E39 Saxons

The Grace number precisely 100, scattered through the Cosmos. They are in effective and efficient contact with each other, all of them, ALL of the time (they do not sleep, or eat, or engage in other time wasting activities!). That efficient contact means that they present as a single, formidable unit. The graphic in the heading only shows 14 contacts. Imagine what 100 would look like! How do they do it? The best human contacts, by comparison, are inefficient, primitive, and often not unified.

Saxons? My family? How did Merlin know that? I did NOT know that. Merlin continued, ‘Yes, on your mother’s side. I know that the Sewell family originally came from East Anglia, the first settlement area of the ‘invading’ Saxons after the Roman departure. Actually the initial Saxon arrivals faced little opposition.

Your mother’s name, Queenie was popular in my time and is derived from the Saxon word Cwen, nothing to do with monarchs, simply a word for ‘woman’. Likewise, your eldest Aunt, Evelyn, whom I know was like your foster mother in your early days. That also has Saxon origins, meaning ‘beautiful bird’. Our individual origins are complex and play a big part in the direction of our lives.’ I did not ask how he knew these things about my family. The things he came out with were invariably accurate.

But I told him, ‘today is my father’s birthday, he would have been 105. His origins, particularly on his father’s side, are very firmly placed in Scotland, in the Highlands, north of Inverness. His Clan were all brigands.’ I had used this term before to describe them, it was very appropriate.

He replied, ‘Brigands? Yes, but do you know that the name Scotland derives from a derogatory name given by the Romans to Gaels, who constantly harassed their northern border. The Gaels called Scotland, their home at the time, Alba and they were mostly originally from what is now Ireland. The Gaels were preceded in Scotland by the Picts but eventually the Gaels prevailed over the Picts and they learned to live together, after a fashion. United only by their dislike of the Romans to the south, then the Saxons, later the Vikings, finally the English. This last one still goes on today, of course.’

I commented, enjoying the exchange, as clearly was he, ‘complicated. Where did your father’s people come from?’ Knowing his biological background as I now did, I felt I knew him much more.

‘At the time of their journeys to ‘America’ it was in the area now known as Stavanger, in what is now Norway. My father’s people knew the place where they first landed in ‘America’ as Vinland, because they found wild grapes growing there and were able to make wine.’

‘I did not know that they went to Vinland so early.’

‘Yes, but they settled only in very small numbers and mostly lived with the natives while they were there. Those few, such as my father were mostly accepted by the natives and some chose to take native partners, like my father. In return they were able to teach the natives many things and jointly develop their ‘magic’. The main settlement by my father’s people was not for about another 400 years, as stated by your history books. Beware history you read, incorrect and sometimes deliberately so.’

I knew what he meant, I had been something of an amateur historian of late and that was the conclusion I had reached. You can make of history what you will. A very imprecise practice, even from fairly recent times, never mind 1,500 years ago when written records were scant or simply lost

I felt that we needed to say something about the asteroid, ‘what shall we do?’

‘There is nothing you can do, but do not be concerned. The whole of humanity is completely helpless. It makes a mockery of any claim of our knowledge and capability. The asteroid will go where it goes, maybe with a little help. There is no certainty of an impact on Earth, we just have to wait and see.’

‘Can you not see the future, travel to the future? Can you not know?’

‘We can know certain things, but not this. You must accept your fate, whatever it is.’ Finally saying, ‘but, remember the Grace, they make our magic look primitive. It is.’ With that he was gone again, leaving me frustrated and with so many unanswered questions. I wanted to ask about his twin sister, his mother and his aunt. Having apparently seen the last of Arthur, I was beginning to feel they had lost interest. It was pitch black, the Badgers had disappeared and I had to find my way back home in the dark. Fortunately, I had a small torch. I took one last look at Jupiter and Saturn as they slipped below the western horizon. I thought, strange the way life can suddenly cast you off in an entirely new direction.

So it was that I later took my first ‘look’ at what Athena had left with me about gravity. It was not in English, nor even any other recognisable written form. In my mind it was a strange combination of colour and sound. Sound like music, but music unknown to me. Colour beyond the limited spectrum of human eyesight. I then realised that this was the language of Athena, and the Grace. I realised, also, amazingly, that I could understand it, at least at a basic level. Sufficient. How, I did not know, but clearly I did. The challenge was to convert this ‘language’ into something others of my kind might understand. That, I suspected, was going to take some time. I decided not to rush, I took each part slowly, trying to make sure that I understood it, if not fully. A strange process.

Where to start? First, I thought, I need to be in the right frame of mind to be receptive to the revelations I was hoping to uncover. I was alone, the Sun was shining, I lit the essential oil heater with a suitable blend of Peppermint and Rosemary, a powerful calming mixture allowing me to think clearly.

I put on some music, which began with Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Marietta’s Lied, a haunting mood piece. I sat back and allowed the language of the Grace to wash over me, gently. I was told, in, simple terms. ‘The Universe that you know, is made up of what you call matter, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest Star, and all have mass. Even the most apparently empty part of the Universe has mass. There is no such thing as nothing. Gravity is a part of mass. Anything that has mass also has gravity, again, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest star, or, ultimately, a black hole. Remember, everything is connected.'

‘I shall start with something different, but connected. Your scientists have classified odors into 10 basic categories:?fragrant, woody/resinous, minty/peppermint, sweet, chemical, popcorn, lemon, fruity (non-citrus), pungent and decayed. Interesting names. This is a facile over simplification, there are actually thousands, maybe millions of categories of ‘smell’, your olfactory capabilities will limit how many you can detect. For example, a typical dog's sense of smell is somewhere?between 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than yours. Unbelievable?

That small dog, who actually barks in German, can detect a scent (smell) up to 20 kilometers away, or several meters underground.

I make this point because it is the same with gravity and the way it acts. Peppermint and Rosemary smell different, but also similar. Gravity is similar, but different, depending on where you are. That difference can be harnessed, as a form of energy, for communications and even ‘travel’.

You will know that light supposedly has a fixed speed (according to your scientists), but that is not actually correct. The speed varies, for a number of reasons. Gravity, on the other hand, does not have a speed, it is instant. Its speed is infinite. Not much in this Universe is infinite.

You think that is strange? There is much, much more.’