Afterworld 3: Redemption

A F T E R W O R L D 3

R e d e m p t i o n

3rd Book in the

Afterworld Trilogy

by

R. Vincent Riccio

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 .. R.Vincent Riccio

ISBN 9781450798457

2nd Edition

(09/2013)

Epic Science Fiction - Fantasy

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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CHAPTER 1

That Gary Townsend managed to have an untimely death at the prime age of thirty-five, from a heart attack of all things, capped a largely bland and fairly solitary life with little reward. Certainly that was the way young Townsend viewed it. Not that he was without the capacity to enjoy it, nor did he have a lack of talents and intelligence to appreciate it, since he was born with ample amounts of each, and had fed his agile mind with adequate education right through to his Masters degree in mathematics and physics, naturally minoring in Computer Science. He'd been brilliant at his job as a systems analyst, but it had become tedious and repetitive, and his very high acumen caused him to be bored and unfulfilled by it. Somewhere in his more cerebral ramblings, Gary managed to view this as balance.

He was an attractive enough young man, with a youthful face, hazel green eyes and ash blond hair, and that had allowed him several attractive female companions over the years. He always thought that a woman who was beautiful and also possessed brains, integrity, and compassion, was essentially an oxymoron: an Earthly impossibility. Therefore he'd decided to settle for women that were pretty and sexy, a few of them models, but, unsurprisingly enough to him, that was mostly all that they were.

His glamourous girlfriends had provided occasional if not consistent excitement in their relationships, certainly always managing to be pleasing to look at, but they offered little else to the cerebral young analyst beyond that. Most of them viewed his insightful and philosophical intellectualizations regarding life as largely boring, gloomy, and at best tedious; it was neither the manner nor the amount of complexity with which they chose to view the world. All things considered, Gary Townsend thought that was the best arrangement with women he was ever going to have. Unfortunately, neither his job nor his girlfriends taxed him very much or made him particularly happy. That's why he was certain, when he arrived in afterlife, that he had wound up in hell.

His somewhat confused and always unfulfilling life came to an end the Monday morning he woke up dead. That is to say, his spirit, or soul, woke up, but his Earthly body was quite dead. He came to, facing the tall, robust gentleman in a white suit, leaning on a gold-tipped burgundy cane, the being who was to be his eternal Guide throughout afterlife, a male humanoid known simply as Trainer. He was a jovial enough man with a barrel chest and full auburn beard, and, oddly enough, a British accent; but he was not from England. In fact, he was from nowhere on Earth, or in the prior life universe; rather, he was a permanent inhabitant of the Afterworld which operated in another dimension and reality altogether. The Earth man came to think of him as a kind of angel with a very human personality, yet one whose purpose it was difficult to assess.

On that first day into the young Earthman's eternal life, Trainer had explained to his new ward that he was in fact now in his afterlife, that his Earthly body had succumbed to a major heart attack, and that he'd had all the effect on his prior life existence he was ever going to have. Townsend was now in a post-Earth-life existence which stretched out to infinity, and that was the lifetime he'd have to learn to live in.

Naturally, the rules of the Afterworld universe were new and completely different than the prior life one, and he’d have to get used to those, which turned out to be more difficult than he expected. Gary thought it best to tread lightly, so as to cause the least amount of problems possible. However, the Afterworld was not going to be a simple and uncomplicated experience for young Gary Townsend; the powers-that-be had other plans for him.

A variety of events, situations, and adventures occurred in the life of the new Afterworld inhabitant after that point, some of them rather mundane, but quite a few of them not routine at all. It didn't take very long for the young Earth man and his Guide to realize that if Gary was going to remain Gary, he could not spend eternity walking on eggshells; the kind of man he was, he simply could not go gentle into that good night. Which made the young analyst largely inappropriate for this particular reality, as Trainer saw it; and yet the Guide's superiors continued to tell him that this is exactly where Gary Townsend was supposed to be: in the middle of a bunch of complex affairs that turned out to be the heart and soul of the afterlife.

Although an adamantly moral and ethical person, Gary was a skeptic, trusting nothing and no one, particularly during his earliest days in afterlife. Not even the great Creator of all things provided him with a sanguine attitude about his own existence, nor creation in general. The young analyst viewed the divine system as having many flaws, at best, and incorporating some aspects of hell at its worst. All this negative intellectualizing by his young ward frustrated the normally optimistic Guide, Trainer, who believed, and constantly coached Townsend, that this was the best existence his young charge could ever hope for.

Trainer explained that afterlife was not about reward and punishment, per se, but was about perfect balance and justice for each and every individual. The eons-old mentor continually tried to impress upon his ward that afterlife was meant to be serene and pleasant, eventually, but that everything in afterlife worked to bring complete justice and balance to every individual being. Thus, those that were fairly rotten people in prior life would have a rockier time of it in the Afterworld until that balance was effected; the converse of that was also true. Afterworld was not a place of heaven or hell, but rather a dimension of inexorable balance.

There were some individuals, however, who were so misguided or evil, the analyst was told, that they had a special retribution in afterlife, some of those being preachers; they were sent to still another dimension and the ignominious Preachers World located there, a huge planet on which only wayward preachers abided, until they found a proper life without superstition or mendacities.

Then there were the Galenites, people from the planet Galen of the Third Creation. These people were incredibly attractive light-blue humanoids who had been further developed and refined with the assistance of their leaders' genetic engineering techniques and homogeneous philosophies which allowed them to kill off those who were considered less than the perfect standard, by even minute amounts, thereby preserving the integrity and beauty of what they believed was the crowning achievement in humanoid evolution. Pride was their major evil, and had caused their society to become genocidal. In afterlife, they had to die many deaths, to many lifetimes, until they realized the error of their ways and effected balance and justice in their overall existence. Being that their sins and sacrileges were many and horrific, that would take quite a bit of time.

There were some esoteric others, but that was what Gary Townsend was privy to at this point.

If balance was the overwhelming character of the Afterworld, justice was subtle, and affected most souls in a more delicate and sublime manner. Afterlife was never about pure pain or suffering, Trainer continues to inform, but was, again, solely about balance and justice in every lifetime. The balance was occasionally more painful to effect in some than others; but the seeming hells that existed were largely what the people brought with them. Evil people would take a long time to find peace and happiness, and some of it would surely be unpleasant; on the other hand, those who were essentially happy and decent people in prior life had a similar, uncomplicated experience in their afterlife.

Townsend struggled through his early days in the new reality, primarily because he trusted very little, but he found compensation in the genuine people that he met, which was a compensation. What he had concluded in his Afterworld struggles, through all his varied intellectual contemplations, was that most people, in all Creations (there had been five the Creator had made, so far), wherever they came from, got it wrong, especially the religious, who put a strained faith before reason and fact.

What Gary reasoned was that God had given every sentient being that had ever been created an enormous, sophisticated universe which they lived in, free will to do whatever they wanted in that universe, an incredible array of other living beings very much like them to share it with, plus an enormous diversity of other life forms surrounding them which brought richness and complexity to their lives. It was other people, fellow sentient beings, with their multifaceted talents given by God and nature, with their capacity to love and help, that was the monumental Divine Gift. Those who looked to their Creator for still more help didn't understand they had already received His greatest gifts.

In that vein, Gary had managed to develop some very special and valuable friends. Among them, the beautiful six hundred year old Roman teenager, Gina Montefiore, who now spent her afterlife as a librarian in a peaceful and pastoral little town, Greenville, on the huge planet Zycastron, where he first arrived after his transition. At first hesitant to befriend her, his natural inclinations still working, Gary eventually became a very close and intimate friend of the pretty Italian, establishing a friendship that would endure throughout eternity, something for which the young Earth man had become very grateful.

Gary Townsend also met the tall, slim, nineteenth century Texas drifter, Samuel Houston Littell, who became one of Gary's best friends, and to whom he introduced the stunning bronze beauty from Earth's fifty-eighth millennium, Elissanda E'Yumeka Distyne, who, since her birth on the terraformed Jupiter moon Io, had done a great amount of travelling herself. The two prior-life wanderers made a natural match and became close mates to each other, as well as best friends of Gary and Rayanna, living at their palatial estate in the western wing of the huge structure. The two wanderers took many trips, and continued their lifetime excursions together, keeping away from home much of the time. But it was always here, in their island paradise, on one of the few water worlds that existed in eternity, that they returned, to be with their best friends in the universe; it was the place they considered home, and were always happy to come back to.

There were others that Gary met, who helped him develop his character and strength, both mental and physical, and lose much of his natural distrust and skepticism of afterlife people, enabling him to become more satisfied with his life, eventually losing the notion that hell lurked around every corner.

One of the major players in his short but adventurous afterlife came in the form of the brilliant engineering thief, Follosada c' Comeda Syntark. The bronze man from Earth's fiftieth millennium had appropriated a variety of incomprehensible things, like palaces and planets, and had kidnapped the Control Planet, relocating it to another area of the universe. The two Earthmen, separated by forty-eight millennia on Earth, combined their resources to investigate the planet which administered all the power and energy in afterlife, concluding that it was alive, but flawed. Their joint solution was to blow it up. It had taken Follosada some thousand years to concoct the mechanisms necessary to do it, but then, in an instant, it was done.

The Control Planet was extremely old, created at the beginning of eternity, and had developed limitations over its immense lifetime as the ever increasing afterlife universes expanded. The two men believed another system for power generation was needed for the ever-expanding universe. They calculated that when this planet was destroyed, the Creator would bring forth a new one, which He did, this time a Control Galaxy, billions of time larger, and with a protective and impenetrable force field around it.

Things had been tense and erratic for awhile while the Control System was down and the divine power flow interrupted, allowing some bizarre things to happen and a touch of evil to infiltrate afterlife, but in the end everything largely straightened out and balance was able to resume in the Afterworld universe, at least in the one Gary and his good friends inhabited.

After the Control Planet explosion, the two Earth beings were blown through space in their shuttle, which had been on its way away from the blast, finding themselves stranded on a small agricultural planet, Xerexes Orjuunis, which was mostly inhabited by reptiles. There they befriended two beautiful females, who were cousins, along with their family, staying with them for a couple of months and providing some help to them through difficult times, while the planet underwent a series of fiery quakes due to the Control Planet breakup. In that process, one of the stunning light-green reptile women, Cyrese, a charming, voluptuous, and good-natured beauty, fell deeply in love with Gary, and when he would not make love with her, because of the more promiscuous nature of her race, she jumped into a fiery pit, immolating herself. That had a profoundly sullen effect on both men, who hoped she would reform and come back to a normal life later on.

All of Gary Townsend's adventures played a minor role to the most important thing that happened to him in his afterlife existence, his meeting of the unique and incomparably beautiful Galenite woman, Rayanna. At slightly over six feet, a couple of inches taller than Gary, the stately and elegant light-blue beauty turned out to be all of the things the young Earth man had ever envisioned as a dream impossibility in a woman, the most incredible thing about her being that she'd fallen very much in love with him. They became close friends, eventually lovers, and ultimately mates. The whole process was interrupted by her having to pay some atonement for her prideful Galenite construction, but her deep and selfless love for her analyst mate, plus some hard work and Guide-given tasks performed by Townsend himself on her behalf, enabled her to return quickly to him, now the only Galenite in afterlife who was a permanent resident, with no further penitence to pay.

The kind and depth of love Rayanna had for Gary was unlike any that a normal pride-filled Galenite could muster. It was this powerful and selfless love that caused Gary to love and need her, and allowed her routine Galen atonement to be substantially modified and shortened. She was now with him in eternity for as long as they wished.

There was one more task that Gary and Rayanna needed to perform together, and that was to have themselves injected into another Galenite's afterlife penitence phase to help. They wound up on a relatively barren, dark, and frozen planet in still another dimension, with no night, no day, no sun, and constant snow, a place of true Galenite hell for whomever was there. It was filled with strange, diverse little people, which would horribly offend a person from Galen, a world where warm, pleasant weather and homogeneity of the species reigned. The whole scene was not all that strange or terrible for Gary Townsend, who was from the northeastern part of the US back on Earth, and thus he managed survival well for both he and his charming mate.

The two met an intransigent female from the Galen world there, Coriella, who turned out to be Rayanna's sister, and with some masterful, and somewhat aggressive, manipulation from Gary, managed to get her off that planet and on to her next challenge. A mostly good and decent woman, Coriella never went along with the plans of her world Leaders, which ostracized, banished, and eventually killed all those they considered less than perfect; for that she was banished herself, and eventually destroyed. But she did believe that those who varied from the standard were inferior, and that was her sin. Both Gary and Rayanna believed she would not pay much more Galenite penance, and would be back soon to normal afterlife, where she would be able to join her younger sister.

The final element of Gary Townsend's afterlife sojourn to date was the birth of his daughter, Gabrayella, the unusual and surprising product of the love between the Earth man and his Galenite mate. It was, at least, a happy event to both parents, and it produced an adorable and cheerful hybrid child who loved her parents dearly, and one who would never know the trials and tribulations of prior life that her parents had, which delighted them both immensely.

It was at about that time, when the two were enjoying their lives and their child, that a stranger came to their new island home, on their water planet. She was pale green, reptilian, and beautiful, the stunning girl Cyrese, that had months ago immolated herself. Gary was happy to see that she had in fact reformed, but not so happy that she still maintained her powerful feelings for him. He had a mate, and now a child, and this was a complication. He had liked the pleasant and giving woman a great deal, but held his relationship with Rayanna as sacred. At this point, he was unsure how to handle this.

Rayanna removed the problem, when Cyrese told her their story, and had sympathy and compassion for this winsome woman who clearly cared a great deal about young Townsend. She ushered her into their home and told her they could always use another good and close friend. That left the analyst unsure as to how everything would work out between them, but however it would, he now had three women closely tied to his life: mate, daughter, and a close reptilian friend. And then of course there was always Gina, the lovely Roman teenager he had first met the day he arrived in Afterworld; she chose to continue living in her conservative lifestyle in her homey little Greenville town. The only constant was that all these people loved him, and perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing after all.

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Planets in Afterworld were of various sizes, as in prior life, but many of them were immense, some the size of entire prior-life solar systems, like Zycastron, the planet which incorporated the cities of Vera City, Jewel City, and Greenville, the latter being the town in which Gary first landed after his untimely demise, and where Gina Montefiore continued to reside. Journeys across these immense cosmic bodies were thus somewhat difficult and definitely time-consuming, necessitating travel by the incomprehensibly swift transports, whose velocities could reach many times the speed of light. Consequently, planetary years had a wide range of lengths, from roughly one hundred normal Earth days to nearly ten thousand; most fell within the range of three to six hundred of them. Days themselves were relatively close to what Townsend had experienced on Earth, falling between twenty and forty hours long, and divided into equal parts. He was told they were created this way for the convenience of all sentient beings, whose prior life home worlds were similar.

Since all beings spoke the same language, even though they heard and believed they spoke their own prior-life language in their heads, everyone called these smaller parts of the day hours, but the actual time of the hour did vary some. For Earth people, the hours in the day were twenty, twenty-five, thirty, and so on, depending on the planet. Other beings divided their days and hours up slightly differently, but all creatures understood that an hour was roughly around sixty minutes, give or take as much as thirty percent or so, and a minute was a fractional part of it, between one fiftieth to one hundredth of an hour, with seconds being one fiftieth to one hundred of that.

Of course, no one obsessed about the time in afterlife, since it was truly irrelevant except as a general reference, given that everyone was living within eternity. Only highly technical types like Follosada and Gary tried to be in any way accurate about time. Months were universally broken up by all creatures into four ten-day weeks, each month being forty days, with the last month having an odd amount of days to compensate for the actual random number of days in the specific planet's year. Thus, a planet with four hundred days in their year had exactly ten forty-day months. A planet with three hundred sixty-five days, like Earth, would have nine forty-day months, with a short month at the end of five days, this referred to as the leftover month.

Gary and Rayanna's new home planet in afterlife was a temperate water world with a few handfuls of various sized islands; its year was four hundred and sixty days long, giving that planet eleven forty-day months with a leftover month of twenty days, for a total effective year of twelve months. The days there were twenty-five hours long, which made life easy for Gary, slightly more challenging for Rayanna, whose prior life planet, Galen, had thirty hour days. Generally, Gary would use Earth normal time, which meant Rayanna now did also, but it was becoming easier to get used to the current day-week-month structure of their new home planet.

Given this understanding, it had been a bit over six months since the little family had moved to the Kallamorsis Galaxy and located themselves on their new water world home planet there, Qallmare Orsis, and in their palatial island home, which Follosada had appropriated for them earlier. Rayanna had decided that Cyrese was a worthwhile addition to their family environment, and had left her and Gary to discover the precise character of their own relationship, whatever it would be; but she did assume it would entail a certain amount of intimacy between the two, which didn't truly bother her, for she new their bond was sacred and primal for both of them. As yet, no intimacy had occurred between Gary and the lovely reptile girl,

As conservative and occasionally skeptical as Gary Townsend was, his posture was to let the situation between himself and Cyrese remain static for some time, until he was sure she was completely loyal and serious about her interests in him. He was well aware that monogamous relationships for reptile people were extremely rare; therefore he let time handle the major aspects of his friendship with the beautiful and charming reptile female.

Understanding very well Gary's character, and their current circumstances, Cyrese didn't push him for anything further, despite her powerful, inner, reptilian feelings for him. Reptile humanoids were well known to be highly emotional, passionate, and occasionally impulsive, which meant Cyrese had to manage a great deal of inner self-control. She knew that Rayanna would always be the primary love interest in his life, but as strong as her emotions were for Gary, and as important to her as she believed he was, she would be very satisfied with whatever was second, or maybe third, behind his loving daughter, which was naturally a substantially different relationship, which didn't truly impinge upon her own with him. At least not yet; when Gabrayella was older and looked more like her gorgeous mother, and continued to love her father as enormously as she did, she wasn't sure what that would mean. There were, after all, no proscriptions against intimate relationships with family members in afterlife; in fact, there were no sexual proscriptions at all.

Rayanna was a highly intelligent creature, who comprehended the tension Gary's reserved posture caused between her mate and Cyrese; but, then again, the stunning green girl was a reptile, universally known for their toughness, as well as more than a touch of masochism. Thus, the situation didn't overly concern her; however, after several months, the Galenite beauty, a completely fair-minded creature, suggested that her mate either resolve the situation between himself and the charming reptile, or ask Cyrese to leave.

Let me see if I understand this, Gary responded to her, stretching himself out to his full six foot Afterworld height, a few inches taller than he was in prior life, but still a couple shorter than his gorgeous mate. You're telling me you want me to have sex with Cyrese?

No, my darling, I am not telling you that. Exactly. What I am saying to you is that you must be fair to her. She is a good and decent person, with a great deal of love for and loyalty to you. I think it to be very clear at this point that she is a true and respectful friend, and that she cares for you very deeply. It is not casual or capricious with her, as is the case with many of her race, yet primarily a feature of their men. Certainly few others would ever do what this faithful woman has done, merely to have the opportunity to be close to you.

Sure! That's because its nuts!

His gorgeous, pale-blue mate stared at him a few moments. Then, Do not minimize what she has performed, Gary-Townsend, she scolded, always putting his two names together as one when she was serious, as she did during the first days that she met him; it was a private and endearing joke between them. Even I have not done for you this incredible and agonizing thing, only to peak your favor.

You came pretty damn close!

Still, it was not the same.

Would you do it?

Of course, if there was need, she returned without hesitation. But I have not, my beloved. We both know very well that you like this reptile girl very much yourself.

I don't like being pushed, he said evenly.

Rayanna sighed. Yes, my love, I believe at this point the entire universe knows this characteristic you possess. She has not pushed you since her arrival here, knowing it well enough herself. She simply exists around you, happy to be in your company.

Then why can't you just leave it like that.

I have! But it creates tension between you two, and it is unfair to her. I wish not to have that within our household, around our family. Either make a closer and more amenable relationship between you two which satisfies and frustrates her not, or ask her to leave. She is always positive and pleasant, Gary, but she is not completely happy. It is unfair, in this realm of perfect balance. Eventually, something will occur to balance the scales! Either you do it, or something else you will like less will do it for you. And who can know what that may be.

You think the imbalance is that she's not completely happy! Who's completely happy! We've all died, and are making our way through afterlife the best we can.

Yes. That is our lot now. No need to make it worse. It can be a beautiful existence, if we let it, more, if we work not against it. This honorable woman should have that right, either with you, or some other man who can please her. She is a beautiful and caring female; she can surely find one in time.

She doesn't want one. She wants to be here, with me!

Then the choice is yours, my dear mate. To engage her on her terms, or let her go. You need to make this decision. You have let her be here near you these many months -

You wanted her to be! Gary interjected. You virtually ordered me to.

Yes. I held a knife to your throat and told you to let her remain or die, Rayanna replied drolly, displaying her own occasional wit.

Gary sighed, giving his beloved mate a momentary frown.

You know you were happy to have her here, feeling as she does about you. Everyone loves to be loved! I know this is an important element in your life, dearest. She is an honest woman, direct and forthright, as is the general posture of most of her race. She minces no words, shades no truths, always speaking directly from the heart. This I know you find an extremely worthy characteristic. As do I. For that reason I have been happy to have her around our child, who is still impressionable. It is a good character which she learns. Cyrese wants only for you to like and respect her, and show her some simple kindnesses.

She wants me to love her, Rayanna. I have you, and Gabby. I don't know that I have any more love in me.

Hockmindal!

What?

The blue beauty smiled. It is a ground up mixture of inexpensive meat and plant byproducts that are stuffed into a casing. In more ancient times, when we still had peasants on our planet, those peasant people would consume it. In modern times, it was given to farm animals as a part of their diet. Your Earth people had several things like it. That is what you are telling me, my mate.

The analyst sighed drearily. Hockmindal, huh.

Yes. I think you care for her more than a little, Gary dearest. And it is not at all bizarre or dishonorable that you do so for such a woman who has shown you great friendship, and has cleansed her body and soul through an agonizing immolation, just to provide a personage for you that you would find more respectable. Her actions have been extreme, to be certain, but such is the character of these reptilian people: honest, direct, and emotional. One cannot help but admire her integrity. Even here, in afterlife, such steadfast character and loyalty is rare.

Yes. I know.

The enchanting Galenite nodded. She is with Gabrayella now, by the water, something they both love greatly. Personally, I am delighted that such a person helps our daughter with her swimming. Neither of us will ever be as good in that activity as Cyrese is; she is exceptional even for her kind. Our daughter learns from the best.

That's for sure. She definitely is an incredible athlete. These reptile people are exceptional physical specimens.

Yes, and Cyrese stands with the best of them. Even her cousin, Triella, says she excels in their family, even over many of their men. She has won many races in their very vigorous play.

Mm-m. I can only imagine what her lovemaking must have been like, Gary said, with some residual bitterness. Over seven hundred years here, and several lovers a year.

That person is destroyed! Whoever that female might have been, my dear Gary, she no longer exists. The one that is here, is not her. That one is gone now as if she never existed. This she did for you.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

The female reptilian who is with us now is brand new, recently reformed only a few months from the primary elements, as clean and pure as crystal, without even a memory of what her previous body ever did; but then that body is not hers. It is completely unknown to her. Whatever problems you had with that personage are gone, destroyed in the bitter flames of the crevice into which she threw herself. Only her love of you survives. Her current mind knows not anything that other body did. She remembers only who she loved, and that is her family, and you. Is this truly a friend you would wish to divest from your life!

No, I suppose not. But she wants more than just friendship.

"Perhaps. But she is willing to take what you give her. That is a true friend. In fact, she has been a great friend to all of us since her arrival, asking for nothing for herself, and helping any way she can, comforted merely to be in our presence. Which is to say, your presence. I am going to take a walk into town with our precious daughter. Now that she can walk, she wanted to visit there and have some ice cream, see some shops."

She's only a year old! It's more than five miles into the town!

Such considerations are not the same here as in prior life. She grows fast in this domain, Gary dearest. Already she is like a five year old child in my old world. More so in yours. Disturbing as it is, at this rate, if you do the math, which I know you are well able to do ...

Yes, I know, he finished, she'll be an adult in five or six years.

Adult! I was thinking teenager!

Right, but a child's growth is not an arithmetic progression. It's more geometric.

I hope that will not be the case!

Why?

Because I want her to be a child long enough!

Well, she can choose to remain one, just like she is.

That is true. I only hope she does. Of course, that would be selfish, would it not. Perhaps not the best for her.

Maybe, but she'll have to decide. On Thessarian, you know that farming planet with the Orions, they had children that were decades old and still remained little bobbing things: kids! Young kids. They enjoyed it, being with their parents that way.

"That would be pleasant for me also. But, we will see. There is a great deal for her to learn, even here. We will have to take her to see Gina in Greenville more often. I thought once a month we could go there for a few days, while Gina educates her in the various material available in the library; she is very learned. But, if this is the rate at which she grows, she will have to live there to become properly educated, commensurate with her apparent age."

Yeah, Gina wouldn't be able to do anything else! Well, I wouldn't go worrying about that now. Don't forget, my dear lady, she has a very long time to learn, and eventually can learn more than we did. There's no rush. She'll never have the difficulties that we had in our prior-life worlds, love. She can take her time, no matter how fast she grows; her knowledge doesn't have to keep pace with her physical growth. The only thing we actually have to do, my dear mate, is love her, and cement our relationship with her. We're good people, that'll keep her on the straight and narrow.

Cyrese came walking in from the beach, holding Gabrayella's hand. They both wore skimpy bathing suits, Cyrese's a minimal wrap of silver and green, displaying much of her elegant, glitteringly scaled skin and curvaceous figure. Normally she would bathe naked, but they all decided it would be best not to while Gabrayella was still a young child, although it was becoming more of a moot point at the speed that their daughter was developing.

Momma, Poppa, look at the starfish we found, the girl called to her parents, holding on to the small creature with her other hand.

Wow, look at that, it's made of multiple colors, Gary responded.

Very pretty, her mother said, picking it up and looking at it. Oh! My goodness, the little legs are moving! The creature is still alive!

Yes! Cyrese said they had some of these on her world, too. They called them Harlequin starfish. Because of the colors.

Yes. Very nice, Rayanna said, handing the starfish back to her daughter.

Harlequin, huh, Gary quipped, recalling the creatures that had held Rayanna and his two other friends captive for several months. Follosada had known them colloquially as Harlequin people, having met a few during his future time, due to their strange ability to change from one shape to another, mimicking other races. Technically, Earth science people of the future man's day referred to them as Telemarians.

His daughter nodded rapidly several times.

Did you shower yet? her mother asked.

No. But we have been swimming all morning! I have to clean myself off from water? With more water?

Yes, Rayanna answered. The ocean is salt water. There are salts remaining on your skin.

I like the salt! the daughter said.

Yes, I know, my little loved one. So do I. Still, we need to bathe to remove it. You can put more salt on it later, when you swim again.

That makes no sense, Momma.

Nevertheless, you shall do it. When you get older, it will.

Oh. I think I do not want to get older.

Rayanna smiled. "That