Little Cherine Book 12 - BPost004

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(Edited)

Patrice asks, could you help stabilise his reality by writing about it?

Wow! What do you think Sam, do you reckon I could? Even if an a-reality is an alternate of my reality?

If we go there and you write for us, it might work. A question though: if you do, would his reality stay in the a-reality or would it become a part of our realities?

Not a part Sam, since I cannot alter the personalities of those already living there - and Patrice will have to undertake never to let them know of your existence.

He says once you stabilise his realities he wishes to live in our realities.

I would suggest he visits you, but stays in his home realities, they will need him so that he can help them change.

Patrice agrees and I think he now believes you. He says that it frightens him that his author is your author as it means we are also vulnerable to him.

Shit!!

You said it for us






Previous: Book 12 - Post 003



7831

We have postponed our departure so as to give Patrice time to grow into feeling comfortable with us. Part of the required familiarisation is the mixture of species he will have to grow accustomed to, but having the treehouses curving over us also takes getting used to. We still want to jump to a new a-reality, but some are arguing that we should return to our reality because of Patrice. I don’t see it, after all, he wants us to visit his realities and grow stronger in how ‘real’ we are. Seeing as to how each a-reality from now on (we hope) will belong to a different probability stream, our jumps should also be exciting and novel, teaching us more about the realities of Arthur.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how his reality can be stabilised. I do not consider it enough for us to help the Terrans only, we must save the entire universe so that all species survive. What could Arthur write of that would be powerful enough to affect billions of galaxies?

After writing the above I sat back, sinking into a light form of meditation, somewhat akin to daydreaming. I opened my eyes to find Cherine standing by my side with that tiny hint of a smile that Robbie loves so much.

“What power is required for a man to enter a black hole and survive? When even light cannot escape, how does a mind? Sam, perhaps all that is needed is that you believe in Arthur.”

The Akiard kids had been amused to discover they’d helped bring Patrice to our realities and they started to take a personal interest in him. He did not emote any fear of them so they grew to speak more openly with him than they do with most species. They arrived at our home to speak to us before we left for the taverna and asked Meli to hold a telling for Patrice. They want that when the telling is over they join their souls to become the gestalt being so that it can sense him. They want to be certain that his material body is as permanent as ours, the idea of him fading away like smoke upsets them.

Patrice is not like Robbie, he cannot sit for hours. It is a pity Samuel King is not with us as I think they’d enjoy each others’ company. Luckily the Akiard kids are very active, some of the female Akiards make time for him and he walks and talks with the Elipians very often. There are those hours when he seems to need to be alone (mostly early morning or at twilight hours). Since that is what he needs, that is what he usually gets - which made it a convenient time for me to talk to him on his own.

“How do you know how many books and short stories your author has written? Since you do not have copies of them, how have you identified them?”

He nodded in greeting. “I also mentioned he does not allow us freewill. That is what makes it easy.”

“Could you give me an example?”

“I avoided telling you about them, as a matter of fact, you could say I lied by omission, but he has chosen his heroes. They are a group of five, one woman and four men. The leader is a British man called Godfrey and he has a big square jaw, highly intelligent piercing blue eyes and he does not break under torture. He speaks six languages and he can study an encrypted document for a few minutes and decrypt it - all without the use of pen and paper. He is a fanatical anti-Nazi, but admires the German people in general. The woman, Lady Annabelle, is besotted by Godfrey and he loves her also, but he has sworn not to open his heart to love until he has freed Germany from the Nazis.

Imagine he goes on a mission into Germany, smartly dressed as a German officer and with all the documentation that one of his team forged perfectly the week before. Our hero Godfrey has heard that the Nazis have built a weapons factory and he has come to Germany to blow it up. Surrounding the factory are two very high electrified fences with guard dogs patrolling between the fences and concrete towers with guards holding machine guns. The strong lights from the towers cover every inch of the fences every ten to fifteen seconds. Godfrey and Lady Annabelle approach the fence and from behind a bush Godfrey shoots tiny darts that make the dogs sleep without causing them any pain, for Godfrey loves dogs and would prefer to sacrifice his life than hurt a dog. Tenderly Lady Annabelle runs her fingers over the guard dog eyes and they sink into a deep sleep happily wagging their tails.



7832

Often there is a child in danger, either a gypsy child, or of the Jewish race or even, and this is the favourite, a German child with golden hair and bright blue eyes and a heart as tender as that of any Cherinian child.” I grinned and he actually gave me a tiny hint of a smile.

“In this particular story, there is no child or, if there is, it will appear later, once he has blown up the factory and half the German army and the SS is chasing the two of them. Of course they’ll ignore the danger they are in and save the child. Should they be trapped and no escape is possible, Godfrey will camouflage Annabelle and surrender himself so that she can escape and confirm for London that the factory no longer exists. It does not matter how many times this happens and even should every single soldier present know what he has done, they will not search for Lady Annabelle, for she is meant to escape. They have to be satisfied by torturing Godfrey until he escapes.

Let us return to the fence for a moment. As Godfrey sticks his head out to precisely work out to the second when he should cross the fences, a guard sees him. The guard mentions it to his partner and they both begin to swing their guns towards the bush that Godfrey is hiding behind. One of the guards even mentally notes that he must point out to his superior that all bushes close to the fence were supposed to have been removed - and he wonders how come he never noticed the bush before. Before the guards can point their weapons and shoot, they both decide they did not see anything and turn to speak to each other, their faces averted, so that Godfrey can cross the fences, place his explosive charges at various points, knocking out a dozen guards or so who might see the explosives and return to his Lady Annabelle and leave for the train that will take them out of danger. They might or they might not have further adventures on the train, depending on the story.”

I tried to ignore the laconic tone of voice he used to relate the above and visualised what he said. I decided he was right. “What happens with the two guards who saw and then did not see him? Do they react in any way?”

“Yes. Often they kill themselves for their betrayal is not something they can explain and it eats at them like acid. It is alright for them to die as they are fervent Nazi supporters.”

“And you have tried to interfere?”

“Where lives are about to be lost for no reason, yes. Within seconds everything reverts to as it was.”

I felt Robbie shrivel inside as I told Patrice, “You do realise that it means we cannot help those realities? The war will continue and people will die until the author stops writing. As long as he even intends writing another story or novel, we cannot change what is.”

He could not feel our emoting so he replied, “I am glad you can see that. I feared you may think you can and must save them.”

I saw I’d made a mistake. “Patrice! He only controls one reality, that’s all! The rest are alternates so it means we can make changes there, or, we should be able to. In how many realities have you unsuccessfully tried to save lives?”

“In at least seven.”

Dismayed I stared at him. “That doesn’t make sense. It is in the nature of alternate realities that changes are not only tolerated but are necessary - or else there would be no alternate realities growing from that original reality.”

Athia asked to join us and then jumped. “Sam, what if the changes Patrice makes force the reality to split but because of his unique reason for existing he stays in the original reality so to him it looks as if the changes he made are undone.” We had to confirm for a very excited Patrice that Athia’s theory is very likely what is actually happening and we felt how he was now inspired to return to repeat the changes he forced, endlessly. His feelings made us laugh (with joy).

When we settled emotionally I placed my hand on his arm. “Patrice, you are a Cherinian in your heart, how do we link you?” He gave me a puzzled look. “To be on your own, your link broken, it would be too cruel.”



7833

Robbie jumped to us. “You are jumping ahead Sam, there is much to be done before we have to worry about that.”

“Are we to leave him without the gifts he needs dad?”

“Gifts? I think he already has a healthy dose of empathy and all the powers he needs. The rest he can wait for.”

“His healer also?” Obviously that had slipped his mind and he frowned. We cannot leave him without the ability to heal himself and others, but doing so could open his mind to further gifts and powers without him being a Cherinian - something that we try to have a rule about, but struggle with the ethics often enough for the rule to be observed less often than it should be. I tried to simplify the reasoning for our rules so as to help Robbie. “Why don’t we define a few talents, I mean the way we find them. We tend to think of paranormal powers or gifts as being discovered by using Eastern philosophies and techniques, such as meditation. The Europeans, Africans and Americans have also known of the talents for centuries and they each had their own techniques and philosophies. At one time, the Catholic Church saw them as manifestations of Satan and burnt them at the stake. Later on, mediums saw them as manifestations of favour from God. If a boy living in the mountains, uneducated and devoted to watching his father’s goats finds a way to grow his healing power, should we consider him a threat to Cherinians?

I think that when we speak of not opening gifts unless they are linked, we are speaking of showing the person the map to his Talents, not the flowering of a particular gift only. Throughout history thousands have learnt how to use their healing power to heal others or themselves and yet, I have not heard of any of them learning to converse with the power. I think it is possible for us because of Cherine and we need to be linked for it to happen.”

“Are you saying we should change our rules? What do you think will happen if we do?”

I shrugged. “We’ll destroy ourselves. I was not suggesting we do it wholesale, what I think we should consider is the possibility of opening specific gifts for specific people - and that should only be done with those we consider good candidates for linking, but for other reasons we cannot link.” I tipped my head towards Patrice. “Such as him.”

Robbie grinned. “Do you think he needs it? You have not asked yourself how he has lived over a hundred years up to now without ageing?”

*You set me up - I owe you one!* He found it funny and soon had all the family and close friends laughing as he shared with them.

I think it was mostly to cut myself off from their laughter that prompted me to ask Patrice, “How have you stayed young, did you order your healer to rejuvenate you?”

“Healer? No, I don’t think I have a healer as you do - I’ve never been able to heal anyone else. I think my author gave me the power to stay young and healthy…that’s all.”

“Would you like to have a healer like us - I mean, like the Cherinians?” Oh well, at least nobody is laughing at me anymore and we are sort of holding a ceremony after supper when Patrice is put in contact with his healer - in the way others do it, not as a Cherinian, so hopefully he will not be able to communicate two ways with it. He understands why he must not help others do the same, unless he finds them to be suitable to be linked as Cherinians…even if we can’t link them because they belong to the a-reality. As I pointed out to everyone, when we find Arthur, he’ll be linked despite being from the a-reality, so perhaps we should someday re-think that also.

Freddie had us in stitches the next morning. After Patrice was brought to prime health by his healer (he had thought he was at prime health) he spent the night walking around, singing and dancing now and then from his excessive energy and happiness. In the woods it was darker because of the leafy canopy and when he saw the rear end of a horse he sat on a log and told it about how he would now be strong enough to help thousands. As he made his dreams he was startled when he was interrupted by the ‘horse’ speaking to him.



7834

“I am pleased that you will be able to help your people, it is the only way to true happiness. Should you require assistance, ask for us and all Elipians will be honoured to be permitted to assist you.”

Patrice and Roguin became friends, despite Patrice feeling embarrassed when he realised he’d woken up his new friend. Roguin introduced him to a number of Elipians he had not previously met and they had hundreds of questions to ask him about the a-realities, most of which he could not answer.

I still had one question to ask and now that he felt comfortable with us I asked it. We managed to send to him an image of the face of Mrs Evans and the sound of her voice, but he denied knowing her.

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Nine

Lynda concentrated on a variety of photographic images of Arthur and then, closing her eyes, she stared at an image of him from her memory of him at Cherine’s forty seventh birthday. What she does from thereon I don’t think even she knows, but if Arthur’s reality is anywhere within reach of her talent, she’ll sense it. As has been the case till now, she did not. She accepted the sense of the first a-reality that came to her and she sent it to Freddie. We jumped, arriving in the void as always.

Solomon joined us as we watched Earth through the tip Freddie extended into normal space. He watched for a while and as he sensed us widening the range of our attention he said, “It is such a waste. Not one void in all the a-realities has hosted any life that we can sense. Surely the Sparklers are not the only lifeform that found it possible to evolve within the void?” I took it as a rhetorical question and casually watched the images still spinning across the screens from Earth.

“Have you considered what would be required for any species to survive long enough to evolve in the void? It is not only the physical combination of mostly an energy body with the minuscule amount of matter fully protected from the void, I think the mental needs are just as important.” Solomon’s eyes stared at Haven, betraying his keen interest in what she was expressing. “Your species never had territorial instincts and you could do, in your own way, as Ambros and Pambros do - they constantly transfer their seat of consciousness to different parts of their body. Sparklers are unique individuals that have evolved to attain unity without losing their individuality, enabling the major part of your population to drift through time and awaken only when it is their turn or there is an emergency to be dealt with or something is occurring of such overwhelming interest that all or most Sparklers have to awaken. Try to imagine my family surviving for millions of years without the external stimuli we need; we could not. Solomon, an accident sent your species to the void in the unique bodies you have, but it is the way you think that made it possible to survive and flourish as a species - such a combination must have extraordinary odds against it occurring naturally. Nothing is impossible, perhaps another species will make the void their home, but I seriously doubt it will happen.”

“Patrice, this is not a war world. Can you identify which probability stream it belongs to?”

“Not from what I’ve seen.” He pointed at the map Freddie had on a screen and Freddie zoomed in at what he intended commenting on, which was North Africa. “This is the first reality I’ve seen without a desert there.”

Robbie nodded. “According to data being collected by the scientists, the population is low, about one and a half billion and yet, the ecology has suffered severe damage. If I extrapolate from the data collected, it seems they enthusiastically adopted nuclear technology for providing electricity far earlier than our Earth did so there is less pollution from burning coal, but their reactors are not as sophisticated as ours were and there have been a number of accidents, bringing about a number of hot spots and the radiation in general is far higher than is healthy. According to the Sparklers and Anadir, the incidence of some form of cancer exists in most of their population and a large percentage of children are being born with either a form of mutation or cancer or both. I may be wrong, but it looks to me like they are allowing their civilisation to slide backwards because they have given up as a species - they must feel as if they are caught in a trap they cannot escape from without destroying their economies. We better wait for a final report, we’ll have it by tonight.”

There is far too much pain and suffering for us to excuse ourselves with the reasons we’ve employed for not involving ourselves in the a-realities up to now. We do not want to place all Cherinian realities at risk but we must find a way to help them.

Maria knows that when Robbie is deeply worried, the only way to make him eat is by placing a plate of grilled lamb cutlets with potato chips, lots of lemon, a salad and a bottle of ice cold beer before him. Without thinking about it he’ll nibble at them until the plates are ivory graveyards for the bones. This is Angelica; Samantha tried to write more ‘artistically’ using her ‘ivory graveyards’ to do so and she has since then been teased half to death about being pretentious. What made it worse was that you actually re-wrote it using her words! What happened, don’t tell me you thought it was ‘artistic’? lol - I guess you’ll have to laugh at both of us then. I won’t mind, I’ll be in great company. Oops, I regret I have to advise you that your response to my sally has earned you a big tick on our board and half of us are envious of Sam - who has shown bad sportsmanship and is smirking. Go for it Sam - smirk for me also!



7835

We needed a bit of laughter, thanks. I want a private chat with you soon - after we’ve found a way to help this world.

Robbie has a bunch of cheesed off wives because he did not share. He kept his idea to himself and asked Freddie to jump back to our Earth and then called for Hettie and Eddie to join us. He waited as they shared from us, had a drink and conversation died down.

“Do you ever feel nostalgic for those first days before we told our governments about the aliens?”

Eddie grinned, but Hettie laughed. “You are talking about the time they considered us criminals? I can’t say I have ever felt nostalgic for those days. I was totally convinced you’d led us into a catastrophe that not only would expose you, but also wipe out Eddie and I. Definitely not one of my favourite memories.”

“A pity, I thought that if you had an opportunity to have some fun doing it again you’d jump at the chance.”

“I doubt it would be fun Robert,” Eddie said, “we’d also have to be more careful this time since we do not have our friends to fall back on if things go wrong since they must not learn about our realities.”

“Luckily the worst of the problems will be handled by the Sparklers and Anadir - and any other species who feel like sending their healers. We not only have to heal the damage to the people, we also have to rid the planet of the radiation and that will take hundreds of millions of healers. The technology we will bring to them will mostly come from our world - even if it is outdated. We’ll need details for the local patent offices, but we’ll also need working plans and blueprints for building nuclear power stations with all the safety redundancies our scientist have invented. Eddie, before any of that happens, the two of you will have to be left on planet about twenty years earlier so that you can establish your presence in a natural way. Create the kind of wealth that will enable you to build nuclear power stations - if you need our help you’ll have it.”

That little prick to their ego worked like a charm and they never agreed to do it - just began making their plans of how to do it. J

They wanted to be left at their new world thirty years earlier, which meant the war was still on. It also meant files on their citizens in the United States were far less sophisticated and only hard copy, so it was easy to create files, passports and so on for them. Within a year they were millionaires and on their way to creating the wealth and imposing power base they had on our planet when we first came to know them. Freddie skimmed though the years, stopping often enough that if things went wrong they only had to survive a few months before we appeared. They mostly grabbed the opportunity to join us for half a day or just a meal. As Cherinians with a large family, they sometimes found it became very lonely for them and spending a few hours sensing their loved ones and all the other Cherinians warmed their hearts.

Because we had visited this Earth in ‘their’ future, Eddie and Hettie had to be careful not to make changes we would have noticed and they kept their names out of the limelight as we did not want this world/reality splitting. It also meant they had to suffer, for they made friends and had to avoid healing them and their children, sometimes having to be present while they suffered the agonies of cancer in the bone and so on before they died. Hettie told her children that what they experienced forced on them once again what a miracle Cherinianism is for our worlds. She also complained that it made them feel guilty and they would carry the memories of pain for a long time.

The date of our previous arrival and departure passed and we could now start helping. We would have to do it the ‘wrong’ way around, not healing people, only the land first. Once the radiation levels were down to normal, then mankind would find excuses for the healing of cancer and other radiation illnesses. Robbie did make an exception for Hettie and Eddie and told them that if they have any urgent cases they want to heal they should go ahead.

Luckily the healing of the land, water and air only took two days. We made jokes about the reactions of the people if they knew that billions of souls and healers of aliens are visiting their planet. We did not think they would be happy to learn the truth, they’d only paint doomsday scenarios and rampage like mindless beasts, destroying what was left of their economies and cultures.



7836

On this world, no government allowed private industry to provide power plants, so it was lucky that Eddie and Hettie went there earlier. They had to bribe and back those who would change the law so that they ended up far too influential in the USA and many of the biggest European countries. I’m guessing they’ll have the most impressive funerals any king or leader has ever been accorded when it is time for them to leave. We’ll have to stay to watch and record it - I’m certain our media will enjoy broadcasting the funerals. I get the giggles when I think of how pride will swell in the minds of the Normals as they announce to all their friends that the two were given such magnificent funerals because they are very special - because they come from their reality. Hmm, I just got told off for being small minded and nasty, I don’t understand why they can’t wait for me to admit it first.

It took weeks for the medical profession to notice the change. They argued amongst themselves but did not announce what was happening for nearly six weeks. They warned everyone that this was probably temporary and nobody should get their hopes up. It took them five months to admit that they no longer have any cases of cancer in their wards, everyone having spontaneously healed. Of course, all those healed of cancer were automatically healed of all their problems, so it meant we had to heal everyone so that they are all equally healthy. We then had to ask everyone to stop healing as we would not be staying and if we continued healing for too long all hospitals would close and the young would stop studying to become doctors. That was painful for all of us, especially when children were involved.

It was not enough to solve the one problem and leave. The direction their technology was taking would lead them back to extinction so Eddie and Hettie had to introduce technology from our worlds and from the aliens. All the species we borrowed technology from anticipated the problem and warned Robbie he should not try to discuss any kind of payment for what is being used. Robbie did not respond immediately, but we did sense him going to the void and time jumping.

Robbie asked for as many of our alien friends as would fit around the taverna to join us and then brought a stasis shield into Freddie. As he released the shield we saw and sensed a child suffering unbelievable pain from cancer. Many cried out in protest when they sensed their healers being blocked from helping the child. Robbie waited a few seconds and then removed his block (after asking all Terrans not to use their healers). The instant contrast as the healers rid the child of pain and his body returned to prime health was felt and then the stasis field formed again and Robbie took it back to the void.

Robbie sat up and did not appear to be surprised that everyone had waited for him. After kissing Candy, he sat for his coffee. He took a sip and frowned. “What are you waiting for? Do you expect something from me?”

An Anadir male spoke for everyone. “That was crude and cruel. You did not have to submit us to the pain of a child to make the point that we have been paid for our technology - paid in the Cherinians sense that is.”

Robbie stared at a purple bunch of grapes hanging overhead that was ready to be eaten and then answered, “That was not only for you, it was also for my family and species, we all need to be reminded now and then that what we do changes lives and removes suffering that is unbearable…” His voice hardened. “That should not be born by anybody, of any species.” He stood up and gently touched the arm of the Anadir who’d spoken. “Not just Cherinian my friend - include all humans in what you said.”

The social scientists are working with the Mansfield couple, guiding them as to when and how they should introduce new technology. We skipped forward another four years and Freddie showed on his screens a world that seemed to be vibrant with life again. It was time for both Eddie and Hettie to prepare for leaving. Attorneys from most of the major countries were instructed and after four months it was announced that all the companies and shares owned by the Mansfield couple are being transferred to a charity organisation. Hettie has had a lot of experience in solving the problems that crop up in such organisations and by the time they were ready to leave the charities were on a healthy footing.

Both Hettie and Eddie had refused to answer the questions of the media. They arranged for a reporter they liked to visit them.

“This is not meant to be an interview Bill. We only have a brief statement to make and then we ask that we be left alone by everyone - media and governments.

Many years ago, the two of us realised that our world was heading for a catastrophe that was likely to spell the end of our species. We both worked hard, took risks so as to be ready in time and despite our best efforts we were almost too late. The loss of hundreds of millions of lives is part of our history and we must never forget technology is a double edged sword, we must remain inventive and bold, but we must also remain cautious - it is up to our scientists to see that they never again risk the future of our species and planet.



7837

Hettie and I have grown old and we are tired, our bodies are worn out. We have sensed that we will not remain for much longer on this planet and if we are to be granted our last wish, we hope we both die at the same time, for neither of us can bear the thought of living without the other. We ask that we be allowed these last weeks or months to ourselves. We have spent our lives loving the whole world, this now is our time for loving each other, please see to it that none try to intrude. Thank you.”

There does not seem to be one Terran world where some of the media are not going to ignore the wishes of individuals - however widely they are loved. Those who did not respect Eddie’s wishes soon discovered that the Mansfield’s have very sharp teeth with powerful jaws. Those who tried to spy on them or bribe their servants to spy on them were instantly served with injunctions from the local courts and the rest of the media wrote emotional articles asking the public to show their distaste for the transgressors by refusing to buy their newspapers or magazines. (Television is not as popular yet and being mostly government owned they respected the wishes of the couple.)

The two were mostly given the privacy they asked for, but there was not one facet of media that did not write or present moving articles/broadcasts, giving details of the years they fought to save their world. We have all taken turns jumping to buy all the articles and Freddie and the aliens have also recorded the broadcasts. We intend making all of it available to our realities as we think it is about time our worlds wake up to how much they owe these two wonderful friends of ours.

Their deaths within hours of each other appealed to the romantic side of human nature and everyone was broken hearted. Their coffins had to be transported around the world for most people wanted to pay their last respects. The funeral was truly amazing and even made us cry - despite knowing they were not really dead. I should mention that we had prepared for their deaths by arranging for Cherinians to be those who would do a post-mortem examination, embalm them and so on. Since their bodies were in a sort of equivalent to hibernation, we had to be certain nobody would try to cut them open. As soon as the coffins were enclosed within their mausoleum, Robbie and Cherine jumped to bring back their bodies and they awoke.

At the request of Eddie and Hettie, we are jumping at intervals of five years into the future so that they can rest assured that this Earth will survive. After ten jumps they told us they are now ready to return home.

The impact of all Patrice saw and learnt from us seems to have changed him. Till now he’d thought that all problems have to be solved using his extraordinary powers. He listened to us as we talked, asked questions and thought deeply about our answers. We tried to show him that solutions which include the efforts and ideas of Normals are far more effective and permanent than any imposition, however well intentioned. He mostly worked under Hettie and grew to admire and respect her ‘normal’ abilities of organising and seeing through tons of gumph to the heart of each problem.

We took, the now rejuvenated, Mansfield’s with their children to Goldi’s planet and left them alone for a month. When we returned they were full of life and dreams again - but the couple did not succeed in what they’d hoped to achieve. Their children are still suffering from a bad case of hero-worship .

[private chat deleted]


“You know what? That wasn’t too bad a world, not for an a-reality Earth. Perhaps, as we come closer to Arthur’s Earth the people will become nicer.”

Allan knew that I was only saying what I hoped was true, but he gave me a sour look anyway. “That was a totally fucked up Earth, they killed off one third of their population and the rest would have soon died off if the Cherinians had not come to the rescue. I’m not that surprised that people that sick were not up to being shits. If you know you are dying and there will be no further generations, what is the point of fighting and killing to take land or property from another?”

“You are wrong Allan, it has not stopped others in alternate a-realities from being hard and cruel. We all came to know people we liked in this last reality.”

Jade imitated Robbie’s voice and style in an exaggerated way, “Painting all the people of any species, race, colour or set of realities with the same tar brush is not the Cherinian way Allan.” Robbie chuckled as he tried to swat her tiny behind, allowing us to also laugh.

Allan gestured for Jade to go to him and pulling her close he whispered in her ear, “You should have let him smack you so that he has to kiss it better.”



7838


Haven tells us that David told her that Patrice is very popular with all chat show hosts. He is good looking in a sensitive way, is open and friendly and offers information without waiting to be asked. A number of chats among teenagers (on the web) show that a lot of girls are obsessing on him.

We waited for Melina’s and Rania’s birthdays, had a lovely party and then went to Freddie. In the morning a few who want to come with will arrive and then we are leaving to find another ‘new’ a-reality. Patrice has asked whether we mind if he stays behind this time, apparently he is keen on a girl he met.

Since Patrice is not coming with, we aimed for the reality he thinks has the prime war world. Robbie wants to try making a few changes to see what happens.

Jesus! Arthur, it looks like their author has died, the war has stopped without anyone winning or losing and the people are acting as if they have lost all purpose and soon their economies will have collapsed beyond recovery. The only explanation that makes sense is that their author has died.

If we are right, then many are worried. What would happen to us if all the a-realities stop existing and we and other teams are within those realities? Can they stop existing if we are present? If we can help stabilise them, how many people from our realities does it need within each a-reality? For how long will we have to stay to permanently stabilise them? There are too many questions and no time to find the answers - we’ll just have to decide what we want to do and if we stay (do we really have a choice?) then we’ll have to take a risk and spread ourselves thin so as to stabilise as many realities as possible.

As so often happens, the Sparklers are our strongest weapons. We are united in our decision that we cannot return to our realities and allow so many lives to fade away into non-existence. The Sparklers are splitting into small groups for each a-reality, spreading out over a few thousand a-realities and with there being over seven thousand Sparkler alternate nations (at last count), just them alone should manage to stabilise at least thirty million a-realities. Sorry, Sol corrected me, each of the Sparkler alternates have sent thousands of teams out to bring in new alternates and it is expected they will soon total in the millions and the a-realities they will help should be in the tens of billions!

Arthur, individuals of every single Cherinian species are risking their lives by going to an a-reality; we’ve just had confirmed to us that RT has jumped to an a-reality to drop off Cherinians and Normals and they will be jumping to as many realities as they can to leave teams there. Robbie decided we have to return to our reality to give our Cherinians, Ipohin, Normals and Campbellites an opportunity to help if they want.

As soon as we arrived, the Unation ship left and within hours it returned with thousands of ships. The Anadir only have twenty six ships, but all of them have come to be teleported to new a-realities. That is our biggest problem and why Cherinians are not jumping on their own. With so many a-realities being boosted by the presence of Cherinians, any who jump on their own are more than likely to waste time jumping repeatedly in search of a-realities still at risk.

As Freddie was about to jump, Robbie looked up at our sky that is full of ships, at the land that is covered with people of all species and drawled, “Don’t anybody sneeze now.” Freddie jumped and only then did the amusement at his remark spread out.



7839


We’ve jumped, leaving teams in each a-reality until we arrived at an a-reality that only has Sparklers. A team, Robbie, Kirsten, Patrice, one Muyzith, an Anadir, three Unationists, an Inguel, Eminixx, Elabet, Duirphon, three Kinytians, the Akiard entity, a Nean and two Eqkee, went to inspect the people, animals, plants on Earth while hundreds of astronomers, physicists and cosmologists are studying the current universe. Careful notes are being made so that nobody can argue the facts later on.
I was going to say that it is estimated (a very rough estimate) that in the first wave we expect to preserve about one trillion a-realities. However, there is no first wave. Everyone is jumping to Freddie or back to our realities, grabbing some sterile soil from dead planets and jumping back to continue on to more realities. With people not staying in the a-realities they are helping, I guess it means that certain a-realities are getting inoculated a great number of times as we can’t tell whether someone has been there ahead of us.

Patrice tried to help at first, but as he realised how vast the numbers are and how many a-realities we are hopefully preserving, he became unable to participate for a few days thanks to his emotions. We now have that rare creature that no Cherinian can stand: he is a Cherinian fanatic - an adorer of Cherinians. We dare not let him return to his reality before we bring his feet back to the ground. It was decided from the start that we should not heal the reality of Patrice. It should be the last one and he must be with us. There is no increased danger to them since we will time it to the moments after Patrice last departed from there. We’ll also search for the possibility that his reality has split since then.

Unfortunately, the girl he has shown interest in have found him too intense and pulled away. He needs to be held so we did the only thing we could - we sent Robbie.



7840

Ten months have gone by since I last wrote. During this time we came up with the idea of leaving a marker in the a-realities we’ve treated so that time is not wasted there. Unfortunately, because of the ways alternate realities are structured (their relationships) we find ourselves returning to a-realities we or others have already visited most of the times. It means that the pace of preserving more a-realities has dramatically slowed down. Once we realised what was occurring, the enthusiasm that had kept everyone going began to fade and people started talking of their homes and loved ones left behind. Robbie decided to call off the campaign.

He spoke from the screens so that all could hear him. “Nobody is able to give us even an estimate of how many realities we have helped stabilise. I’d take a guess and say that at the lowest estimate they number over one and a half trillion and at the highest, four trillion. Let’s more or less average the numbers and call it two and a half trillion. In this time, those a-realities have split and split again and again so that even should all those we missed have faded into oblivion, thanks to your efforts there are probably some fantastic number of a-realities, something like a trillion times a trillion that will continue to survive. If anyone has a calculator capable of working out how many human lives of all species you are responsible for saving, please let me know.

Teams will be appointed to search for a-realities we did not find and since we can continue to jump back in time for a million years if necessary, I think we must now take a break and return to our own realities and lives. Please inform all returning teams to stay in Freddie as we will be jumping back home in five days time. Thank you.”

An important milestone has been reached Arthur! When we returned home we found the world and the media could not get over the fact that about a quarter of the Normals of each of our linked realities helped and everyone was still stunned that so many realities and lives have been saved. They all returned with a great sense of achievement since we made certain they visited once more at least a few of the a-realities they helped and they saw that they really did make a difference. The milestone we reached? For the first time ever, in July PC55 the Terran Cherinians of our Earth are now in the majority (50.037%).

I saw that due to their joy and pride, too many Cherinians were saying the wrong things and beginning to upset our Normals. I asked David to invite me for a public chat.

“Dominique, Goldi and Samantha, this is indeed a great pleasure, I was not expecting anyone but Samantha and I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed.”

Dommi smiled. “Basically Samantha is your main guest, the rest of us came to hold her hand as she is feeling nervous.”

“Samantha nervous!?” He did not intend being funny, but the audience reacted with nervous titters. I think it was the look of surprise on his usually calm and friendly face.

“I am nervous, though I’m not grateful to Dommi for letting the whole world know.” I gave him a little-girl-lost-look. “Do you remember that time I withdrew from reality and Cherine angrily crashed a chat show to stand up for me? I find it very tempting to hide again, but too much is being said that should not be said and not enough of what should be said is not being said.”

“May I interrupt? Please give us a moment for that last sentence to be placed on screen in writing as it may confuse too many of our viewers.”

To lighten the mood, I answered somewhat facetiously, “Would it be better I let Goldi speak for us?”

Goldi put on a broad Aussie accent, “Not on your life matey, you skin your own hot potatoes, I’m just here to make you look good.” Dommi had to return to Freddie so as to stop laughing and get her breath back. To jump ahead for a moment, when we left I thought I’d put across some important points and hoped people would be discussing them for a few days. What actually happened is that everyone spent days quoting Goldi and telling each other that she is not only beautiful but also has wit, while my comments were mostly ignored.

David tactfully took an advertising break and then asked, “Sam, to return to the point you were making, albeit in a confusing way. What is not being said that you feel needs to be said?”



Next [Book 12] - Post 005



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.





  • posted: 4th Aug, 2020




    If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 12, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:






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