believe, only believed because Cherine and I do, which means that within a few days they will have discounted all our arguments and they won’t believe anymore. Though one reaction worthy of note was from Cassie.

As we argued, her eyes widened with shock and disbelief and she said, “Just our luck! We end up with the craziest creator ever, of any universe - and of all things, he is a writer…he writes stupid stories and talks to his characters?! This is soo embarrassing!” She looked at me with tears in her eyes (she is turning into a real ham), “Dad, I can’t come with you to the next inter-universe ball, everyone will be laughing at us.”

I tried asking a few questions, but he deleted all of them without answering me. Mr ‘A’, maybe you won’t answer my questions, but I know you will answer Cherine - because I know that you love her the mostest.

I hadn’t expected Sam to want to question Mr ‘A’ - I don’t know why, since she is more curious about anything and everything than anybody else I know. Actually I am surprised you answered her at all, since you’ve ignored all my efforts to talk with you.

John Smithson called to pass on another invitation by Feizal, but he asked that this time we meet at his home (John’s home). He offered to meet me at the airport and then, from his home, I can jump to bring the girls and anyone else I want to bring along. We did as he suggested and Alki and Savva came with.

I should have mentioned previously, Eddie and Hettie do not always sense us when we have a problem, so they often do not turn up with everyone else. If we wish them to be with us for certain, we contact them and let them know. It means we also have to keep in mind (if we are providing food or refreshments) that their kids will swell our numbers.

I did not want to waste time on speaking of the past to our hosts, as I feared I might also mishandle it and lose their friendship, so I cut straight to the chase. “It might be advisable we set out some of the important facts of our relationship - so that we are all clear as to where we stand. Personally, and of course that includes my family, during our past meetings, we have come to think of both of you as friends. As is natural from our side, where there is friendship, a liking, as an extension to how we feel, we wish to link those persons to us as Cherinians. However, it is not a condition, just something we wish for.

We do understand your reasons for not wishing to become Cherinians and we agree it may be wiser to remain as we are for the time being, but we do find it difficult to live with the thought that should any of you die, we permanently lose you. Is it truly impossible to reconcile coming to the void to dance with us, with your religious beliefs?”

1655

Feizal answered, “Although our religion is split, as are the Christians, even should an imam not of our belief announce we are heretics for joining with mutants who claim to offer eternal life, many of those who will plot for our deaths will also be of my own belief.”

I was shocked when Sam suddenly jumped - to just above the roof, where she formed an energy shell around her, and then she jumped out into space. Our loves and Alki were also disturbed, as she had not sent to us a reason. Feizal noticed her sudden absence and our consternation and asked for a reason for her departure, but we did not have an answer for him; all we could tell him is where she is.

He stared at me for a moment and then said, “You are all troubled - do you wish to go to her? We may continue our discussions in a day or two if you wish.”

“I sense Sam wants to be alone. If you are not in a hurry, may we wait for her here?”

We have never jumped to space and back into our home, so Sam did not know she should return to just above the roof, an exact reversal of her departure. The moment she arrived, we were hit by a freezing blast just before she let her shield go. She came to her feet and apologised. Feizal reassured her that no harm was caused and it was interesting and…perhaps a new way of air-conditioning their homes? He earned a few chuckles, but Sam remained standing.

“Robert, I was distressed by some thoughts I had. I saw possibilities, but then decided that your own rule must also apply to me. I may not lie to a friend - not even indirectly by withholding a truth.” I nodded. “It was the reason I left to think on my own, for I had to find the courage to speak honestly.

My first thought was that we will have to break our rule about not passing on our gifts to those who are not, or will not become Cherinians. Even if we decide this time will be an exception, we must do it, for they are liked by all of us and I sense we will grow to love them dearly as friends and they do qualify to be Cherinians.

My first idea was to be sneaky. It occurred to me that as we enter their minds to open doors for the gifts we wish them to acquire, we will sense their soul and probably exchange kiss with a few motes. If we do, I saw, then we can take their motes to our World, so that should they die, they can be saved. Even if I am wrong and more motes are needed, or we are not offered any motes, our World and protector can keep an eye out for them so that when they visit the void in their sleep, they can be identified by our knowing their personalities and then saved when their time comes.”

Feizal jerked with surprise. “You are saying that everyone visits the void when they sleep?”

I nodded. “Not every night, but yes, often.”

He stared into the eyes of Sam, but she calmly looked back. He said, “You have decided to tell us the truth, even though it could result in us refusing you?”

“For the choice to be yours, you must be told the truth.”

Gently, John asked, “If I may, which gifts are you intending to share with us?”

Sam told him, “Teleportation, telepathy and an introduction to your own healing energies.”

“For Feizal, his father…for myself?” Sam nodded. “What about our men?”

Sam replied, “I don’t know, it is for Robert to decide. Dad, perhaps only one of the gifts?”

Alki was closed to me, so I had no help from that direction. My loves are all too inexperienced for me to depend on their wishes, so I took a chance, “They are your men, Feizal, you must be the one to decide. I think Sam was hoping you would agree to at least one so that we can identify their souls for providing them with eternal life, if they choose to have it. Feizal, even if you are identified, you will not be saved against your will, you must agree to let the World or my protector save you.”

“I need to discuss it with my father.”

“If you both agree, call us and we will return.”

Feizal pointed out, “Future meetings should be here.”

I smiled. “Agreed. Feizal, if you trust your wives, we would welcome meeting them and your children.”

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

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