LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post255

My understanding of ethics tends to stop at the point where I do not allow anyone to prevent me from sabotaging the system.

Previous Post 254

1343

Once Mpakatakis left to visit family in Psychiko, we chose to stay where we are so as to eat food that is not normally cooked at home. I chose lamb brains pane, because Robbie had told me how much he loves it, and I admit I enjoyed my meal.

It is just as well that the adults tend to always carry cash with them, for we mobbed the kiosk, wiping out his stock as we bought whatever each of us best love from the chocolates, sweets and biscuits. It is strange how most of us who were born in Greece mostly buy imported biscuits, while Cherine, Rose, Keith and Annabelle always choose locally made.

The adults think us girls are being very brave (stoical?), but the truth is, we are not as strong as we let them think. The one who has to bear the brunt of our misery is Meli, for whenever any of us need to cry, we go to her world. She’ll leave us alone as we weep, unless she senses we need loving arms wrapped around us as we cry on a loved ones’ shoulder. In some things I am one of the strong ones, but in coping with the absence of our Robbie, I am not.

Meli partly chooses the times for telling us the story of Akleet and Reveena according to our need for distraction. This time Candy asked, mainly because she was bored, so we all took our places on cushions on the carpet so that most of our friends can use the chairs and couches.

“Although the couple were happy explorers, for they were also exploring and coming to terms with the changes their love brought to their lives, they also remembered to take their responsibilities as explorers of the island. They found springs where the water bubbling out of the ground only formed a stream of a few metres and than sank out of sight again. they learnt that trying to create ponds can have dire consequences. They blocked one stream, diverting it to a hollow and dammed it with mud and sticks. For five days the pond grew and then the entire area collapsed. Akleet mentioned how he’d noticed that the roof of the cave was made up of roots, whereas the roofs of the tunnels were made of rocks and soil. They entered their observations for Tarrata to study and did not give the matter another thought.
‘I had not expected to miss the company of family and friends - even strangers would be welcome right now.’

1344

Akleet considered her with eyes thoughtful, but also loving. ‘As long as I am with you, I do not need any others. Onn-Revee, I was going to suggest that after we have returned and helped others to this island, that you and I move on to find more islands we can live on. If you are going to feel lonely, maybe we should get some friends to join us?’
‘I don’t mind being lonely now and then, Akleet, not if I am with you. Before we glide to other islands, can we stay home long enough for us to marry?’
‘We will then need to mate!’
She giggled. ‘We will no longer be brother and sister, it is allowed.’
‘We cannot explore new islands if we mate, Onn-Revee, you must not risk gliding if you carry.’ She was not pleased by that thought, but wanted to explore with him, to see new worlds and maybe find new plants and creatures, but not to mate…that was an unnatural thought to hold. She set it aside for after their return.

Their path did not only follow that of least resistance, they also were aiming for the other side of the island so as to watch the skies and map the times and speeds of other islands. The change, when they finally crossed from the one side to the thickness side was barely discernible, but their inner senses felt it and they watched with fascination as the sky of the other side slowly unfolded. They were very surprised to find a small island floating alongside in a fixed orbit, keeping its position without any changes. It did not even rotate around itself.
Their discovery excited them, for this was something no other of their people, not even those who study the skies, had knowledge of. Reveena should have realised that seeing the fixed-island floating so close to them, Akleet would want them to glide to it for a visit. He did not speak about his wish, for he could not see how they could gain the necessary height, nor could he see how they would return, though he thought it should be easier, since the fixed-island gravity is so much weaker.
Akleet guided their footsteps to the area where he calculated gravity should be at its lowest thanks to the fixed-island and Reveena, whose eyes tended to stay fixed on their island and its plant life, discovered a plant they had never seen before. The plant grows a flower, about the size of a cat’s head, and its colouring is grey streaks with thin violet lines which almost look like veins. It is not the colouring, nor the size or shape that makes it unique. Before seeing this plant, neither of them had seen a flower before. On their island, leaves have adapted to also serve the plant in the ways flowers do on our world.
They both tried to sketch the flowers, but their eyes were not accustomed to such a shape and they found it difficult to represent what they thought they see. Luckily they spent the day in the same area and when they woke up the next morning, their subconscious having absorbed what they’d seen during the previous day, they were more successful. Reveena accepted what happened, but Akleet wondered and worried about strange ideas he was having.
They both wanted to take a specimen back home with them, but once they cut a flower, within hours it wilted and turned black. They looked for small flower plants and, having found some, they decided to collect some just before they glide home.
Akleet told Reveena, but it was as if he was mostly speaking to himself, ‘What if we start our homeward glide from here? At this spot we should reach a higher altitude and once we enter the gravity hole on the other side, we’ll do so at height and with the speed we’ve achieved from our long glide.’
‘Are you saying we should wait here until it is time to leave?’
He gave her a surprised look. ‘Oh no, there is still much for us to see and we also won’t see the correct time from this side. We can continue exploring, with regular returns to the other side of the island and once we can see the fast-island approaching and we know our timing, we’ll return here for some plants and for starting our glide.’
During the next few weeks Reveena noticed a few familiar plants whose colouring or shapes slightly differed from those she knows, but she only entered notes about them without attempting to take specimens. Those that were edible she deliberately chose to cook or slice for them to eat and they did not cause any unpleasant physical reactions.”

Diana asked, “Did they name the flower?”

Meli smiled. “I’m not going to try to pronounce the name as it is very long and too complicated for our tongue. The name means ‘the ugly shape which is new to our eyes and does not want to be seen’. As you might guess, it was Akleet who named it.”

Socrati asked, “Did they try to eat it, or at least, take a tiny bite for tasting it?”

Meli shook her head, “I doubt they even thought of it. Socrati, on their island there are a number of plants which are extremely poisonous and even a touch of the tongue to some of them is like trying to take a taste of sulphuric acid, so I imagine they have been raised to be cautious about what they try to taste.”

Socrati earnestly told her, “We also have mushrooms that burn the tongue and kill us if eaten, but it did not stop us from finding out which mushrooms we can eat - thank god, for some of them add a delicious flavour to our food.”

Meli grinned. “Maybe when we visit you can take on their body type and taste the flower for them?”

Sonya said, trying to look stern, but unable to hide the amusement in her eyes (it seems to happen mostly to adults who are children, as if they’ve forgotten how to mask their real thoughts), “You are not willing to risk any of your people, so my Socrati must try it for them?”

1345

Meli answered, “Whoever happens to be the one who is curious should surely be the one to take the risk?”

Socrati laughed. “I’m not that curious.”

Diana said, “I am - I’ll taste it for you Socrati.”

Jonathan shook his head. “It is as well that Meli refuses to take us before Robert returns.”

The tension in our home seemed to grow almost daily as we waited for Robbie to phone us. Each day without a call left us feeling depressed and anxious. Because of this, we were not in the mood to listen to Meli’s story about Akleet and Reveena, so Meli did not try - I guess she also was not in the mood.

We started to see cockroaches wandering around our home, then the house seemed to be teeming with tens of thousands of them and at the same time lice and fleas came to visit in their many thousands. Since we never have such unwelcome guests, we guessed it is supposed to be an attack. As the protector gathered them, some of the girls pleaded for him not to kill them, so the protector took them with him as he visited the person who sent them to us (it was someone in Malaysia). The poor woman; not only did she lose her power, she also had to deal with foreign insects filling her home.

Our electricity went off and we thought it is an attack, but we learnt that one of the substations had a problem. Maybe it served to give them the idea, for the fuse box for the line to our cell bank blew. We replaced the fuse, but it blew again. We tried powering the bank from the generator, but no electricity would travel to the bank. This made it very obvious that our cell bank is under attack. We quickly removed the cell trays, placing them within our portable flasks where they would remain frozen for the time the protector and Sparklers needed to find the person responsible. As soon as the bank started to hum and the little lights went on, we returned the cells. Our healers reported there is no damage to the stored cells.

A few days later, Robbie phoned from on board the ship. As a person who believes that even our emotions should make sense, this was one of the times I thought we had gone crazy. We have been whining and pining, our hearts and bodies have ached for him - and the moment he calls us we blow up and shout at him!

I listened to them talking to him through sharing directly from their minds so that it was as if I were speaking to him, but I did not go to the phone, I did not ask for a turn. I sat with my arms wrapped around my legs, lost in feeling my loves as a bonus to hearing him and I was happy - but also wanting to cry.

Little Cherine also shared from us and, without asking for our approval, she passed on most of it to all our friends. I really think this war has done more to change (mature) her and Rob than any of us. Someday she is going to have Cherinians who will be very proud of their Cherine and Robert.

Too soon the phone call was over, it is now just another few moments belonging to the past, and we already miss him again like crazy. Of course we all went to the computer to learn all we can about Mombasa. From what I saw of the town, I hoped he would be out of there as soon as possible. Even a casual thief with a knife could cost us our love.

Of course we analysed the little he said about his new friend from the ship and tried to guess what he is like (we did not even come close to being right, he is nothing like we imagined our Robert would like as a friend or companion. He is a nice man…even if I have not managed to get him to talk to me about anything serious - sorry, I am getting ahead of myself). The fact that he is loyal to Robbie is enough to make us all love him.

That night Robbie returned and I was so happy. Despite my happiness and my fear of losing him again, the growing number of details that troubled me spoilt his homecoming for me and I ended up feeling quite miserable. Later on I learnt that I was the only one. All the girls were deliriously happy and most of them could not get enough of Robbie, repeatedly making love for the entire time - many of them even becoming pregnant.
Alki purchased a number of big companies and not long afterwards offers came in and he sold them for five times the price he’d paid. He was then told about a major British bank which was having problems. They needed a large cash influx and were willing to sell the majority of their shares for a rock-bottom bargain price. He bought their shares and within days saw his shares soar to ten times the price he’d paid. During all this, Alki forgot about his wife and kids - in the back of his mind he knew they would understand how busy he is and not mind. Then he found himself thinking of them and he was soon asking himself how he could have changed his focus, how he could prefer putting deals together to the deeper joy of being with his family. Without noticing what he was doing he returned to them and forgot about his deals.
Dr Maria, with a scarlet face, told us about her successes medically and how she was invited to give lectures all over the world…and so it was with everyone. Secret daydreams came true and we all stayed locked in our dreams for nearly two nights and one day.

Luckily the protector could sense all of us and when it started to worry it invaded our dreams and because of so many of us having dreams that kept us locked in by catering to our needs and hopes, he realised this must be an attack.

For the first time the protector could not sense who was sending us into such a dream-filled sleep of so many hours and he could not think of a way to break us out of our dreams.

The attacker made one very big mistake. He or she could not entice Ordinx and Solomon into a trance-like sleep. The protector took a form and talked with them, explaining his-our problem. Solomon tried as a Sparkler to sense where the attack was emanating from, but even he could not.

Finally our two friends took the less fancy way of dealing with the problem. They shook us awake!

Some of us did not mind speaking of our dreams, but most of us were too embarrassed to pass on any details. Jonathan told us that he is fascinated by what his subconscious chose for him to dream about and he thinks he is going to change a number of things about his life - but he would not say what. For my loves and myself, the memories of our dreams were painful and all of us sank into a depression for hours. Then Marian reminded us that by allowing ourselves to become so depressed, we were playing into the hands of our attacker, making his attack a success even beyond the time of our dreaming.

Candy asked Meli, “Does the story of Akleet and Reveena have a happy ending?”

Meli gently answered, “I never disclose the end of my stories before reaching the ending.”

Candy just stared at her for a few heartbeats, and then asked, “Can you continue telling us their story?”

Dommi cut in, “Straight after everyone has eaten, Natalie has worked hard to make food for all of us.”

Gianni, son of Tasso, added, “I’d love to eat, I’m starving after all the adventures of my dreams.”

Next Post 256

I hope you enjoy reading this long, long story of fantasy, adventure and love.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)
^{2nd June, 2019}

* posted on Steemit: 2nd June, 2019



For those who wish to be notified of sequels
@nikosnitza

If you wish to have your name added above, I would be honoured.