Hmm, looking at the above picture (as Arthur designed it) I noticed the shadow beneath the collapsed sun and I suddenly realised that nothing gets trapped in space forever. It is more likely that it sinks gradually until someday the alternate space is going to be bombarded by a massive shower of white holes and all that material from our space will go bang-bang and stir things up on that side and maybe that is what is needed for chemicals to get excited and give birth to life. That would mean someday it will be our turn to be peppered by white holes, probably rejuvenating our space once more. I’m going to indulge myself and name alternate space and our space (of all realities) the Flip-Flop Universes :)
7811
“Dad, I’m going to presume that energy in the a-realities is lost because it is altered into diffused energy and so is no longer useful energy. According to Arthur it is not the same in our realities thanks to the movement of energies between levels or dimensions recycling it. Yet the energy levels at our time are far lower than they are here, in both normal space and the void. Where has our energy gone to? I think we may need to go on another trip to gather data regarding background energy levels a few billion years ago to compare to the levels of our time - in both normal space and the void. Since our alternate realities are split off from our reality, perhaps we should also measure a few of those realities to compare with ours.”
“Why would they differ from ours? I never sensed a difference.”
“If the difference is small, say from half a percent to about five percent, would we notice - is it even possible to measure such a small difference since energy fluctuates from area to area? Perhaps our more learned friends could confirm or disprove what I fear? If there is a small discrepancy because of the alternate reality not duplicating all the energy of the prime reality, would cumulative differences accumulate and grow over a great span of time, altering the future of those alternate realities?” As I sensed them about to agree, my face paled and they felt me so everyone waited. “Dad, we’ve been saying that it does not make sense for alternate realities to grow in numbers the way they seem to. We know the prime reality split an endless number of times and then those alternate realities split endlessly and their alternates split endlessly and so on ad infinitum. The spontaneous creation of so much energy from nowhere does trouble me, but maybe physicists will find an answer for that. What does frighten me is that it is likely each new alternate reality might be born with a tiny difference in energy. Say the difference is only one hundredth of one percent - how many generations of alternate realities being born to alternate realities with the same loss of energy before the new alternate realities become unstable - oh! What if they do not grow unstable, just smaller?” I burst into something close to hysterical giggling so that I had to speak the next words by telepathy, *What happens when they grow to zero size - do they then have negative sizes? If that can happen, then it truly is possible for there to be an infinity of generations of realities!*
This time, you, Arthur, are not going to have Robbie writing to tell you that I withdrew. I did find my ideas awed me, but they are so highly speculative that I’ll only let them affect me if they are proven true. The idea that alternate realities could collapse into non-existence with all our alternates and other species we have not met yet is driving Robbie so I guess the data gathering will happen sooner rather than later. For a short while Cherine felt as if she were really annoyed with me for making Robbie feel so anxious, but she got the giggles when Cassie teased me, as below, and sent me her love.
“I’m trying to imagine realities of negative sizes and it causes me a problem. If they each have a Samantha expounding such humongous ideas, does that force their realities to expand to the opposite so that they become giant realities? Is the extra energy for that to happen generated by the brain of Samantha?”
7812
It took a while for us to notice that Lusalith is not visiting us as often as she usually does. The girls felt that I am closer to her so I should visit to find out what is wrong. I jumped to the home of Freddie and Cherise and had a cold drink while we chatted as we sat on the verandah. I enjoyed the smell of semi-tropical jungle, the sight of wild life, colourful butterflies that do not come to other parts of Freddie and the chattering of little monkeys. I’m not surprised that neither of them ever use their apartment in the treehouse. When I’d arrived at their home I’d also contacted Lusalith mentally to let her know where I am and that I’ll be visiting her next. I enjoyed my walk to her home.
As I came out from the trees, I saw Lusalith was enjoying the company of three monkeys. They glanced at me and ran off into the forest. I smiled and called out, “They didn’t have to leave, I’d have enjoyed their company.”
“They are shy creatures and have instinctive memories of your species killing and eating them.”
A picture crossed my mind and it amused me. “In China they have a sort of god who is called Monkey. He is also a master kung fu fighter. Why don’t you train them so that they no longer fear us?” Lusalith did not find me funny, I guess I was just being too alien for her - but then my family says that about me often enough. I projected her species form so that I could hug her properly and then sat in the water with her.
“In a way this home does not make sense. You are still mostly a creature of the sea and here you are stuck high up in the only mountains Freddie has.” Out of politeness she verbally played the social game for a while, both of us touching the other as their bodies require for healthy reinvigoration before she volunteered what was worrying her.
“Since the first time I came to an a-reality I’ve had a sense of unease, that something is wrong. That feeling has been growing Samantha, but I do not know why.”
“Do you feel there is danger for us?”
She sent me a huge Terran smile. “After what we have been through you ask me that? No, not so much danger as a feeling that these realities are wrong, we should not be visiting them.”
I sank into my own non-thoughts for a while so as to sense how my subconscious feels about it and returned to report that I did not sense anything like she did. “I wish I knew whether your feelings and my lack of them are species related or whether they come from gifts you have that I do not have. Whichever it is, if you feel we should leave then we will do so.”
“There is no urgency to my feelings. Samantha, may I visit Hesina?”
“A great idea, why don’t we both go, I want to sit by Athel for a while.”
A couple of weeks have passed and the cosmologists and other scientists are so busy extrapolating from data they have already collected and their excitement is so keenly felt as they come to new conclusions about some detail or make a new discovery, that we no longer sense them showing much interest with regard to what is shown on the screens - apart from aesthetically. This led us to the conclusion it might be time for us to return to our Athens home. Before we could do so, Robbie sensed something in the distance while in the void and out of curiosity he folded the void to take us closer. As soon as we arrived, Freddie instantly took action to move us away. He settled down once he saw we were not in danger. Robbie has brought us to view the total destruction of two galaxies.
A brief explanation. There is a relationship between the lifetime of a star and the extremes of its mass - the heavier it is, (or, the lighter, at the other extreme) the shorter its lifetime. A small galaxy which must have been among the first to form had a high preponderance of massive stars. We are still trying to work out why the catastrophe happened the way it did, a possible explanation for instance may be due to the way the heavy stars were lined up, tightly packed and affecting each other, but as the first heavy stars began to collapse, the energy they suddenly expended (explosions) slowly started the galaxy spinning like a Catherine wheel, then as most of the other heavy stars also exploded, it whizzed away from its place, bringing it to an imminent crash with another galaxy. This time we will remain spectators only for we do not believe life can exist in either of the galaxies and the Sparklers confirmed they did not find any advanced lifeforms.
7813
The second galaxy (the one being attacked) is not normal either. It must have first formed very recently as there still are an abnormally high percentage of suns in the process of being born and even more of them are still surrounded by hot clouds that are to be the planets. We estimate that two thirds of the galaxy is a patchwork of nebulae, the nurseries of suns; some only one light year across and the largest three hundred and seventy four. Our first thought was that the two galaxies could be attracted to each other because of the existence of a black hole. The facts don’t really support that theory as, apart from them being almost as rare as white holes in our time, the second galaxy was not moving out of its place as it would have to if there was a black hole big enough to influence the other galaxy so strongly. As the first galaxy approached, long before there were any collisions and explosions, we saw both galaxies altering their shapes (we are making small jumps in time, seemingly ‘smoothly’ sliding forward at a ratio of at least two thousand five hundred to one). The explosions were mind-boggling, but as cameras millions of miles apart sent their pictures we were warned we should move further away - projections showed that the centers of both galaxies are to soon collide. Arthur all this was occurring at stunning speed for us, over a period of weeks. In all, to this stage it took only seventeen weeks!
We were three times distant to our previous location and had returned to normal time just before the two centres collided. All our screens and the cameras were totally blinded by the explosions. Although the explosions were many, either hundreds or thousands, to the eye they looked like one and I suspect they merged to become one.
New cameras were sent on the long journey towards the white hot remains of the two galaxies after five of the main shock waves passed by us and as Freddie finds it safe to move closer, we did and are doing so. It is highly unlikely we will ever again be present at such a cataclysmic and speedy destruction of two galaxies and the scientists are using every instrument they have to record what is happening. As we drew in closer, both Freddie and the scientists warned us that they identified another five Freddies at different positions. Perhaps there are more of them on the other side that we are blind to. Our Freddie noticed that the other Freddies were not coming in as closely as we were so he moved back. We had just done so when we were all blinded again - which meant it took us a while to realise that the computer enhanced circle of darkness was not an optical illusion, we were seeing the biggest flower of a black hole ever recorded. It will take years for the suns, planets, matter and energy of both galaxies to all be drawn into the black hole and the sight is not something we can turn away from. I suspect we will remain here for years.
Freddie suddenly jumped to the void and we found that most of the Freddies - apart from a couple from far in the future (we surmise) - had joined us. Freddie explained that waves of hard radiation forced him to jump.
Many scientists and leaders of aliens joined us at the taverna and they all looked disconsolate. We’d just faced one too many catastrophe, causing us the loss of the last of our cameras and equipment outside Freddie and now they have nothing for recording what is happening, unless their spaceships go outside into normal space. Even the Unation admit they do not believe their ship could survive what Freddie has already survived (because it cannot enter the void to escape) but, as Robbie explained, the sight of future Freddies should satisfy them that no knowledge will be lost by us departing. We’re not leaving immediately as we feel as if we are acting as witnesses to the deaths of both galaxies as we watch light from suns stretching towards the black hole until the suns themselves disintegrate and collapse into the dark circle.
Robbie has sent Freddie in an orbit for us to view the dying galaxies from different perspectives and we noticed the other Freddies are keeping pace - I guess none of them want us approaching them - lol, iguess none of the robbies trust our Robbie! I expected pillows, but none were thrown, does it mean they agree?
“What we are witnessing, the falling of suns into the black hole, normally would take thousands or millions of years. Because the alpha galaxy was so tightly packed with nebulae, which we believe would not be possible in our time, the process seems to have been accelerated so that within a year the remnants of galaxy alpha shall have vanished into the black hole with only stray wisps of energy and matter escaping to survive within this space.” He beamed his pleasure to us as he added, “When we return to our worlds and share our data and experiences, none of our colleagues will believe us - we would not have believed if it had been them sharing such impossible data with us. We’d probably waste a decade or two trying to work out where they made mistakes in the gathering and storing of their data.” Not only his colleagues chuckled in agreement.
Of course I just had to open my mouth, Cherine already staring at me wide-eyed as she’d instantly peeked when she sensed me. “Oviirda, would you agree that this is the biggest black hole we’ve seen up to now?”
“There is one in our set of realities whose presence has been recorded and the data suggest it is a giant black hole, but this is the biggest one we’ve actually measured.”
7814
“Have you projected forward in time the existing galaxies within the neighbourhood? Are any of them likely to be attracted into the black hole? If it does swallow another galaxy, or large parts of it, how much bigger will this black hole grow? What I’m really asking is, how big can a black hole grow? If there is a limit, what happens when it reaches that limit? Does it collapse within itself - perhaps by becoming a white hole somewhere else? Gravity has already compressed matter so powerfully that I guess matter about the size of this lemon pip would weigh millions of tons? As more matter and energy is taken in, does the gravity and compression increase? To what extend can matter be compressed and could we really describe it as matter or super-matter anymore, would not its very nature have been totally altered from anything we know of and have imagined?” I hesitated a second and I felt how my mind flared at the next question. “Oviirda, could such matter be compressed to the point where it has no size? Would that…no, my question must first be, could it be that worm tunnels between a black hole and white hole are within non-space? If so, could it mean that as matter within that hole reaches no size, it explodes and becomes the big bang that creates another universe?”The imps designed a small placard and I am told that copies of it now proliferate throughout the laboratories and can even be found on the walls of the spaceships.
The scientists may be happy with Robbie’s decision, but not many others are. We are to remain where we are, but jump forward in time a thousand years at a jump so that the cosmologists/astronomers can map out the future movements of the surrounding galaxies in case it turns out I was right and one of them will cross the path of the black hole. After ten jumps, it was suggested we space the jumps by at least fifty thousand years. We were roughly three hundred million years post BB (creation of the Black hole) when we stopped as all the calculations were off by a large margin. Within seconds we saw the reason; a rogue galaxy has entered the area and is disturbing all the galaxies so that they no longer hold the orbits they did. As each galaxy is disturbed, the changes affect the neighbouring galaxies and the changes of each one affects all the others so that the changes become cumulative. Robbie is skipping Freddie in small time jumps to make it easier for us to see the changes and just when we fearfully wait for the galaxies to fall apart or crash, they find a new stability and settle down. In the meantime we have travelled forward another seven million years but have to now start mapping the galaxy orbits from scratch - adding in the new one that seems to have given up its wandering ways.
The first indication that something abnormal was occurring, was when the computer warned that a spiral of one of the galaxies was unfolding, opening (flattening its curve) and lengthening. Calculations showed that the galaxy had passed close enough for the black hole to affect the spiral. Sparklers rushed to examine the solar systems within the spiral and those neighbouring it for life. Fourteen were found but none of them had evolved beyond the simple one cell stage. We will have to stay to keep watch in case more than the spiral is sucked in. The scientists are also trying to create or guess the most plausible scenarios with regard to the effects on the galaxy in general. Surely it must react to the loss of the spiral, maybe losing its balance as it turns around itself? Could a wobble become responsible for the damage being as bad as is foreseen by most of the computers, with hundreds or thousands of solar systems crashing into each other?
We are beginning to be affected by having to witness one monstrous calamity after another. It is rare to hear laughter and most minds are emoting grim feelings laced by hints of fear. Knowing our Robbie, none of us girls should have been surprised when Freddie announced, “Robert, a Freddie from the future has arrived. Their Robert asks for permission to visit.”
We sensed their Robert is not from the distant future and that we were all within his Freddie, but he wanted a hug so we gave him one. He grinned as he spoke to Robbie, “It is just as well we decided last night to do this. Another Robert from my future warned me that we will need an entire fleet of Unation ships, numerous copies of Freddie and RT and before they arrive I think you should leave. Robert, take a jump forward of nine billion seven hundred and eighty two million, two hundred and eleven thousand five hundred and thirty one years. Let our loves have a holiday there before you return home.”
Robbie shook his head. “A holiday in this reality?” Robert grinned and nodded and after another round of hugs we let him go. Robbie warned the scientists and Freddie jumped to the void and then forward in time.
7815
The drift between normal space and the void is not noticeable even in spans of thousands of years. With a jump of billions of years it is very noticeable. None of the galaxies we’d been close to could be seen and the black hole has disappeared. I can’t speak for the scientists, but I can positively state that not one of us was disposed to search for any of the above, we were more curious as to what we are supposed to find here. We could see from the void that we were within a galaxy so Robbie left as the void to check it out first.
Laura and Jodine were playing a game with metallic paper and were deeply absorbed in winning as it needs fast reflexes. A tiny monkey, similar to a capuchin of our world, climbed onto the table by them and sat watching, its miniature face moving to and fro in rhythm with the colourful shapes of paper. In a tiny but sweet voice it chirped enquiringly and Jodine turned to look and lost that turn of the game.
“Where did you come from?” It gave her a quizzical look and jumped to grab the paper as it floated to the ground. We all sat without moving so as not to frighten it. It ignored us as it examined the paper and then it let go the paper as if no longer interested in it and scampered up the leg of the chair and then jumped on to the table. It returned to its former position and sitting once again, it stared at Jodine as if examining her. We also examined it with a growing sense of surprise.
The first impression of it being a monkey did not stand up to a closer scrutiny. In general it has a similar shape, but the dark (almost pure black) fur is not really fur and has a silky look to it. Unlike monkeys, it has ears that lie on the top of its head and they are covered by silvery feathers. When it twitches its ears to listen to a sound the feathers also stiffen in a curved form which suggests they deflect sound into the ears. The eyes are a brilliant green when not covered by a nictitating membrane that makes the eyes look a smoky green. Looking into its eyes gives a definite ‘feel’ of intelligence, same as when I look into the eyes of my gorilla family. I’ll qualify that by adding ‘amused intelligence’ whereas my gorilla family always gave me the feeling of them experiencing deeply serious or profound thoughts.
Jodine named it Spike and it seemed to recognise her for it responded to her call for as long as it remained within Freddie. For the first hour or so it stared at everything as if trying to work out some of the reasons for our strange appearance and even stranger behaviour. It made the decision (so we believe) that we are not dangerous, for within minutes tiny monkeys were being reported all over Freddie, not just within our ecological section. Whatever the air is, they seem to be capable of surviving in it and the scientists are driving themselves crazy as they try to convince some of their visitors to sit still long enough for their equipment to map organs and take samples for DNA.
The rest of us were more interested in visiting their minds so as to be certain they are or are not sapient but we could not enter or sense anything, not even their emoting. The biggest enigma of all is how they found Freddie within the void and how did they teleport themselves from normal space into the void without a) being blown up by the void and b) without having the intelligence to visualise their destination - as a matter of fact, how do they visualise a destination they’ve never been to before? The only answer I can think of is that they latch on to other minds, using them as beacons.
Their comical little faces, their amused air and playfulness soon had us captivated and we stopped worrying about the practical aspects. We also gave up having sex as it was impossible to convince them they should not congregate on our beds with us. I suspect Robbie would also have found it difficult to maintain an erection with them sitting on the bed and staring with that amused look of theirs.
The odd thing is that when Robbie went to search for dangers he did visit their planet, but not seeing signs of sentience he left to search other systems. We are wondering whether his teleporting gave them the hint they needed or could they already teleport? As for them seeing Robbie, they should not have been able to identify him as a creature of the physical world, but we soon discovered that they do know of the void and when visiting as souls they play with each other without any fear. They must be the first creatures we’ve found that are not sentient yet (the scientists think they are growing towards sentience) that have advanced souls. The Sparklers are fascinated by them so Robbie had to ask them not to take any to their World until we work out how we can handle their presence. For instance, when we decide it is time to leave, how do we convince them to return to their planet and stay there? We cannot just take them with us, for all we know there are certain sunrays or chemical compositions they need to eat, drink or breathe that are not available in Freddie. We also cannot let them loose upon other planets, we cannot know from such a brief encounter whether their presence will upset local ecologies.
7816
Despite the above and other worries, we do love our tiny visitors and Freddie is filled with laughter from morning till night. The first morning, as we sat for our breakfast, a bemused Lusalith teleported to us, accompanied by about thirty silkims (abbreviated from silky monkeys). She told us that they have discovered the terran monkeys of the jungle and are driving them nuts as they want to interact with them whereas monkeys of our planet do not want to be anywhere near them. I guess it is that thing Robbie wrote about a long time ago, about monkeys with red bums not liking monkeys with blue bums - which is definitely not PC of them. 
Lusalith, and her people in Freddie, have discovered that the only way for them to get away from the silkims is for them to stay in pools of water. Even then ‘their’ silkims sit at the edge of the water and staring at them plaintively chirp until they come out. When a DD playfully splashed some water over one of them it made the silkims angry and they remonstrated in their chittery voices for a long time so they have not repeated that again, but it did lead to us and everyone else watching them and we discovered that though they seem to eat some of our foods (of all species) without suffering in any way, they do not drink anything. They also don’t like juicy fruits. Robbie confirmed he saw oceans, lakes and ponds, so we are puzzled.
We have managed to not only confuse ourselves but also everyone else - of all species (I’m including Ambros who is sharing from silver boy who is stuck with us permanently until we decide what to do about the silkims).
It started by Dommi only making a statement that seemed obvious once she’d said it. “It seems to me that Arthur told the Robert of our future to tell us to stop here. Think of it, why would Robert give such an exact date and why would Robert tell us if he knew he was going to stop here anyway? I think Arthur did not like what Sam wrote about there being no laughter in Freddie anymore and he assumed these silkims to amuse us. I hope he worked out a way for us to get away from them.”
Robbie is the only one who cannot relax and just enjoy the presence and companionship of the silkims. I mean, even Alki is relaxed and loves petting and playing with his companions of the moment. We can sense it is not his protector instinct, but that his logical mind is warning him that the teddy bears were just as cuddly and loveable as the silkims are so he worries what surprise they’ll spring on us. Robbie has also come to distrust everything about the a-realities. He went to their planet as a soul, hoping to study them in their natural habitat (and found himself surrounded by silkim souls who it seems tell the silkims on planet about his presence which means they do not act naturally). He went as the void but was still recognised and when he went in his body (sheathed of course and with us accompanying him) then troops of silkims surrounded him and us, still giving us the impression of being amused (how could we stay away when our Robbie is worried?).
Some of the alien species, as a mixed group, found it difficult to understand why Robbie was being paranoid about their innocent and loveable new companions and they more or less said so. Lusalith (first time ever) spoke in such a fury that, cowed, they all returned to their ecological areas and refrained from bringing up the subject again. Gosh, but she really did sound like a little god and her own people must have thought so for, although they had begun to relax around her, they became respectful again and stopped initiating conversations with her. I decided I’ll take care of that as soon as Lusalith is not around.
During the three years we fought to stay alive, the vegetable farm died. Efforts were then made to revive it with new seed. Now we all (of our family) take turns helping; mostly the work we have to do is weeding to give the vegetables room to grow. The gift of b-Cherine was very useful in helping us during the first months, but we would not have done without vegetables anyway as we still have our food machines. It is just nicer (psychologically I suspect) having real and fresh vegetables. These last two days I spent tending the vegetable patches as I wanted time on my own to think. The silkims get bored if we do not pay them any attention and go to play with the others, so they soon deserted me to my thoughts.
When I returned I saw Coral was tickling a silkim on its tummy and it was making funny little noises as it squirmed about. With both hands it took hold of her finger and Coral stopped. She giggled and looked up at us. “FTS is recording everything and I just had the thought, imagine we return to this planet in their future and the silkims are now sapient and have a highly developed civilisation. It surely would feel weird to them seeing themselves like this.”
7817
As everyone smiled or chuckled, Empathia stayed solemn as she said, “Sapience is relative - I often find it difficult to think of ourselves as truly sapient.”
“Oh, come off it Athia, you’re exaggerating.” Annavi said.
“Am I? How much sapience does it take for a bunch of little girls to traipse around from universe to universe as they remain within the shadow of their father and protector without maturing in any way?”
Cassie opened her eyes wide with surprise as she answered, “I think that is very clever of us!” Once Empathia found her moment of solemn thought had been punctured, she gave in and joined the rest of us in teasing Robbie about us living in his shadow like little mushrooms. Robbie smiled and played along, but he could not work out how seriously he should take Empathia’s comment, so Cherine told him there is no need for concern, even as she planned for finding a moment alone with Athia.
The silkims may seem to be playful while with us, but observance of them within their natural habitat showed us that they do have enemies and are not at the top of their food chain. By the way, the fact that we watch them on screens and they do no more than glance at the screens without appearing to recognise what they are seeing is accepted as further proof of their lack of sentience.
We captured on our screens the scene of a species that resembles a thin bushbaby with a long tail, claws and teeth bigger than we’d expect, attacking a silkim. The reaction of the other silkims in the area excited all of us. They did not only scream and chatter from afar as our monkeys would do; they rushed to help the one attacked, even though it was dead by now, and the attacker was forced to abandon his meal, allowing it to fall to the ground. The silkims did not concern themselves with either of them once it departed, climbing rapidly down to grab its relinquished meal before some other carnivore steals it. I guessed that the sounds of the silkims attacking must have betrayed what was occurring and I expected to see ground based carnivores rush to steal the body of the silkim and that is what we did see on other occasions - though most of them seem to have a healthy respect for the claws and teeth of the bushbaby look-alike and did not challenge it if it had reached the body first or was very close to doing so. Perhaps the other species are mostly scavengers, only fighting if they have to or once they are in possession of their meal.
The silkim visiting us did not react to the pictures on the screens, but they did react to the sounds, lending their voices to those from the screen, but they did not mill around looking for anything to attack and soon lost interest. The more we learn about them, the more puzzled we find ourselves. I really don’t like it when the facts do not make sense and contradict each other. I’m starting to wonder whether the criteria we use for judging who or what is sentient may be incomplete. Could there be intelligences out there that we cannot recognise as such?
We feel that whatever healing the silkims were meant to provide us has been achieved and being at home with our friends would do more to erase any nightmares we have now and then. We first have to solve the problem of the silkims - how do we leave without any of them coming with? If we were certain that they are just animals we might have been tempted to allow a few to come with, but, if there is any chance at all that they are or soon will evolve into at least a rudimentary form of sentience, we refuse to take the risk of allowing any more species of any a-reality, however loveable they may seem to be, from learning of our realities.
We cannot try to trick them into leaving as that would not be morally right and could end up hurting their feelings. To say that non-sentient beings would not realise they have been tricked into being left behind is not true, we’ve seen that Bitsy realises when we trick him and he mopes, saddened or hurt. I wish they could be reasoned with as I do not see any way of persuading them to leave without hurting their feelings. Seeing as to how their presence has helped us, opened many of us to healing ourselves, it would be doubly wrong to hurt them in any way.
7818
We all watched as Lucy sat her little companion before her and she explained to him in a serious tone that he or she must return to its world (we really can’t tell what sex they are and it has been argued that it could be they are all neuters until breeding time and then they become male or female according to what is required). Lucy told it that we are very sad to be leaving, but we have to return to our own worlds and we can’t take them with us. She told it that we love them and we’ll return some day to visit and then, with it in her hands, she jumped to their planet. She let it go, reminding it that it must call for all its people to return also and she jumped back to us.
The silkim instantly jumped back also, hopping with excitement as it took hold of a finger in each hand and pulled at her as it chittered excitedly, obviously wanting Lucy to repeat the jump as if it had discovered a new game for it to play with her. We did try not to hurt Lucy’s feelings by laughing.
Problem has been solved, they have all left and as Freddie jumps in time, we are all grieving.
Fisiti had watched us play with the silkims and had resented the fact that none of them wanted to play with her. They must have good instincts for they avoided her and if she tried to come too close to one it would chitter at her in warning as it moved away or else climbed on to the person it was with for protection. When Fisiti heard us discussing the need to leave and send the silkims back to their planet, her resentment grew, for she must have felt that we’d had our fun and grown tired of our ‘toys’ while she had not had an opportunity to play with even one of them. Somehow she managed to capture one while it was distracted and she viciously squeezed it to death and then tried to tear its body apart for burying. We stopped her and healing the body we convinced its soul to return. Within seconds all silkims were gone. Fisiti was very lucky, if we had not taken the body from her so promptly, she would have been attacked by dozens of silkims and they do have teeth and claws.
There are times that empathy can feel like a curse and this is one of those times. The silkims have shown, when we observed them within their natural habitat, that they can be just as vicious as any animal in defence of themselves and their tribe or family and yet, with us, they did nothing but play and help us forget our fears and nightmares. Even when one would be hurt by accident they only cried and came to the one who hurt it for comfort. I am convinced that even if we could not sense them, they could sense us and knew that we loved them. How inexplicable the actions of Fisiti must have seemed to them. The fact that they did not attack us when we took the body from her to heal it is hopefully a sign that they do not blame all of us and it adds to our feelings of guilt, for we should have watched Fisiti more carefully, so we are at the very least indirectly to blame.
Alice has a really soft heart and only one day after the above incidents, sensing how angry everyone was with Fisiti and how alone she felt, Alice went to visit her. Fisiti was sitting in her home so Alice had to knock on her door. Fisiti did not answer, so Alice asked for a picnic to be sent to her and she sat outside on the grass to wait for Fisiti. She knew that Fisiti was watching her from a tiny opening in the curtains so she talked aloud, as if to herself.
“I bet Fisiti must be feeling hurt that we’ve ignored her for so many years. It really was nasty of us and I hope she lets me become her friend…” She continued in that vein for a while and then, with a sigh, fell silent. As she’d guessed, Fisiti, not being a Talent, could not sense her and her own feelings of being aggrieved helped convince her that Alice was speaking the truth, so she slowly opened the door.
A brief reminder or explanation. Fisiti, as was mentioned a long time ago, was always attacked by a giant version of whatever she’d harmed so she’d been hiding, expecting a giant silkim to come for her. We think she knows that those creatures are not real, that they are one of us girls, but we are not certain.
Alice cheerfully smiled. “Join me, I’ve got your favourite cool drink and some lovely pastries. I felt like having a picnic and a picnic on my own would not be very nice, so I took a chance and came to you in the hope you would join me.” Fisiti may be an adult woman, but in many ways she has mentally remained an adolescent. As Alice was to…no, let her story be told in the right order, Alice deserves it.
As I just mentioned, Fisiti is a woman in her late twenties. Our Earth years can be measured as slightly exceeding four years since we brought her to Freddie, but she has also lived and physically matured (but kept at a youthful age) during our travelling years. Alice chose to go to her as an adult so that she could be a true companion during her visit.
Fisiti first examined the surrounding area. “No bad animal?”
“Nothing, only me.” (We did tease her later on about her accidentally insinuating she was a bad animal - then Robbie joined in the teasing and the character of the teasing altered and we had to excuse ourselves earlier than usual from our friends that night - of course, need I explain (?) Robbie only teased because she was back to being a seven year old )
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Fisiti mistook Alice for Lynda, so Alice had to explain while she poured her a cup of tea (full marks to Alice, the tea she served was from a kind of dried grass her tribe used to drink and it tastes horrible [as a Cherinian Alice could and did ask her healer to change the taste after her first sip]). Alice did not mention the silkims nor did she discuss any of our recent adventures, as she wanted Fisiti to relax and open up to her. She gently prodded Fisiti so that she talked about her normal day and how she passes her time. They discussed the aliens when Fisiti made a comment about the Akiard kids. She finds them confusing, as they are obviously designed by nature to be highly efficient war machines, but they constantly harp on love, brotherhood of all living creatures and other such sentiments that she cannot understand or feels contempt for. Alice startled Fisiti (and us) by her next arguments.
“Do you think Rea was powerful - strong?” She nodded her agreement, but her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why is she dead then? How could she allow all her family to be killed if she was so strong?”
“Bad…power, Bobby.”
“Who do you think was stronger, Rea or the Cherine of your world?”
“Rea.”
Alice shrugged. “Maybe. Let’s examine the two of them and see what strengths and weaknesses they each have.” She sensed the suggestion did not upset or frighten Fisiti so she continued. “What I think we should do is first decide what were the strengths of Rea and what the weaknesses of your Cherine are. Then we can do it the other way around.
Rea had strong instincts that helped her sense any threat to her family. Rea believed in family and nothing else mattered. Rea could use her mind powers to kill or force others to obey her. Rea and your tribe did not love - they could not love.” She sensed Fisiti and stopped.
She shook her head. “No, old man…Tsofi, he love…me.”
That was when Alice had her brainwave and set aside her plans for a later time. She insists she will still do as she planned to help Fisiti understand why hate and causing pain damage her, not only her victims, but that first we have to bring back Tsofi. I agree with her when she says she feels that Fisiti will be more open to us when she sees that Tsofi agrees with us. We’ll just have to hope that he does, but with both of them having normal physical bodies it does not matter that much anymore - there are still Normals who are worse than this couple will be, so they deserve their chance to live and have children.
“Fisiti, if my Robert goes back in time to bring Tsofi and makes him younger, would you want to be his female and have his children? Would you love and care for your children - not in the way Rea did, but as Tsofi tried to care for you?”
When Alice returned to us, she shut her mind to us and asked for the leaders of each specie to come to the taverna. They all came, even Solomon and the Silver boy on behalf of Ambros and his species in general.
Alice looked stern and her emoting was diamond hard. “Thank you for responding to my invitation. I’ve asked you to come here so as to advise me on what procedure I should follow. I am laying a charge of cruelty and un-Cherinian lack of empathy, causing a human being years of suffering, against myself, my family and all Cherinians - whatever their species. What I need to know from you is, should I limit my charge to the leaders of the species or should I lay a charge against each individual. The decision may be different for each species, we do not need to follow the same rules for all. For instance, there is little point in laying a charge against each and every Sparkler, but I do not think Solomon should solely be charged, the Thinkers are all responsible for their people.” She hesitated. “I am asking you what you prefer, but I do feel that for most species, my own included, the charge should be against every single individual who is a Cherinian and has visited Freddie and therefore knows of and has experienced directly the existence of Fisiti. If you feel otherwise I will do as you ask.”
Empathia spoke up, her voice just as stern. “Alice, you will not lay a charge against the Akiards. They have objected to our way of treating Fisiti and have been the only species that have tried to provide her with some companionship.”
Alice did not bend (she is very much like Lynda in that regard). “The degree of their guilt may differ from ours, but I do not absolve them of all guilt. They should have fought us for what they knew was right - as Warriors of Cherine!” We sensed that the Akiards agreed with Alice, so Empathia backed down.
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We do not want to delay bringing back Tsofi, but we do need to be back home for at least a short time. We need to feel that we are part of our species in general and that this (Earth) is our real home. More and more, we find that our Earth is coming to feel like our Garden of Eden and being here, sensing the emoting of mankind, despite the negative aspects, we feel as if they are cocooning us from our bad memories. Luckily Vincent was around and after sharing our experiences he jumped to the boxee reality. He will only help them as he feels their Robert and Cherine should bring back Tsofi and help open his mind to our way of thinking. I hope they do not expect too much of him, at best he can only become like an uncaring Normal.We have shared with all ‘our’ realities our memories from the last trip and not only have all scientists been provided with any data they want or need, but so have the media been provided with photos and film of most of what we saw and experienced. When most Normals emoted not only worry but also fear that they nearly lost us - as friends and not just as providers of health and new technology, it made the hearts of many Cherinians flow over with love for all of mankind.
All Cherinians and even most of the Ipohin understand why Alice reported us to the Council. Not that many among the Normals do. They are split and of many opinions. For instance, some think her (Alice) spoilt and irresponsible, her actions causing all Cherinians harm. Alice gave me a big grin when Campbell took up her cause and explained that she has done more good for all Cherinians than anyone else has for a long time. The explanations Campbell tried to put across, most deep thinkers among the Normals had already understood and the rest were not influenced by him to any great degree. Still, Alice sent him an email thanking him and he gallantly sent her a bouquet of flowers with his answer. We teased Robbie that he better watch out as Campbell may be trying to steal his little Alice - which resulted in her having another night of being our special love.
When the Council set a date and asked who would be defending those charged, I realised that according to the laws of most of the nations of our Earth I could argue that the council members do not have the right to judge this case as they are also of the accused. It meant I also could not defend anyone as I would have to be defended (those who practice in the legal profession say that only a fool defends himself in a court of law and even they would not defend themselves). At first I was tempted to keep quiet, but then I realised that any decision reached could be set aside if someone uses the above arguments for challenging them. I consider this case too important for us to allow any mistakes. I stood up (I sensed many groan as they misunderstood my intentions, for most Cherinians feel the same way as I do about this case - this must be almost the only case I can think of where all the accused want to be judged guilty, even if only as a precedent and lesson for the future.)
“I am not going to object to the charge, but I do consider it important that all Cherinians make a decision that will make this hearing legal and your decision binding. I would ask that the leaders of each species consult with their people or governments and then, at a meeting in two weeks time, vote to allow our council members to sit in judgement of cases where they are also party to the case, as accused or witnesses. This should only apply to cases like this one which are the equivalent of Terran cases that are named ‘class action’ cases. In such cases where no Cherinian is not accused, we have to decide whether we trust our council members to make a fair judgement or else set up new but temporary members for the specific case from among people who are not Cherinians - that is, from among the Normals, Ipohin and Campbellites.” The last alternative set the room buzzing and I could almost sense the tension rising as media bosses rushed to find qualified speakers for debates and chat shows. Even those representing Terran governments rushed off to discuss it in private. I felt the way many Cherinians found my last alternative distasteful and were angered by my even considering it as a possibility.
Robbie beat Cherine as he came to his feet. “I second the motion made by Samantha Teller and would suggest that we combine both her suggestions so that we approve our present council members in the manner she suggested, while also asking the three groups she mentioned to appoint one person they respect to join our Council for the duration and purposes of this case. On second thought, I am of the immediate family of Samantha Teller, so I think it would be better that others second and third her motion. Thank you.” Cherine sent him a sour look as she had wanted to third the motion, but she saw he was right and was not really upset. An Eminixx I’ve never met seconded me and a Terran Cherinian from another reality made the third motion. The Council agreed and asked the leaders to return with their vote.
As we walked out, the media were waiting for us and most of them were determined to make me answer their questions, only a few mikes being pointed at Robbie. By the way, that is why we walk out and do not teleport, it would not be fair to the media and they do have the right to ask questions. I confirmed that I prefer Robbie’s suggestion and that I do not mind Campbell sending a representative or even, if he prefers, his appointment. I objected to us considering the unaligned Talents as a group, but insisted that each and every reality has an equal vote since they will be equally incriminated should the Council judge us guilty. I was asked why I consider it so important we are judged.
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: 1st Aug, 2020
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