Chapter 141: Mirthos’ Assistance

Wednesday, June 16, 1971

“You saw it?” asked the old one who appeared in the rocking chair beside me.

“You’re not the Radapel,” I said. “And yes, I sensed ... something. Something very evil.”

“Very perceptive, young one. We have learned much about your people with this visit. I think that the council will have to consider easing the restrictions concerning contact with your people before our next visit,” he replied aloud.

“I thought you all were leaving,” I told him.

“We have passed the point where YOU may visit OUR world. Though each of us has powers to varying degrees. Those with lesser powers would not be able to be here. That is why you are experiencing me,” he explained, “instead of the Radapel.”

I suddenly realized that if this were true, then my visitor must have great powers, indeed. “May I have the honor of knowing to whom I’m speaking?” I asked.

“I would be called Mirthos, in your language. I am the leader of the Council of the Ages on our world,” he explained as if I really understood all that meant. I could tell that he was considered a leader on Narvenia and Spiro’s world.

It was surprisingly simple to scan him, for he did not carry the protective shields I had found on the Radapel or the sisters. I found he had very few emotions, although I did sense that he had been among the group of old ones I had defeated in the mock battle earlier.

“Yes. That was very a very interesting thing you did to defeat us. How did you come up with the idea?” Mirthos asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, but before I could answer, he went on.

“I must say, that is the first time the Radapel had ever been bested in an Obrelausten. Even I only lasted until the fifth opponent was added,” he said with a hearty laugh.

“I’m not sure, sir,” I told him. “It just came to me. I only knew that I could not afford to lose. Not with the future of my world at stake!”

I saw that he was allowing me to scan him, knowing that he was controlling his emotions to limit what I could read. On a hunch, I began to share my love with him. It was not a sexual love or a physical love, but the love of my world, and all its wondrous things. I shared my love of goodness, and of truth. And as I did, I discovered that his world did have love. It was buried beneath layers of logistical training. He had been taught to subordinate his emotions to higher callings. So as I shared my love, the love within him responded.

Suddenly, his shield was in place. It was not as complex as the Radapel’s, but infinitely more powerful. However, I could still sense his anger. And his fear.

“How? Tell me how you could violate my core so easily. I have existed since before the dawn of your world. No one has done that since I was as young as you are now,” he told me, not as a boast, but a statement of fact. He was both fearful, and amazed.

“Please, sir. I meant no harm. You seemed to be allowing me to scan you, but you were hiding all your emotions from me. I just had a hunch, so I tried something, and it opened your heart to me. If only for a moment. I will tell you that I saw that you are a great man. And a great leader. Your people are wise if they follow where you lead,” I told him.

He relaxed as he scanned me and found the truth of my thoughts.

“Again, you amaze me, young one. I am beginning to believe that Narvenia and Spiro may be right,” he said with a sincere smile. “You just might have a chance after all.”

“Uh ... thank you,” I said. “I guess. Can YOU tell me any more about what I am facing?”

“Unfortunately, even I won’t go against the Council’s ruling on that score,” he said thoughtfully. “However, I may have something that will help you.”

“Help me?” I asked, not at all certain of what he was saying.

“Since the girls brought you from your time and awakened you in the body with the nonfunctioning mind, you have continually surprised everyone,” Mirthos said. “First with your capacity to love, then your willingness to share that love with others. You have learned our teachings much faster than what was first believed possible, and your ability to adapt that knowledge and then creatively use it to your advantage is unique in our exploration of the universe.”

I had an eerie feeling as he spoke. It was as if he was speaking to someone else.

“Again, you surprise me, young one” he said smiling. “So, yes. I think I will help you.”

I sat there waiting as he just disappeared without another word.

Now I was really confused. He had just said he would help me, but then he disappeared without telling me anything else. I was pissed for a moment, then I decided to let it go. I still had all they had given me, and I still faced an unknown enemy that I had now sensed as real, if just barely. I tried to think about the unknown enemy, but my mind kept drifting back to all that I had seen when I scanned Mirthos. Most of it didn’t make sense, but just as I had sensed my unknown enemy earlier, I sensed something here as well. But it too, seemed out of my range.

“Michael?” Anna’s thought came to me. “Where are you?”

I sighed as I gave up on my musings and returned to the Dining hall.

I rejoined the family, after going through the line and filling a plate with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. They scooted around the table so that there was a place for me to sit. It was between Kathy Lynn and Sandy.

“Are you okay, Michael?” Sandy asked with concern. Kathy Lynn looked at me also, and her look reminded me of a look I had seen on both Debbie and Randi’s faces before. As if it was feeding time at the zoo and I was the main course!

“I’m fine,” I said. “I just wanted to work through some things in my head.”

“Yeah,” Sandy replied. “Vickie told us that you were not comfortable with the idea of taking each of us in line. She says that we were not considering your feelings when we decided to do as Narvenia and Spiro had suggested.”

I looked at Vickie preparing to say something stern to her, but I couldn’t help it. A smile just broke out on my face. After all, she was just doing her job. And I had to say ... she was doing it very well.

“Thank you for understanding, Michael. They were all getting worried that you didn’t want them. I had to show them your heart, and then they understood,” Vickie explained.

“Great! Maybe they can help me understand it then,” I thought to myself.

“It’s really simple, dufus! You don’t want to feel like you have to make love to someone on a schedule. You want it to happen when we’re ready for it to happen,” Nicky explained.

“Yeah. You want it to be natural, and from our hearts. Not because you HAVE to make love to us, but because we WANT to give you our love,” Adriana supplied.

“On the other hand, I’ll admit that those of us who have never made love to you, feel a certain pressure, if you will, to be with you as soon as we get the chance. It’s one of the realities in a weird relationship like ours,” Kathy Lynn added as she motioned at the large group of women.

“Well, what you are saying makes sense. A little while ago, I got a very small glimpse of what it is that I think we’ll be facing. And if it is as large, and powerful, and evil as I think it is, even all your love combined, might not be enough. So it makes sense that we work on growing our love, every moment we have,” I told them.

“You saw it?” Catherine asked. It struck me as funny that she asked the question exactly as Mirthos had asked earlier.

I nodded, as I looked around the Dining Hall. There was no one paying that much attention to us. I mean no more attention than two dozen beautiful and naked young women would normally attract, even at a nudist ranch. So I began to recount what I had experienced on the porch. It didn’t take long to tell them the whole story.

“So he said he would help,” Hanna asked, “and then he just left? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know. That sounds just like what the guys at my school do when we ask them to help get the gym decorated for a dance!” Randi quipped as they all laughed in agreement.

“I think Michael’s right. We need to focus on what we know, and do what we can do. If this Mirthos does do something to help, then we’ll just evaluate it at that time,” Izzy said to everyone.

Everyone seemed to agree with what Izzy had said, and soon they all turned to look at me. I rose to my feet and looked around the group.

“Well, then, who’s next?” I said with a smile. They all laughed as they began chattering away among themselves. Kathy Lynn stood up.

“I think Sandy was supposed to be next, but I’m not sure she’s ready. However, I know I am! Especially after the last couple of days that I’ve spent around you. And I don’t think you’ll need very long with me, so Sandy could still spend the night with you,” Kathy Lynn explained. “I’ll just need someone to watch Sunny for about ten minutes,” she added.

The girls all laughed at that and quickly worked out the details. Kathy Lynn walked around the table and took my arm, happily. “Lead on, my Prince!” she said as we stepped back out into the rain.

Kathy Lynn talked cheerfully all the way back to the Lodge, flirting and teasing the whole way. When we arrived, I began toweling her down, as she continued her flirty monologue, recounting her days at the commune and the serious absence of really good sex, due to all the pressure of trying to live a life of ‘free love’ as had been the hippie’s mantra. She ridiculed the stifled atmosphere of the ‘organized’ orgies they would try to have, that usually ended in petty arguments filled with jealousy and anger. And laughed at the men there who thought the way to a woman’s heart was through the size of their penis.

She became a little sadder as she told about how she had come to realize that the commune was just as confused and misguided as the society from which most of them were trying to escape. That’s why she had jumped at the chance to leave with Stan.

“Of course, you can see where that led,” Kathy Lynn said sadly, as I finished drying her off.

“Yeah, it led to two beautiful women joining my family, and maybe even to helping me save this world,” I finished for her.