The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 142

Part 21

“That would mean that we’d either have to join you in some or all of these long-lasting and tiny reverse-stasis fields,” Six mused, “Or miss many decades of your lives. Even if it was only six weeks to us, it would bother me to miss that much of your lives. Maybe you’d still seem the same after many decades of raising other children without us. But maybe you’d be different, and it would always be obvious to us how many years you’d lived without us. And that would hurt, a little.

“However, there is another alternative. We have the spell for Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations. We figured it out in the brainstorming session because it’s one of The Prerequisites of Divinity. You could each become two people first, one to stay out here in the world with us, and one to go back in the Hiliani time-bubble until it ends, which will be another sixteen years inside. That should be more than long enough to raise our brothers and sisters, since it only took seven years for us. Once inside the bubble, Father would make forty-three more simultaneous manifestations of himself. One of him would live with Mother and Alilia, and the other forty-three would live with each of the girls and their children. I suggest you disperse their homes all over Hiliani as much as possible to minimize having to meet yourself too often, which may be too confusing for young children if they don’t turn out like us. And every time you sleep all your selves will exchange your memories of the previous day, so that you’ll truly remain one person and not diverge into forty-four distinct people. Then when the time-bubble ends you’ll re-integrate yourself, and you’d all re-integrate with the copy of yourselves you left here to be with us.”

There was another long pause.

“Damn, that’s positively mind-boggling.” Mark cursed as he considered the outrageous plan.

“It sure sounds a lot better than spending a few centuries in small stasis fields, raising children.” Alilia mused. “And we wouldn’t have to share you with all those girls. I mean, we’d have to… Well you know what I mean.” She chuckled at her own fluster. “We’re going to need some new vocabulary to describe some of the situations this is going to get us into, but I’m for Six’s plan.

“You’re sure of the spell?” she asked the children.

“Very.” Fire assured her.

“If one of Mark is going to stay out here with you, why do we need to… Oh I see.” Talia said, thinking out loud.

“Exactly.” Six nodded. “You and Alilia could just remain one self out here with us, and let the copies of Father raise his children on Hiliani without you, but then the Father on Hiliani would have to spend up to sixteen years without you, since he can’t re-integrate through the time-bubble. I wish we could just join you in the time-bubble. But we three agree that we want to avoid that if we can. We left because it was too constricting, and that won’t change if we go back. So the copies of our parents on Hiliani will have to spend sixteen years without us, but at least they’ll have forty-four new children to love while they’re in there.”

There was another long pause, but no one had anything else to add.

Finally Mark stood, and was strengthened by the love and confidence on the faces of his family. “All right. By now the girls of The Volunteers have probably heard that they’re pregnant by me without their own consent, since it was announced at the Assembly. And they might have heard what I did here when I was mad. The poor things have to be going out of their minds with worry. Let’s go talk to them and let them know what’s going to happen.”

“While you do that,” Povon decided, “Kragorram and I will go back to the assembly and make sure that Hilia and Serminak are well represented in the planning of the joint training exercises. We’ll meet you in Laylas Valley for the wedding.

“Karzog, you’re with us.”

“Thanks.” Mark nodded as the dragons of his family vanished.