Little Cherine Book 09 - BPost050

“You have a nasty streak.”

“You didn’t have to verbalise your feelings for me Samantha, I know you love me.”




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Previous: Book 09 - Post 049



6091


“The only time I ever loved anything about you was when I was the Shadow. I relished the idea of eating you.”

He relaxed his blocking so that I could faintly feel him, showing me that he understood what was bugging me, but keeping our meeting private. It still bugged me, for I felt his amusement.

“I better leave, before you deal my ego a deathblow.” As he turned, he looked back. “Do you think you’ve convinced the Muyzith to stay?”

“Not if you were able to see through me.”

He chuckled, not fazed at all by the implication. “You’ve played the bad guy too often Sam. You should have let one of the other girls do it.” He chuckled again. “How about Candy, she would have been perfect.” He jumped.

It took me a while to realise that he’d paid me a backhanded compliment. By choosing Candy he’d highlighted the fact that the Muyzith would not have paid any attention to the others - unless it was Cherine or Dommi. I feel bad enough about having used Tina, I could never lay this kind of shame and guilt on another. Still, he was right, I’ve done this too often. I guess my mind tends to run in a certain direction. I better become more inventive.

The Muyzith stayed in their damn spaceship! It also meant I would have to continue playing the role I’d chosen. Not that I minded all of it, but the thought of staying nasty towards Tina did upset me. At least Cherine shared with Robbie and he was no longer angry with me when he came to take me home.

I woke up to Tina holding me and Robbie staring. “Umph! What now?” A titter of giggles and his grin woke me up completely. “What?”

“How do you do it? You found the solution while you were asleep! How do you think while sleeping?”

“I have? Sorry, have to dash.” When I came back from the bathroom I found them all waiting for me. I grinned. “I’m starving, I forgot to eat last night.” As I put on some clean clothes I smirked. “Guess it is time for a nice chat with Arthur.”




6092


Do you know what is the worst? Not those who feel contempt for me; those who feel sorry for me. Even Samuel! Anyway, it was my idea and I’ll have to live with it.

For the entire day we did not hear anything from the Muyzith. Towards what we call sundown, when Freddie begins to darken the sky, their ship opened and Msito and Qeubo came out. They wandered around for a while and then joined us at the taverna. Qeubo sat with Robbie while Msito came to me.

“I think this world is filled with anger for the first time. You with Arthur and us with you. Samantha, that was not manipulation, it was crude and dishonest.”

“I’ve had enough people telling me, I don’t need you to enlighten me.”



6093


She half got up and then sat down again. “I have come to make you an offer. We’ll reconsider the matter during the trip and give you our final answer when we arrive home.”

“Why?”

“Not because of you, not directly that is. Today Arthur showed himself to be a person who is willing to stay true to himself at whatever cost. We are aware that he needs you and to prefer to age and die rather than manipulate us lends weight to his claim that he loves all of us.”

I promise I’ll take care of it so that they see it as a plan executed by both of us because we love them.

Robbie has not only lifted the restrictions on the Muyzith, he has also asked them to return to working with our scientists. They carefully pointed out that they have not decided yet and he told them he does not care, either way they must learn all we know. He explained that he had acted out of anger and against his own principles. They know that he believes that he must give as much information as possible to the enemy, so they’ve accepted his change of heart as an aberration peculiar to him.

* * * * *



Robbie told Freddie to jump back to the last Earth, returning to a couple of days after our departure. All governments were wary of sounding too pleased at seeing us return, but we were invited to visit them in Athens after two days (giving time for their leaders to arrive there before us).

“Welcome back, on behalf of all our people. We are pleased that you have returned so as to afford us the opportunity to negotiate and find a solution that addresses the needs and fears of all parties.”

Robbie stared at him glumly. He’d been ready to tell them we had only returned to collect a message for the Eqkee, but now he could not do so without appearing ungracious. I took over.



6094


“We did not leave in anger. We were troubled and needed time to consider the situation dispassionately. You may not think so, but we do understand your fears. I may only be a young girl, but I am puzzled by something. If you feared the Cherinians, why didn’t you make an effort to ensure they love all of you? Why try to make them dislike you?”

The prime minister of Italy chuckled. “We are pleased you have taken it upon yourself to speak for your people Samantha Teller. At least, by reputation, we know you will be willing to negotiate, even if your point of view is rather naïve. Governments do not think in terms of love.”

“You prefer to use words like compromise and appeasement? Surely the words you use should suit the party you are to negotiate with? If you had two enemy states to negotiate with, one a genuinely peace loving nation and the other a warrior people, would you not use different words for each? The word that suits us the best is love.” I grinned at him and those around him. “It must be a very difficult experience for all of you, having to deal with a people who use love as their measure of success and failure.”

Once I had broken the ice we let Hettie and Eddie take over. They went to their meetings while we accepted invitations to official functions and took some time out for visiting the local Kefalari coffee shops.

It took nearly four months, because a number of leaders had to return to their countries to get the approval of their parliament or quickly set up a referendum so that their people could vote. We took this opportunity to go to all our favourite places and stayed in hotels arranged for by the Greek government. That is why I have not been writing here.

I think that one of the changes that unsettled most government strategies was the sudden growth of Cherinianism. Everywhere Cherine appeared she was inundated by requests for her to link them. Those who came to Cher were sent to Cherine once we explained that their Cherine has to link them. Within the first two weeks Cherinians totalled over four thousand and the numbers have been growing daily. By the time we left the total had passed the twenty thousand mark. They’ll soon be linking each other and they’ll grow in numbers exponentially.

During our stay, Freddie did not remain in orbit all the time. When we arrive at a planet, he works out what the ‘LaGrange libration points’ are so that he minimises the loss of energy required for maintaining his orbit. Unfortunately this Earth has made use of all such points for their own satellites and space stations, apart from L2, which is behind the moon, so he returns to the void often.

Predictably the Chinese showed they’d paid attention to our telling, but still they surprised us by inviting me to a ceremony where I am to be declared an honorary citizen of China. The girls started the jokes and soon all Cherinian Terrans were thinking up their own variations. Jade made a sketch of me with oriental eyes and black hair and it seems that soon everyone had a copy.

It may have been funny to some, but to me it was a huge problem. If they’d invited me privately it would have been easier to refuse, but they announced it to the entire world, knowing I would understand I cannot refuse. We debated it at length and Robbie decided it is alright for me to accept.

The ceremony and celebrations were beautiful and I have hundreds of pictures of us to show you when you come but, it also precipitated a political crisis. Directly after declaring me an honorary Chinese, they handed me another document. They jumped the gun, even ignoring their United Nations and unilaterally signed an agreement that gave us much more than we had asked for. They also added a clause demanding that all Chinese Cherinians, immediately upon linking, must present themselves at the nearest police station or court to sign an oath of allegiance and a confirmation that they submit to the authority of their government. I suspect all governments will demand that clause now and it worries me, but I’ll have to hope that developments soon make it obsolete, since I doubt we can ask to remove it - they are cunning, by them signing an agreement that in all other ways exceeded what we could have reasonably expected, I would be causing them loss of face if we refused them.



6095


The British government was the first to mimic the Chinese and they asked to declare our Cherine and Robbie honorary citizens. The French asked Goldi (trust them to go for beauty)! Soon we were being inundated by these invitations and nobody was laughing or making jokes about me anymore. Robbie suggested we run away for a few centuries. As usual, he dumped the problem on Hettie.

Hettie and Eddie jointly announced that my relationship with our China had prompted me to accept their invitation, but that all Cherinians, of all species, would feel far more honoured if the governments extend their invitations jointly, through their United Nations. They did as was asked and now we have a funny situation. They are all honorary citizens of this planet, while I am only an honorary citizen of China. As anyone who knows my sweet family by now would guess, I have to put up with some pretty funny teasing.

Just before we left, an astronomer who has time allotted to him on one of their bigger space telescopes, asked to meet Robbie. He handed him a star chart with a star ringed in red. “I find the results of various tests indicate an anomaly. There is a planet,” he pulled out another photo and pointed at something that could barely be seen, “that lies exactly within the parameters we consider favourable to life. I am not getting any indications of atmosphere, but I feel we should. Would you be going that way by any chance? If I could come with, you would be satisfying an old man’s last wishes.”

I think Robbie only agreed because of his flagrant emotional blackmail. He certainly did not feel any interest in that planet - as far as we could sense. To be honest, my nasty suspicious mind decided that the planet was only an excuse, Sir Alfred wants to travel in space and at his age no Terran spaceship could have taken him, just the takeoff would have killed him. I like that he has tried so hard to make his dream come true, so I can quite happily ignore his sly method of ‘playing’ us.

Before we left we had a week alone with our alter family and close friends (both sides), Robbie especially enjoying the company of Robert's son almost exclusively and then we gave the last two days to the people of this world. Throughout our stay, all Cherinians aboard Freddie jumped to Earth whenever Freddie was in normal space and used their healers tirelessly in every country. For a while at least, our visit seems to have done some good and Cherine has become more like our Cher. Not Robert though. He is still much softer and laid-back than our Robbie is. His Cherine wants him to stay as he is, so we all wish her the best of luck - no Robert can stay soft and mushy if he is to remain the protector of his Cherine and leader of all Cherinians. (R: Especially if he hasn’t got a Samantha like mine - eh?)

Five hundred local Cherinians were invited to join us for an extended journey. Some barter deals were struck, our fruit and vegetables for meat and a few minor luxuries. Many eyes widened when we heard the prices they are selling our produce, advertising it as being from Freddie. Sir Alfred was transferred in a platform, a public farewell ceremony was organised and we left.

Sir Alfred could not very well admit his interest in the planet had been a ruse, so he explained, ever so diplomatically, that he would not mind exchanging that mystery for the experience of landing on inhabited planets. Robbie firmly insisted on travelling to his planet so he has to pretend an enthusiasm we could sense is not real. As we arrived, I think he was more astounded than anyone that the planet actually exists.

“Are we going closer?”

“Not yet. I agree with Sir Alfred, that planet was alive. Until I know there are no remnants of weapons ready to attack anything that moves, we examine it from here. I’ll go there tomorrow, I want some time alone with my family first.”

He was tender and loving to all of us that day and night, but we were not fooled, especially when we noticed he was concentrating more on Haven, Jade, Empathia and myself. As for Cherine, she only encouraged him to be sweeter with us girls while laughing at him within herself.



6096


We were deliciously satiated the next morning as we lay in bed, none of us wanting to be the first one to get up.

“Dad?” Empathia called out from the edge of the bed. “Would you mind if none of us come with you today? I think you’ve made us feel too good and lazy to want to travel around a dead system.” My mind went into overdrive, trying to work out what she was scheming, so I did not protest.

Once he was gone, only his body lying with us, she grinned. “You see Aganthi, I am learning. He was determined not to take us, so I offered him what he would have demanded of us. Did you all feel how confused but grateful and full of love he was for all of us?”

“Nonsense! All I felt was how he felt about you.” She looked at Dommi in dismay, until Dommi and all of us erupted in peals of laughter.

As soon as Robbie returned, Freddie allowed the Inguel and Unation spaceships to leave. The Muyzith ship did not move, but two of them went with in the Unation ship. Of course the taverna was surrounded by scientists and other people waiting to hear what Robbie has discovered.

“I have a feeling we will only find out what…” He stopped as an awful noise filled Freddie. Within seconds the noise softened into the distance. “Freddie, what caused that?”

“I momentarily moved closer, within range of a broadcast from outside. I have moved out of the system again. All other spaceships are also leaving.”

Robbie did not need to ask whether Freddie is recording. Now that the sound was almost a whisper, we tried to listen to work out whether there were recurring phrases that might help us translate. Everyone was hoping that Claudia’s gift would kick in. We have waited two days and it is no closer to being understandable or any less nerve-racking than it was. How can her gift not be working for them?

Wendy, with all Wendy’s, Candy’s and our Spice went to Wendy’s apartment where she has her recording studio. Maria had to take them food when they did not join us for lunch or supper. When she returned, Maria spoke to Robbie. “Wendy asked me to let you know it is not speech, that sound is meant to be music.”

“Well, Sir Alfred, do you have a good ear for music? These people are your discovery so we expect you to find a way to translate their message for us.” We all carefully hid any signs of our amusement as he floundered, denying it is his job to explain them. It is not often Cherine teases outsiders, so we guessed that she likes the old guy.

Robbie got into the spirit of things. “I agree with Cherine, you found them so we expect you to explain what happened to them. As their discoverer, I think we should name them the Alfredians, your surname is not a suitable name for any species.” ‘Turnbull’ could have had some amusing connotations for us to play with, so Sir Alfred did not protest.

He was holding his glass of whiskey firmly to hide the trembling of his hands as he earnestly tried to convince us that he is only an astronomer, that it is the job of others to translate and explain alien civilisations. The Wendy group saved him by returning. Robbie really wanted them all on his lap while they excitedly explained, but he made do with Spice. Because of that, the others allowed Spice to speak for them.

“It is music. The songs evolve from one to another, but we are able to artificially separate them. None of the songs have words, so we think the songs themselves are meant to be their message to any who find them.”

Robbie grinned down at her, “They must have really loved music if they expected all species to want to listen to theirs.”

In all earnestness she replied, “They must think differently from us.”



6097


Wendy expanded, “Either their brain waves are different from ours, or their ears are. Let me show you what we mean.” Softly she started to hum the terrible noise we’d been hearing, gradually it changed, less unbearable, but not music to our ears yet. She re-hummed the same piece again, changing the timing once more and we started to hear something that might not have been beautiful but was structured and starting to make sense. Wendy paused, looked at the others and then burst into song. At key points the others joined her and transfixed we lost ourselves in a song that wove a spell of beauty.

Those alien species who had not ‘heard’ the song and been affected by it as we had, did not need anyone to explain, they could see the music has altered our perceptions of the extinct species. One of them, a little bit disgruntled, said, “However beautiful the music is, I do not see how it can help us learn about them.”

“I think they sent us the only message that mattered to them: Here was a species that loved music above all else.”

“But what killed them? If it was war, that does not say much for music lovers.” Haven upset all the incarnations of Wendy, but they had to partially admit she had a point.

A Cherinian from Germany took Haven’s side. “We Germans adore music, especially classical music. I think we must be the only people where families and friends still gather at homes to play music. Yet we started two world wars and millions died. Love of music and art and the fine soul that goes with all that does not preclude such a people from committing atrocities. I’m looking forward to learning more about these people and the cause of the destruction we’ve seen.”

The easy way would have been for the scientists to examine the weathering and estimate the number of centuries or millennia that have passed and Freddie then to jump back in time. The other is for us to examine all the clues, dig around within the planet in the hope of finding buried cities and so on. The second alternative would have been perfect if we were still trying to delay the return of the Muyzith, but that no longer applied. Still, we will learn more from employing the latter tactic - not about the extinct species only, but also about how to learn.

We only had one urgent problem to solve. The method of broadcasting being used was too pervasive, we needed a way to mute it. The problem turned out to be something that even Normals solved long before Cherinianism began. We created pockets of silence by broadcasting through our computers what I call anti-music (white noise), every note being cancelled out by the opposite note, or something like that. The only remaining problem was Freddie. He could not bear the music and having it playing non-stop would drive him nuts.

Freddie stayed out of range and we travelled within the system either in soundproof platforms or space ships or went there as souls. The last was the least popular, as it is very difficult to recognise artefacts.

Our obvious targets were the broadcasting satellites. It turned out that most of them were situated on and partially within large meteorites. The scientists worked out how to lower the volume, but could not find a way to stop the music entirely without destroying the satellites. We did not mind, as Wendy is recording it for her to translate into music we can appreciate.

On the fourth site, another machine was discovered and we raced there to join the scientists. Robbie sheathed us in case it attacks our platform. Everybody stopped when the machine moved. The music softened and the machine began talking. We quickly worked out it was repeating a phrase. Claudia was pushed forward so that she hears it clearly and we waited. Its speech remained unintelligible for much longer than usual, but when the words began to stutter through, we all burst out laughing. It was repeating without pause a request for us to speak to it so that it can learn our language. We lost all sense of what it was saying after we laughed. I realised it thinks our laughter is our language and is trying to translate it.



6098


I raised my hand for silence. “My name is Samantha. I will keep on talking to help you learn our language.” I pointed at myself. “Samantha.” I pointed at my head, arms, body legs and so on, giving it the names. I pointed at stars, at the space around us and whatever else I could think of. I counted from one to nine, holding up an equivalent number of fingers.

“How space…no…nothing?”

“Number nothing is called zero by us. My mistake, I wanted to keep everything simple.”

“Zero not simple?” From the titters in their minds I knew I’d amused everyone.

“You were created? What were creators called?”

We had difficulty in handling their name, even their words grate on our nerves, so we chose the closest equivalent - Paerins.

The machine did not speak in its language again until we asked it to, days later. If we are to bring back this species, it would help a lot if Claudia’s magic gift is working and we can communicate with them. Within three days we were communicating clearly enough to ask about the fate of its creators.

The machine, actually, a robot, chose this moment to ignore our question. “Paerin make music. Music spirit of soul. Robot not a Paerin, difficult understand essence. Home planet many times circle sun, thousands times, before start to feel music speak. Question. Robot hear music speak, is robot still robot? No soul, machine have spirit like Kinytian?”

“Is your question or ability to ask it part of your programming?”

“All questions. Made to learn, extrapolate.”

“How does music affect you?”

“Initiate self-defence routines. Stop them, no enemy, only robot and music.” Fear.

“How did the death of all Paerin affect you?”

“No answer. Not know Paerin. Only created to greet you.”

“You mean, whichever species comes here?”

“You species come here, so created to meet you. Teach you about music?”

“Later. Have many questions to ask first.”

“Only music important.”

“Sam?”

“It seems the Paerin had such a mania about music, that they did not consider the possibility aliens might have other priorities. I don’t think we will learn much more from it.” I spoke to the robot. “I do not like calling you robot. Would you mind if I name you Franz after a great musician of ours?”

Thousands gathered to listen and speak if they disagreed. “Is there much point in staying here? We have not found artefacts on their planet and all machinery in space, apart from Franz, is non-sentient. We estimate their technology was equivalent to Terran, only capable of examining their own system.”

“We’ll have to collect an Inguel team for terraforming the planet. If the Paerin have souls, as is indicated by what Franz said, we’ll bring back as many of them as we can. If not, about a million.”

Wendy giggled. “If you bring them back without their musical instruments they will consider you a barbarian and not worthy of wasting their time on communicating with you.”



6099


Robbie smiled. “You’re enjoying yourself my love, at last a people with the same passion as you?”

“I’m certain they’ll hate my music - and my rendering of their music. It will sound horrible to them.”

“Never! Not anything you sing my love.”

I guess it was out of curiosity that we returned to Franz and offered to play Paerin music for him in the way we hear it. Within minutes of the Wendys singing, Freddie and the other spaceships took evasive action and warned us that ancient erratic missiles are aimed at us. Robbie took care of them while I tried to get Franz to explain himself. He refused to communicate with us.

Now and then there are times I feel or need to say something that will tarnish the image of the Samantha Arthur described, so I’ll sometimes play a waiting game, in case somebody else has the same thoughts. This time nobody obliged me, so I prepared myself for the assault on my emotions.

“Before we decide to bring back the Paerin, we should consider all possibilities.”

Robbie asked, more interested in my lack of emoting, “Such as?”

“This thing about music, it bothers me.”

Everyone smiled when Robbie spoke to me in a patronising way, knowing that he was provoking me deliberately. “Just because we don’t like it, it doesn’t mean we should not give their species a second chance.”

I ignored him, deciding to duck by hinting. “I guess the four will feel at home with them.”

“Oh no, they can’t stand their music either.”

Robbie was doing it deliberately, forcing me to speak clearly, even though he must have guessed by now what my worries were. “I get the feeling they are a race that becomes fanatical about whatever they believe in. They could end up becoming a menace to all species.”

“Our friend of aliens is advocating that we abandon a species to oblivion?”

“Yes. I was. I’ve changed my mind. We need to bring them back to teach you not to tease me.” Even Robbie grinned as everyone laughed.

“Do we do the same for all species from now on? Do we first sit in judgement of them and only help those we think will be our friends? Should we advise the Inguel teams of our decision?”

“My reasoning may not be as sound as it should be and it may be unethical, but I have a feeling that bringing them back will cause, at an extreme, bloodshed, and at a minimum, pain.”

“Until we find a way to help them? Do you think they can be as extreme as the old Akiards?”

“No. You are comparing apples to oranges. We will find it difficult resisting the Paerin effectively because they will be acting out of love for us.”

Robbie was silent a moment. “Let’s go back to learn how they died out and then I’ll think about what you said.”

We first returned to collect an Inguel team, took a look at the species they last saved and then Freddie jumped back in time by about nine thousand years.


6100

Chapter Two Hundred Forty Nine

The scientists had estimated correctly, the Paerin still existed. It did seem they had told us to jump too far back, the Paerin are still a simple people, without the technology to create the devastation we’ve seen. Thanks to their obsession with music and the arts, they have not been creative in the sciences. The populations are too low for large cities to form and they have not spread throughout their planet, a continent that rings their South Pole has only a few villages, made up of fishermen who live there part of the year.

Freddie jumped forward a hundred years without us seeing any change. Another hundred years and we stared in shock! The planet was ringed with spaceships, space ferries travelling to and fro and countless satellites. The South Pole continent now has cities on it! At a request from Jade, Freddie zoomed in on the cities and we saw what she’d noticed. The architecture is alien to everything else on this planet. Robbie left his body.

“There are two species and even the animals and vegetation of the South Pole continent is different. We better return in time to ascertain whether this was an invasion or not.”

We had to return almost to the time of our last visit. The visitors were still outside the solar system and we picked up their broadcasts, asking for permission to visit. We split into two teams, some to watch the Paerin and the others left for the incoming spaceships. Claudia, Haven, some of our friends and Robbie and I went with the second team.

“Still no response?”

“All I’m receiving is the same noise as before Captain.”

“Our translator cannot identify any key words Captain.”

“Continue broadcasting.” Captain Foorize contacted the captains of his fleet and they confirmed the same results.

A rather harassed and belligerent looking captain addressed captain Foorize. “We cannot wait for them to respond, our people will start dying within days if we don’t get fresh supplies. Our hydroponics species are dying.”

It felt as if Captain Foorize was staring at me as he grimly averted his eyes from the monitors. He looked back at his fleet captains. “We’ll have to proceed with caution, but nobody lands or attacks unless I order it.”

Robbie warned us not to make our presence known and to wait for him. He returned to Freddie and was back with us within minutes. *I cannot find them in our witness recordings! Neither can I find the Paerin. How did the fire-world miss both species?*

*You only witnessed the solar systems it had visited dad, there should be many species it had not visited when it attacked Earth. I doubt Earth was the last planet it came to in our galaxy.*

*True enough. Something tells me these people are not building a galactic empire, they are carrying too many passengers.*

Claudia said, *Of course! They must have faced a worldwide catastrophe, that is why their stocks are depleted. They are more advanced than the Eminixx were and yet they seem to be just as desperate.*


An officer entered. “Captain, do we prepare for landing? We have identified the one continent as being largely free of the local species, so we should be able to gather the supplies we need without them being aware of our presence. Since they have not advanced into space communications yet, we should be able to keep our presence secret from them.”



Next [Book 09] - Post 051



I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.





Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)

15th March, 2020

  • posted: 15th March, 2020




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