Post 16
Ntchizi wept, sharing her grief with Cherine. *I could only separate what you had not already absorbed, he will be crippled Cherine.*
*Will he be Robert, knowing himself? *
*He will, but he will be greatly weakened. Cherine, you must be careful and allow me to guide you. You have grown and new gifts and powers will flood you. You must not lose control.*
Cherine stood behind the wheelchair as Robert stared at the lake, the verdant trees, tensely waiting for Cherine’s surprise. She wished with all her might, but the silence lay unbroken. Ntchizi found the birds and caused them to trill and a smile of delight spread over Robert's face.
“They have come this far into the barren land?”
Arthur spoke from behind them where he was preparing the picnic, “We’ll soon have to rename it, perhaps Land of Life would be more suitable?”
Cherine moved to stand next to Robert. He looked up at her and understanding his wish, she took hold of his hand. “One day there will be squirrels and ants and butterflies and all kinds of life. Will we allow it to remain an idyllic portrait of nature or will we build a village and plough the land?”
“Some of the land will be used Robert, the rest must remain for healing hearts.”
Robert nodded. “Healing, yes, it reaches deeply.”
“While the two of you rhapsodise over nature, I’m starting on the wine. I’ve slaved for hours in the kitchen to prepare a perfect meal for the two of you, don’t you dare allow it to congeal.”
They smiled at each other and she turned his chair back to Arthur. Robert could not speak loudly so he waited until he was by Arthur. “You are just envious because you don’t have someone like Cherine to love you.”
“The only reason she loves you is because it is the part of yourself in her loving you.” He grinned at Cherine. “You’ve never told us, does Ntchizi love Robert because of you loving him?”
“If she did fall in love, I think it is more likely she’d fall in love with you. She considers the both of us immature and foolish.”
“She may be over two hundred years old, but he’s still too old for her.” Robert teased.
“Robert, never call an old person old, never call an ugly woman ugly and never call a beautiful woman beautiful.”
“I don't understand the last one, if she is beautiful, why shouldn't I tell her I find her so?”
“An ugly woman wants to be thought of as beautiful, but a beautiful woman wants to be loved for her brains or her personality.”
Cherine had a few glasses of wine with her meal and felt more relaxed than she had for a long time. Coming to the lake had affected Robert and he was smiling, which seemed to free her from most of her anxieties. She rested her arms across his thighs and leaning her chin on them she looked into his eyes. “Would you mind if I’m serious for a while?”
He smiled. “How can anyone feel serious here? The food and wine have made me drowsy, so go ahead, at worst I’ll just fall asleep.”
“Both of you men have a lousy sense of humour.”
“Go ahead love, be serious, as long as you’re not going to bring us another shattering psychic gift. I need some time to catch up with you.”
“I was thinking about love and hate. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve come to realise that his hate was a pure emotion. Most people grow to hate because of grievances they have, real or imaginary. Not Bobby, he had no grievances. He did not hate for any specific reason, his brain must be wired in such a way that all he can feel is hate.” She stared up into his eyes for a moment. “Sometimes, I think that when I first met you, that is how I loved you.”
“You mean your brain was wired that way?”
She grinned. “I guess so. I had a Robert switch and soon as I met you, you triggered it. I’m very lucky that you do love me, because I don’t think I can find the switch to stop.”
“If you want to continue being serious, I’m quite happy to listen to you for a few more hours.” She softly thumped his thigh in pretended chagrin and then giggled.
As Robert had threatened, it wasn’t long before both men had dozed off. Cherine sat with head leaning against Robert's thigh, her eyes no longer registering the beauty before her as she returned in memory to think about the last two months.
Those first few days had been bad; chaotic splendour commixed with a cleaving claim by the needs of Robert. She’d desperately needed time to herself, but Robert's healer was not looking after him and a couple of times he’d weakened to the point of his heart faltering. Arthur had brought in healers, but she’d refused them, determined to care for him herself - not trusting anyone with his life. Finally Arthur had brought in four of the original twenty eight men she’d taught to care for the land and she’d allowed them to watch over him whenever she needed to sleep or her own energies went through wild swings.
She was grateful to Ntchizi for teaching her how to use those swings in a positive manner, she could have become very destructive if she’d been on her own. Ntchizi would plead with her to teleport to barren land and there she’d allow the surges of energy within her to translate into new life. She still felt the wonder of the one time when the plants and trees grew within the few hours she was there to the size they usually achieved in ten days or more.
About five days after Robert's dramatic cure of her determination that she could no longer feel love, he worsened and she sensed that everyone else felt that they were losing him. She’d rushed in to his mind, despite protests that removing his soul would cripple the final efforts by his body to cling to life and she pleaded with the star beings to show her how to splice a part of her core to his. She returned with both of them closer to stabilisation - and more keenly devoted to each other.
Robert had remained weak and struggled to stand on his own, but once she saw that with time and the help of healers he was growing stronger, she lost her keen edge of panic.
About a month ago she’d started taking walks to be on her own. She was upset when Arthur told her that Robert seemed to recover more of his strength while she was gone, but he explained that her own anxieties made him tense, costing him energy he needed for his rehabilitation. Thereafter she took walks of a few hours each day.
Two weeks ago she went to the closed environment where Bobby was kept. Visitors were not permitted, but nobody tried to stop her (she sensed them watching her, curious but constrained from asking for her reasons). For two days she only watched him through the dome, but on the third day she entered his environment and sat on the ground. He circled her, sniffing and silently snarling and then he settled himself before her at his usual distance, his icy blue eyes staring at her.
“Hello Bobby. It took me a long time to find out that I was afraid of you, but you changed that for me, now I understand you a little better so I don’t fear you anymore.
Do you like being an animal Bobby, or do you want to learn what it is like to be human? I’ll come whenever I can and if you listen to me, I’ll give it my all to help you. Do you wonder why? I’ve been told that dozens of Security Agents are searching the area where we met for others like you, they are even hoping they’ll find your mama. I’ll tell you a secret, they won’t find anyone. The only reason I met you was because you are different because your father died before he could teach you everything you needed to know and you were curious or you thought I would make a good meal. I think your people sort of half remember the old people and that is why they will fear us. You are not of the children of Rea so you’ll never be a real threat, the only danger from your kind is on the physical level. Work with me, learn that you are Bobby and maybe one day you and I will go back to your home for you to help us find your people and help them regain their humanity.”
Cherine was aware that everything she said was being recorded and guessed they thought she was being foolish. She didn’t care. She knew that she was communicating to Bobby the changes in her by her body language, by the tone of her voice, by her relaxed manner when he crept around her. She had already achieved a small measure of success. Now when he sat opposite her, he was no longer as tense as he’d been.
She felt the echoes of her anger from the day before as she recalled the meeting forced on her. She’d gone to spend time with Bobby when she was confronted by a guard at the entrance to Bobby’s enclosure. He refused to stand aside for her and insisted she first speak to Haelly Stramgord, the scientist in charge of the mutant. She was shown the way to her office.
Haelly made no pretence of cordiality, abruptly answering Cherine’s unasked questions. “We are disturbed by your efforts and after a lengthy meeting last night our department has regretfully come to the conclusion that you must not be permitted any further interaction with the mutant. A letter officially notifying you has been sent to your place of abode. If you wish to observe the creature from outside the dome, you are welcome, but you will no longer be permitted to enter inside.”
“What are your reasons?”
“That creature is a danger to all our people, a threat to all humans. You are obviously not satisfied by the damage it caused you and wish to awaken it to sentience so that it and its kind become a threat. We will not permit it.”
“How do you intend stopping me? You are aware I can teleport into the dome?”
“If you do so, after our official notification of your ban, you will be in contravention of our laws and be declared a criminal, if not a traitor to our specie. Do you plan to challenge our laws and make of yourself an outcast?” She stood up suddenly. “I’m warning you, the very first time you teleport into the enclosure a warrant for your arrest will be issued and, to prevent future occurrences, that monster will be killed. It probably would be of more use to us dead as we might learn of the ways it has mutated.”
Cherine stared at the woman with cold hard eyes. “You think the world belongs to you - I will see to it that you learn that it does not, that, I promise you.”
Robert's hand softly caressed her hair and Cherine returned to the present. “Wake Arthur, he has slept enough. If he has any tea in the thermos, I’d love a cup.”
They shared the tea and small pastries and then Robert said to Arthur, “We were brought here under false pretences. I think it is time Cherine explains her thoughts.”
His words gave her courage, for they reaffirmed his sensitivity to her. Mutely she pulled out the letter and handed it to Arthur. He read it and passed it on to Robert.
“I think you better explain what caused this.”
She did so, struggling through her own reasons for wanting to change Bobby and thereby crystallising them for herself. She then spoke of her intended actions. “Tomorrow I will teleport to Bobby and take him back to his home. I will not risk allowing them the right of life or death over him. That was not my intention when I asked for help.”
“How will you do that?” Robert asked. “You cannot very well hold him in your arms.”
“I’ll form a bubble of energy for holding him, I’ll be safe Robert.”
“You won’t be safe - not if you go. That letter would condemn you as a criminal. However, if you teach me how to form a sphere of energy, I can do as you wished.”
“To prevent any argument of you having acted illegally, I’ll sign the orders tonight. POL has decided they would prefer to continue the experiment with Bobby in the wild. I don’t know about you Robert, but I’m sickened by fear at the thought that she’s been sitting before Bobby again without any protection.”
His smile was possessive. “She would not be Cherine if she had not.”
“Robert, you are not strong enough to teleport twice and create a sphere of energy.”
“My body is weak Cherine, not my mind.”
“You’re wrong! Your mind has made your body weak.”
“What else can we do my love? I have a feeling that woman is not going to waste time in killing Bobby, she knows you have contacts that could override her orders.”
“Uncle, if you can sign the order, why does Robert need to teleport, why not send men tonight to collect Bobby and return him to his home?”
Both men laughed and Arthur and Cherine rushed to pack and return to the city. As they travelled, Arthur spoke on the radio, instructing his men so that they would be ready to act immediately, dictated the order to his secretary and then took the precaution of ordering men to guard the dome without making the intent of their presence obvious, but with instructions that if anyone tried to approach Bobby, they should protect the creature and refuse anyone permission from entering the dome.
Before midnight, Bobby was back at his home, teleported by Cherine once he was out of the dome. As he was released she stood before him, closer than he was used to. He ignored his surroundings just long enough to give her a warning look and then he almost rose onto his back legs as he sniffed. He disappeared among the rocks and Cherine took the time to check there is water and to place meat on the offering rock.
Haelly Stramgord made an accusation the next morning that caused crowds to form before Cherine’s home. She walked out to greet them.
“Cherine, what is your reply to Haelly Stramgord?”
“I don’t know exactly what she’s accused me of…I leave reading the news until after lunch, that way I enjoy at least half my day. I’ll hazard a guess, did she announce that I’ve put all of you in danger because I’m hoping to bring to a mutant the ability to communicate?”
“She claims you are trying to force it to think like a human which makes it a danger to all of us.”
Cherine mimicked Robert and bent her head to the side in apparent thought. She gave a sudden grin. “Is it just me or does that sound like the justification the Master Healer used for wanting to destroy me?”
The crowd had gathered there to show their support so there was laughter. It looked as if a few were about to leave, so she spoke, her voice serious now, “When POL was first formed, I asked that we, as a people, make a commitment to our mother Earth that we would not treat her as our ancestors did, that we would leave most of the land for her other children. That includes, snakes, scorpions and all mutants. All of life has a right to their niche, just as we do.
Can anyone seriously believe that Bobby is the only mutant out there? People like Haelly Stramgord imagine they can rid us of their danger? How? The land they use is sere, life of any kind spread thinly and not offering much sustenance, so they must be spread over great distances. We have one other disadvantage, their racial memory warns them of us - to them we look like the old ones, the ones who caused their mutations. They’ll never allow any of us to approach them unless Bobby learns to trust us.
I’ll tell you this, there are other mutants out there who are far more dangerous. Before we consider using violence, we must try to come to some terms with them and allow them their own corner. If we do not, then we are no better than the old ones who destroyed this world. I for one, refuse to allow fear to dictate my actions. I’d much rather trust empathy and common sense. I consider it our duty to become protectors of the land and all forms of life. Should any of them try to use more than is their due, or should we see they prepare to attack us, we have the right to protect ourselves and life in general. Whatever it costs our comfort, I ask of you that we never be the ones to strike first. Thank you for coming to me my friends and thank you for listening to me.”
Her words were aired and her faith in the people was vindicated by the overwhelming support that gathered around her and in condemnation of the attitudes of people like Haelly Stramgord.
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