If he had studied and qualified to be a professor at a university, he would not have been of any use there either. His love for learning is undisciplined and his main pleasure is in taking facts and extrapolating from them, enjoying the directions his thoughts and imagination sometimes take him. He was dismayed when he found out why Robert and Cherine had called on him.
“Once our success is public knowledge you will be famous. However, we are here to examine with you, your other concepts. I find them difficult to believe and believing is the main empowering ingredient that proves any idea. I do not wish to attempt to prove something I don’t understand or believe as I’d only be guaranteeing failure. For instance, you suggest we place Earth Healers in orbit to monitor and heal any part of the world that needs our help. How can they heal from such a distance?”
“You ask me for further extrapolations that you are too lazy to gnaw at yourself?” He asked Cherine, “When you heal the land, do you only heal the land your feet touch or a larger area?”
“The surrounding land, but only to a certain distance.”
“Why?”
“Because…that is the land my healer reaches?”
“Why? Have you imagined your healing stretching out into the distance, have you tried it?”
“No. You think I could?”
“What I think only affects what I can do. Think like a child Cherine.”
Robert laughed with joy at the look in Cherine’s eyes, at the impatience in her to prove Allan’s theory. He took her hand and called as they ran for the door, “We’ll be back.”
The moment they could see a barren slope they teleported. She pointed in one direction, ordering him to heal it and she sent her healer in the opposite direction, her eyes searching out the slope, the gully below it and the next upward slope. She felt the power vibrating within her and exultant with foreknowledge of success she threw aside caution and belief or disbelief, just concentrating on all the land she could see. As her energies sank into the soil, cleansing and healing, her mind searched for every drop of dampness, calling it to the surface. Stunned she collapsed to a crouch, and with her knees held against her chest she waited.
Robert too exulted as he felt himself healing the land, cutting a swathe that reached two hundred metres by fifty. He turned to grab Cherine to him and froze. For as far as his eyes could see the land was shooting patches of green. He collapsed next to her on the ground.
Like two children, exuberant and laughing, they ran into Allan’s shop. “You have to come see!”
“Do you need tea or any nourishment?”
“Not now, you must see this Allan, it’s like magic.”
“I think I have provided you with the customary hospitality, if you’ll excuse me now, I have work to do. Goodbye.” As he turned, dismissing them, he turned back. “I would consider it a small repayment if you would kindly refrain from mentioning me to others. I do not need to be inundated by fools who are not willing to think for themselves. Extrapolate!”
They looked at each other, stunned by his rudeness and feeling let down by his lack of interest. Suddenly Cherine giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“He is. Remember he told me to think like a child? That explains how he does it and why he’s so rude, he’s just a child in a grown up body.”
Robert tried to imagine the mind of a child in that elderly body with its paunch and bald spot and he burst out laughing. They were out of the village before they could teleport because of their hysterical laughter.
Deliberately being mysterious, Robert asked, “Arthur, can you arrange for us to use a helicopter for half a day?”
“Should I give a reason to justify it?”
“Tell them we feel like flying. Arthur, please come with.”
“Both of you are hopeless at keeping secrets, I’ll get it out of you before we leave the ground.”
Robert grinned. “Okay, we’ll give you a clue. It has something to do with POL setting up a space station. Have fun with that thought.”
Arthur took the stand with his heart thudding painfully.
“Mr President and Council Members, I have asked to address you for two reasons. Before yesterday our nation grew by an area roughly sixty by eighty kilometres. Yesterday, using a jet plane, it grew by six hundred by one thousand three hundred kilometres, expanding past the city where Robert was captured. To achieve the mentioned successes, POL used two agents, Cherine and Robert.” He had to pause for the excited buzz to die down. “Cherine has formally requested of POL that we plan for a space station in orbit around our planet so that we can monitor and heal the entire planet. For us to offer her a positive reply we need a Council decision. In the meantime, if you authorise the expenditure, we will heal the land from jet planes within the range they can cover. After that we will have to find other ways - perhaps by establishing fuel depots and runways in a circle around our nation.”
Arthur knew he’d only fired the first shot. It would take months, perhaps a year, before the Council approved their plan for a space station. There was still a strong abhorrence for the technology of the past and such a station could not be kept a secret. Still, he was proud of himself, even surprised that he’d had the courage to make such a demand. As he arrived home he returned to more mundane matters, for he had to prepare supper as Cherine had asked for all her ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ to visit them. He worried what she is up to, for he was certain she plans another surprise for them.
Cherine played at being hostess and kept the conversation light and cheerful until they’d finished their meal. When Arthur made to bring the brandy she asked them not to drink. “You’ve all heard about our visits to the void and the light beings. I’m asking that you all trust us and allow us to take you there. I think it is very important, so please do it for me.”
Jon said, “I’ve tried going there on my own but I was not successful, you can count me in.”
Once they had all agreed, they had tea and relaxed for an hour. When Cherine felt the digesting of the food would not cause problems, they made themselves comfortable and closed their eyes, waiting for Cherine to visit their minds. She did so, one by one, while Robert and Arthur waited in the void to welcome them and ease any distress.
They were introduced to the light beings, taught how to exchange motes of love and with their permission, Cherine shared with them how to heal the Earth from a distance. They were already overcome by being in the void and meeting what they considered a superior starfaring race, so Cherine waited until they’d calmed down a bit before introducing Ntchizi.
They had hundreds of questions, but Cherine asked them to wait for their return to their bodies as their time there was limited and she wanted to perform an experiment.
*I’m certain you can all sense that your contact with your gifts and your healing power is far more direct when you are out of your body. I want to test whether it is also stronger. If the light beings help carry our souls into normal space, I’d like us to concentrate on healing one of the areas that are not too far from our home.*
They had some difficulty in adjusting to the way their planet appears when seeing it as souls and they wasted a little time in finding out how deep into the atmosphere the light beings feel comfortable. They then chose the area and ordering their healers to work with each other they concentrated on healing it. They all had difficulties in tracing underground water sources and guiding it to the surface, so a number of patches are not going to grow, even though the soil has been healed. By the time they returned to their bodies they were certain they’d succeeded, but they all needed visual confirmation by seeing the plants. They agreed to meet the next morning and quickly separated.
Cherine stood over Arthur as he poured himself a drink. “If you’re going to keep coming to the void with us you must find yourself a woman.”
With a red face Robert dragged her to their bedroom.
There was a delay before they could check. A number of flights carried fuel to a temporary depot and only once the stock was sufficient did they leave. The helicopter cameras are far more powerful and they broadcast in more detail the vast tracts of land that were now green. As they stopped to refuel on the return leg, Arthur pointed out that they will no longer need a space station. He sounded disappointed.
“Can I choose my favourite agents from POL?”
“Certainly - I think they’ll all be eager to learn.”
“What if I borrowed most of them for a project of mine - just for a week father.”
He shook his head, amazed. “You already have another project?”
“A very important one, but many people may not like it. I want to save the planet of Ntchizi.”
That was a bomb that flabbergasted all of them, but Cherine could not answer anyone because Ntchizi was clamouring to know what she plans. She told her to wait and only then explained to all. “If we can draw water from deep underground, it means we can affect matter. The dust in space that is affecting them should be easier for us to move. If we succeed, then we’ll have to explain to the Council and ask for volunteers, as we’ll probably have to go there on a regular basis - unless we find a way to move the whole cloud.” Her face lit up. “I believe we can repay our debt - as they saved our species, so can we save theirs. It is a debt Arthur, even if the people never learn of it.”
Robert placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “You know uncle, I think I have the most wonderfully amazing woman in the whole world - I better marry her before someone else steals her from me.”
Cherine asked, in a haughty voice, “Is that a proposal?”
“Not yet, the proposal will come at the right time, the right place and in a suitable manner.”
She frowned at him, but Ntchizi was laughing at her because she was sharing how Cherine feels.
Two council members with three top business people came to visit Cherine at the house. Both Cherine and Robert always remain conscious of the fact that normal people find it difficult to be at ease with her because of her block and with him because of being a boxee, so they were patient and limited their discussions to general topics until they led the discussion to the reason for their visit. One of the businessmen, a small and wiry individual who was obviously the toughest of them, came directly to the point.
“Cherine, there cannot be one sane person who does not appreciate all you’ve done for us and our society has been changed, for the better I need not add, thanks to you. Some of the changes came about because of grief you had to bear and we grieved with you.
However, as my mother used to tell me, too much of a good thing is not good for you. The changes are coming too rapidly for people to adjust, some are exhibiting signs of strain - especially the elderly and those who live in small isolated communities, and as a consequence the economy of our country is suffering. What I’ll tell you may sound contrary to what you’d expect, for your gifts have always been accompanied by your insistence that they increase our responsibility to ourselves and our world. People are behaving like we’ve struck gold and everyone is going to be immensely wealthy. They are spending beyond their means and when we point out to them that tomorrow still has to be faced, they answer in a dismissive manner that Cherine will take care of any problems.”
A council member was quick to add, “You are not to accept blame in any way for their immaturity Cherine. What we do need to recall is that the history of our people is very brief, merely two centuries, and those years have been a hard struggle to ensure our survival. We’ve also lived with the constant fear that we would fail in preserving our land as the ecological disasters worldwide, continually changed the climate and rainfall patterns. You’ve given us hope for the first time and strengthened us so that we see a possibility of our people and their dream surviving. Those who are acting irresponsibly are being carried away by a tide of euphoria, but they are basically hard working and cautious people. They need to be reminded of some of the harsh realities, that’s all. As things stand now, only you can do so without causing anger or too great a loss of hope.”
The other council member gave a harsh bitter laugh. “Our projections show that with the changes in the land surrounding us, as at present and as they will hopefully be within the next year, the local weather is going to change again, causing loss of crops and the spectre of hunger among our people has returned to haunt the Council. We are forced to plan the moving of entire villages because they were built on low ground and the expected floods could cause loss of life if we don’t act from now.”
Both Cherine and Robert were too dismayed to think. Arthur was quicker to respond. “There is little danger of hunger as we can begin farming the crops we’ll need in the new land available to us. As for villages being moved, they should not have built in flood areas anyway and it is only prudent they are moved, whether floods are expected or not.
Cherine and Robert, you should appear together more often so that people think of you as one. It would not cause fear if you talked about the need for balance. You could explain that though the benefits in the long run will turn our world into an Eden, in the short run we will have to gird ourselves to survive the swings of our weather until our planet achieves a new equilibrium. We should make it clear that we can now plant crops almost anywhere in the world so they should not be alarmed, only cautious and willing to work with us to plan for the future.”
One of the businessmen, a gruff seeming man, but well known for his charity commitments, gently took Cherine’s hand in his. “My dear, this must be distressing for you, you’ve done nothing but good for our people and world and now you are being made to feel responsible for the adjustments we have to plan for. Don’t, we are all adults and must take our share of the load.”
She stared back at him with eyes filled with tears of despair. “We’re trapped.”
They thought she was being over-sensitive and tried to reassure her. Robert turned her face to him. “What do you see Cherine? Where is the danger?”
“We have to change the world Robert, we have to heal it.” He nodded in agreement. “The world has hundreds of communities that will suffer. We cannot only plan to feed ourselves and allow them to starve because of us. I don’t care how much any of them have mutated, they are humans just like us and they will weep to see their children die. There are too many of them, how can we save ourselves and them?”
She’d forgotten the empathy she’d seen in him. Talking of children dying turned his face into a bleak mask that then set and hardened. “We will do it because we have to Cherine, not one of them will be allowed to die because of us. POL will consult with experts and then you and I will do whatever is necessary. We will save them Cherine.”
“They’re planning to create huge farms Robert. They mustn’t, that was one of the reasons the old ones failed. The land must bear a variety, planting hundreds or thousands of acres with only one crop will destroy the land again.”
“You guide us love and we’ll find ways to make it happen.”
Robert and Arthur glanced at each other in common recognition of the smouldering mood Cherine maintained during the meal. As if she expected to surprise them, she carefully put her fork down and then announced, “I don’t care what anyone says, we’re going to Ntchizi’s world first.”
Dear visitor, if you only joined us now, at post 21, welcome.
I think you have missed some beautiful parts of the story of Cherine and Robert.
This is a reminder, you can go to the top of this page and use the link to return to Post 01.
Thereafter, each post has the next link at the end of the story. Or else, from post2 onwards, all you need to do is alter the url, increasing the post number by one.
If you do enjoy the story, I do not ask that you resteem or upvote; those to me are just bonuses, a sign you enjoyed reading Boxee. All I really want as encouragement is that you recommend the story to all your friends; those you think would enjoy such a fantasy story.
I would like to add a personal note, which is also a hope of mine. You may or may not enjoy my way of keeping my writing simple where I can; you may or may not enjoy the style of the adventures experienced; but, I am very confident you will each grow to love at least one character.
Is that character going to be Cherine, Robert, Arthur, Bobby, the Fire Woman or her daughter, or one of the others you will come to know? I will not even try to guess, but I know you will, for I have loved each of them and written of them with love :)
Thank you.