Having shared so many intense experiences and our common love for Marjie and our spiritual family, 8 and I became very close. He was always very apologetic whenever Marjie or I experienced discomfort because of events that happened in his dimension. After one such instance he said, “I would like to know if I can continue to be your friend.”
“You are among my best friends, along with Alta Sha, Mother, Perithnea, Adam, Mi, and my Indian brothers. I have so many good friends now. All of them are dear to me and I would not want to lose any of them.”
“Please assist me. Raise her hand to your chest.” I placed it over my heart and put my hand on top of it, sending Light and Love through it. “Nucleus is pleased to bond with whomever he chooses,” he said. Our tears flowing, we held this pose for a minute or so. “You may release her hand now.”
“I’m adding to the heavenly river,” I said, choking down a sob.
He smiled and said, “I have added four thousand seven hundred and eighteen years’ worth of tears to it.”
On another occasion, after we had been dealing with some unpleasantness together, Nuke said, I would like to ask a favor of you.”
“What is it?”
“I have observed what you do for Marjorie and Sarah at bedtime. Would you do the same for me?”
“Of course.”
I stepped closer and ran my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and said, “Please sit.” I took a seat. He sat on the floor at my feet with his head on my chest while I stroked Marjie’s hair and said, “What a wonderful feeling it is.”
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too.” I continued doing that for quite a few minutes and then rubbed Marjie’s back. “This is very pleasant. I have never felt anything like this before. Thank you very much.”
“Thank you for asking.”
“It’s time for me to go.” We stood and embraced.
I had just finished a counseling session with 8 and Candace. Nuke and I were alone. His eyes were welling with tears and he said, “I never want there to be a time in my life when I do not have Star One and you in it. I don’t know how I can ever repay you. I’ve never had a friend like you, at least not one I could stand to be around for a long time. There must be something I can do.”
“Just go on being my friend.”
As discussed elsewhere, 8 decided to take a sabbatical from his job and to live with us for a while. On the first day of his vacation, when it was time to get ready for bed, he happily chose the pajamas and slippers he wanted to wear from Marjie’s collection, and took the first shower of his life. He loved the sensation of water streaming down on him, stating that no one showered at the Station in order to keep their recycled water as clean as possible. He liked the strawberry scent of the shampoo he used on Marjie’s hair, and when he was finished he thanked me profusely for drying her back. He looked quite comical in Marjie’s cowboy-themed pajamas and furry, pink bunny rabbit house shoes.
Marjie said, “Nucleus is staying very close. I felt him grating up and down my spine earlier, as if he was saying hello to me. It was a weird feeling and I told him to cut it out. It feels strange to have him so close, but I like it.”
Just before retiring, I asked 8, “Would you like for me to put some of this lotion on you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
“Then you must let me do it.”
I smoothed it over Marjie’s back and shoulders. “That feels wonderful! I like it.”
I massaged his back and then his arms, hands and fingers. It was enjoyable to see how much pleasure this gave him. I said, “If your society doesn’t already have masseuses, you need to get some. Surely a person in your position can find someone to do this for you.”
“I would never ask another to do this for me.”
“Why not? There are some who enjoy doing it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I enjoy it.”
“Where did you get your training? You’re so skilled at it.”
“I haven’t had any training, or at least not in this lifetime.”
Once when I had done him a favor, Nuke caressed my face, saying, “Thank you friend. No, more than a friend.”
“Kindred spirits.”
“Even closer than that.”
“Perhaps we are different aspects of the same Oversoul.”
“You wear me well. When I look at you, I see myself.
“I think you have an abundance of love.”
“And I look up to you,” I replied.
“And I hold you up, friend. Myself, rather.”
If we were in fact expressions of the same Oversoul, I had reasons to be proud. I greatly admired Nuke for his honesty, his commitment to the welfare of those under his protection, and for his courageous search for the truth about his past, although he knew that full knowledge of it could kill him.
Nuke was recuperating from nearly fatal wounds caused by a laser weapon fired at him by our military and asked me what I thought about his progress. I reminded him that Alta Sha said he would fully recover. He replied, “The day will come when I will materialize before you. My body is in this dimension right now, but it’s cloaked.”
“Don’t you know Marjie would run away with you?”
“Oh Pat, you know I wouldn’t allow that. My first loyalty is to you.”
I told him I was only joking, but a little while later Marjie said, “I have the idea that Nuke is getting ready to present himself to me in his physical form. If he really appears, I’ll try to get him to take me away. I’ve wanted to leave since I was four years old. I don’t know if I could pass up an opportunity like that.”
“I’d like to leave too, but I don’t think the time is right. I need to hear from Breath or from Alta Sha that it’s time to go.”
I asked Perithnea, “What do you think of Nuke’s plan to reveal his body to us?”
“You’re not ready for it. None of you are. Candace and mother would really freak out if they saw him, even if they think it’s what they want. You would probably just freeze. Besides, he shouldn’t attempt it until he’s stronger. I know what I’m talking about.”
Eight was in Canada with Marjie and Candace when he tearfully said in a telephone call to me, “I’m getting rather melancholy.”
“What do you think is causing it?”
“Being here, trying to cope with marriage, and greatly missing our talks. The only place I really feel at home is with you. I apologize for losing control.”
“There’s no need to apologize for caring. I appreciate hearing it.”
“I think I just need to put my head in your lap and have you stroke it.”
“I’m visualizing that, Nuke, and I will physically do it when you come home. It won’t be long, and everything will be fine.”
On another occasion Nuke was moving around rather stiffly and I asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m sore!”
“So am I. Were we busy last night?”
“I should say we were. We were playing chase. I guess you could say we were saving our asses.”
“Why?”
“You finally talked me into taking another trip on that strange ship of yours. I must not understand the technology too well, or your seating arrangements aren’t designed for my species. I got thrown around quite a bit while you were maneuvering to avoid the people chasing us. You would shout, Hold on! but there wasn’t anything to hold onto, and the next thing I know, wham! I’m up against the wall.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I got thrown around some, too. Why were we being chased?”
“You decided we should go down to the surface of the beautiful planet you took me to. I asked if we shouldn’t take precautions, but you just circled the planet about three times, didn’t see anybody, and thought it was uninhabited. I said, Of course you don’t see anybody, we’re about three miles up, but you went straight down and landed without any protocol at all. You said you were being led by Breath and everything would be alright. I asked you, How thick is the hull of this thing? You said you were sure it was thick enough. I stayed inside when you went down to the ground and started to collect rock samples, saying, Oh, what a beautiful place! Oh, I wish Tanner could see this! Oh, I wish Tanner could see that! You asked me for a cup to put rocks in, and one of your flesh-eating crew members handed me one and I dropped it to you. The next thing I knew, I heard this high-pitched scream, and your hood stood straight up! I yelled, Let’s get outta here! You gave your tail one last flick before you jumped in the ship. I asked, When are we leaving? You said, Ten seconds ago! I heard ping! ping! ping ! against the hull, but we outran them.”
By then I was laughing my head off. “They must love their planet very much if they will shoot someone who is only taking a handful of rocks. People who are so protective of their planet are worth knowing. Maybe Breath intended for us to make contact with them, but I did it in the wrong way. Somehow I have to let them know I’m sorry and I want to make amends.”
We decided to send them a message through Adam, who ran no risk of being killed. When he returned I asked, “What’s the verdict?”
“I told them how very sorry you are, that you are an ignorant Earthling who didn’t follow proper procedures, and that you would like to return their stones and to personally apologize for the harm you have done. They requested that you bring your ship.”
“Thanks Adam. You’re a born diplomat.”
We made our way back to the planet and found it to be a paradise where all living things could telepathically communicate with each other, which allowed the planet’s ruler to be aware of everything that took place upon it, even my removal of a few rocks. We were well received by the planet’s ruler during our short, respectful visit. Before we left Adam said, “He has a gift for you, father. Hold out your hand. What do you see?”
I was astonished. It was Tanner’s infinity stone! Marjie and I had looked in several states and Canada for his greatly valued and very elusive rock. I thanked the ruler profusely for this extraordinary gift and wondered, How did the regent of a planet in another dimension know that I was looking for the infinity stone? Did Tanner’s spiritual brothers bring it here, and if so, why did they choose this particular place? Was the leader of this planet an alternate expression of Tanner’s Oversoul? It was a distinct possibility and a joke that Tanner would enjoy.
When we had returned to this dimension, I said to Adam, “Nine (Tanner) has possession of the stone now, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Will it be transported back to Earth for us to find here?”
“It will show up.” It did, but in a most unexpected place. Marjie and I found it on another expedition that took us to the Spanish Peaks, in the same meadow where we had first seen it! It was several yards away from its original position. However it got there, the joke was on us.
I had gifted Adam with a scale model of a house that we assembled together, a project that consumed a few weeks in our spare time. One afternoon while on his sabbatical, Nuke asked me, “May I also participate in constructing Adam’s project?”
“It’s fine with me, but Sarah asked to help before you did, and Adam already said she could.”
“She will just have to wait until I have my turn,” he joked.
I laughed. “You’d better watch out. She’ll find a way to get even.”
“Of course I’ll let her go first.”
When Nuke was taking his turn I asked, “Do you have similar forms of recreation at the Station?”
“My primary form of entertainment is attempting to break into different Systems. It’s a hobby I share with several others. We have successfully penetrated three Systems.”
Although 8 and I sometimes disagreed to the point that he would withdraw in a huff, he was always quick to forgive and we never lost respect for one another. He often referred to Marjie and me as his family and spent a great deal of his free time at our place, although not always channeling. When Marjie developed fibromyalgia, which at intervals was very painful and tiring, he would channel to ease her suffering. On chilly nights he often sat in the barn he helped me to build, smoking and reading under the electric lights, which Marjie would never have done. He loved to interact with our pets, which included chickens, horses, dogs and cats, and at night he tried to spot deer with a flashlight.
We often discussed books we had read and talked about the human friends he had made and their responses to him. Nuke did a marvelous job of blending in with Earthlings, and except for his knowledge and abilities, he did not seem alien at all.