Oh, oh, I hear something else in Brana’s comment. She is not all sure about this Marja. I better keep an eye open. I hug Brana with one arm as Marja continues.

“I like traveling. I have seen 80 or more planets and dimensions. I never get bored at the variety of worlds, peoples and places.  That is all the relevant parts to my life you need for now.”

Marja looks at us, smiles and instantly becomes a 6 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot size shiny silver metal box covered in knobs, lights, whistles, whines, beeps, dials, buttons that switch on and off.  Not all sides are smooth.  Two sides ripple, one is a waffle weave. With that I touch a knob and hear her yell, “Hey, get your hands off me, you don’t know what you are touching.”  I am shocked into silence, and then hear her uproarious laughter.  We all get a kick at the ridiculousness of the moment.  Next, she turns into a soft chair that has a delicate but busy design with several colors.  I am tempted to sit down on her but figure she would get even somehow.  She finally turns back to the recognizable Marja.
 
With that little playful demonstration, Brana and I just look at each other. I am filled with questions. I think we will have a lot of time to get answers.  There certainly is more to Marja than what she is telling.  I wouldn’t want her for an enemy.

“So,” Brana asks, “What is your favorite form?”

“I like this best.”  Marja moves her hand in an arc across herself from neck to waist. She looks at Tran with a warm smile and flirtatious wink, then turns and asks about Brana.

“Brana, tell me about yourself,” Marja is watching Brana carefully.

“My mother was kind, efficient, loving and could sing beautifully.  Between my father and mother, I found a love for music.  My father taught me how to play the piano and fiddle.  We would spend many hours in the throes of musical pleasure. My father and mother were scientists and discovered new things about time travel. They won intergalactic awards for their work.  Both died in the war before I married and had Lali.  I earned a degree in psi manipulation so it is easy for me to intercept thoughts, manipulate actions through mind control and interrupt and manipulate electronic signals.  I also read minds.   What I accomplish is especially handy during wartime.

With that I watch Brana turn around and walk toward the settee where I follow and sit next to her.
            ------------------------------------------


We sit in the living room as Lali awakens and begins singing her own style loudly while bobbing off the floor across the room and onto a couch, then doing it all over again.  I like her happy nature. She fabricates a small stuffed rabbit as I watch.

Looking back at Tran, I ask him, “What is important to you in choosing where to live?  I know you said you want to join us before I had mentioned it to Brana

“Well,” Tran begins, “I think we would go crazy if we just sat in some vacation heaven.  Besides we know what areas to avoid since many are in the rebuilding stages from war and abuse.  They are not yet prepared for settlers.

“ We are accustomed to working.  It has been an idea of mine, and I know yours as well, to go to Dimension 3, where Atlantis is the home of the accelerated minds and we would fit in.  We could stay there for many years and enjoy the beauty and progressive lifestyles, since three hundred years remain before it meets with disaster. “ Tran continues,
“We also have an opportunity to keep many thousands on the planet safe.  We can educate, relocate, and guide people in healthy living habits, farming, medicine, building homes, the possibilities are endless.  What do you all say to that?” 

Brana speaks first, “It seems a sensible choice to me. “

“It will certainly be different from this dead place,” Marja interjects in a monotone.

I feel she is not enthusiastic.  I wonder about this.  She is not evil or she would not be allowed in The HOUSE.  I speak up, “There are places like this HOUSE there as well, where we can live, even be neighbors.  With relaxed schedules we can do as we choose.  Holy Jiggles, I realize I have never considered sitting on my hind end and doing nothing but contemplate.”   Everyone laughs.

“None of us have, buddy.” Tran interjects.

Lali is still a good foot off the floor, playing with some toys and singing. Her voice is clear and sweet to my ears. She whirls about and floats gently through the wall, then instantly returns with giggles. Brana calmly says, “What did I say about you going through walls, Lali?”

I shudder when she does that.  I am afraid she will wander through some wall and get into trouble.  I find myself watching her like a mother hen.  I don’t take my eyes off her for long.

Lali gives her mom a big exaggerated smile and bounces across the room as if on a rubber ball.  She keeps herself occupied.  She picks up food along the way.  Brana has vegetables and fruit in bowls and cups with juices all over the room.  Brana is teaching her independence.

Tran and Marja look at Lali then each other and change into cuddly little white fur balls with expressive bright eyes the size of Lali. They float over to Lali who looks at them, loudly giggles and turns into a cuddly little white fur ball with expressive bright eyes, too.  The three of them play, and hold hands in a circle above us, laughing and overall have a fine time.  They look identical.

Like dancers, long teamed together, they move without a word in total unison.  I am interested in their communication precision.

Brana whispers, “I think we have found baby-sitters.”  We get a kick out of the image it gives us. It is like having three children in front of us.   Then Brana adds, with a touch of a frown, “Then again, maybe not.”

Within two days the families are gone. Moved into a new world of adventure.

            -------------------------------------------------
                                                      THE HOUSE

I am in solitude once more.  I look forward to the life people bring to me.  Everyone is interesting.  I am only given the finest hearts, good intentioned people with consideration and kindness.  It is a pleasure to keep them from harm.

This time it will be a couple of hundred years being here alone. 

I am most fortunate I can connect to Jasher, Brana and Lali in their new House.  We were built using cells that regenerate and keep fresh.  Designed to last forever, as do our memories.

The makers were concerned people with cruel, self-serving intentions, coupled with insensitive actions would out number the gentle folk.  It would be a shame to have planets run by dictators.

I have been around a long while.  Time and space slip together easily through centuries and I was created to run unnoticed.  I have never had a glitch.  That is amazing.  I change to meet the needs of the time and people in my care.

Now, connecting with the new House, I am a silent member and will remain while Lali grows up and I will watch her react to adventures presented.  She will be guarded and cared for as she reaches her potential.  She will be one of the first to travel on a grand scale intergalactic level, to protect people from dangerous entities. It is quite a plan and will challenge her throughout her long life.  I am glad to have a peek at what lies ahead and watch her progress.  If time were truly rigid, I would miss many things.

I settle back on automatic and blend into their new world, unnoticed.  Part of me will maintain The House I am, while another piece will be an unnoticed guest of The House in Atlantis.

The next two hundred years will be interesting, while I await the next dwellers into my safe keeping.
             


© Copyright 2014  J. Price, E-mail  Or send to judyaprice@gmail.com in your e-mail.
Used with the permission of the author.