Welcome again to the Advent of Smouse,
Chapter 13,
The Guide.
Despite their skepticism,
The Black family is intrigued by the strange events and feels they owe a debt to Smouse,
So they settle themselves into the lounge chairs.
Martin Black is willing to try anything to solve his computer problem.
They are surprised when Mentor tells them that they'd like the Shiro family to be present,
And even further amazed when they suddenly arrive at their front door,
Including Bubbles who is fast asleep in her father's arms.
In contrast,
The Shiro family,
Despite the late hour,
Seems to accept everything as normal.
When everyone is settled,
Smouse and Mentor sit on the floor in the center of the room.
A soft pink glow spreads from them and enfolds the gathering.
A familiar hum rings gently in their heads.
As one,
They turn their attention to Smouse and Mentor.
It's Smouse who speaks.
The small dark book sits in his lap.
He tells them they have to go back thousands of years to a time when their planets were in a state of environmental discord worse than that of the Earth.
A time when the negative and aggressive forces of intolerance,
Selfishness and violence were becoming dominant and many of their people had lost their direction.
A small dark book titled The Guide,
A copy of which he now holds,
Was discovered by archaeologists on an ancient dig on the planet Imperium.
It was full of blank pages.
It was sent to laboratories for testing and dated long before any other known discoveries.
Its paper was made with unknown fabric and of exquisite quality.
Anyone who looked at it spoke of images in their mind of tranquility and hope.
It seemed to glow.
No one could offer an explanation of what it meant.
Then,
A month after it was discovered,
The first word appeared in an ancient calligraphy.
Practice.
Practice what?
At irregular intervals,
New words appeared.
Many claimed it to be a hoax,
But it was kept under tight security and open for 24-hour public scrutiny.
Gradually,
The pages filled until only a few empty ones were left.
Then it stopped.
All groups of people started to practice the principles of the Guide.
The movement grew.
Members of the group started to extend the principles to the whole of the environment with wonderful results.
Smouse pauses for a moment to see if everyone is listening.
They are spellbound,
So he continues the story.
However,
Not all of the population wanted to change their ways,
And eventually,
Led by Madrog,
They left Imperium for the neighbouring planet of Tartarus.
Imperium follows the principles of the Guide and uses the positive forces of life and love to live in harmony.
Tartarus gathers the negative forces to live in a state of discord and chaos.
Imperium has been chosen as the watchdog for the universe to ensure that Madrog and his forces,
With their insatiable hunger,
Don't take over and destroy other solar systems and their planets.
They transmit messages of peace and harmony to all the planets in the universe.
Each planet has freedom of choice in its direction.
Madrog wants to remove that choice.
He wants to destroy the harmony,
The balance.
If he harnesses enough negative power,
He can block the communication channels of Imperium.
Once the moderating effect of Imperium is gone,
He has control.
That's what's happening now.
For some reason,
He is concentrating on planet Earth,
And in particular,
Black Enterprises.
Smaus explains that he and Mentor have been sent to ensure that the balance is not destroyed,
That the Black Empire is not the beginning of the end,
That the negative forces harvested by Madrog are not unleashed onto the natural environment,
Which includes the people.
Therefore,
It is imperative for Martin to solve his problem.
For five minutes,
The two families sit in silence,
Each locked in their own thoughts,
Each comparing their roles,
Some not liking what they see,
But not yet able to change.
Vera Black breaks the silence.
Why us?
Why our company?
Black Enterprises is not corrupt.
There must be hundreds,
If not thousands of companies who are completely unscrupulous.
Martin's tough,
But not unethical.
You're perfectly right.
Black Enterprises shouldn't be a contender.
The choice is extensive.
Mentor is swift to agree before offering a possible explanation.
We think it's one of those chance occurrences,
A sudden combination that caught Madrog's attention.
The appearance of the Diablo logo provided the third leg of a triangle,
Joining the color and your name,
Black,
With pockets of strong negativity.
Together,
They created a gap in the cosmic web which allowed him access.
Finding the connection won't be easy.
We have a few ideas,
But we'd like you to visit Taku's workplace before we say anything further.
We need to move quickly,
So perhaps in the morning before school,
Which will allow Perry and Ex to join us,
To help identify significant differences between the two workplaces.
Taku quickly agrees to the arrangement.
His store opens at eight.
Martin Black is a little more hesitant.
It still sounds like utter hogwash to him,
But a desperate situation requires an unconventional solution.
After the two fathers work out a suitable time,
The Shiro family leaves.
Vera Black,
With sincere gratitude for their support,
Sees them out.
She returns to find her family sitting in silence,
Staring into space.
She joins them.
Perry breaks the silence.
She hesitantly asks,
Could I look at the guide,
Please,
Mouse?
Of course.
She holds it out for her to take.
It is tiny in her hands and as light as a feather.
A warm heat flows into her palms.
The front cover is a deep indigo colour,
Like the depths of the night sky.
The words,
The guide,
Are embossed in gold in an ancient script.
They seem to pulsate within the darkness.
Minute sparkles of light appear and disappear.
Perry looks up at its mouse,
Who nods.
The others crowd round and watch with bated breath as she delicately opens the book.
The words on the title page set against a plain white background shimmer with colour.
Perry turns the page to reveal the single word as described by Smouse.
Practice.
She holds up the book so they all can see.
Realising she has been holding her breath,
She lets it go and breathes in deeply before she chooses a random page.
The page is filled.
The ancient script is unfamiliar and she has difficulty in deciphering it.
It suddenly fades and comes back into focus.
Her eyes open in amazement at the words and she gives an involuntary gasp.
What does it say,
Sis?
X's voice is barely a whisper.
Again Perry checks with Smouse.
Again he nods.
She reads out loud.
On leadership.
Show love and compassion.
Be honest.
Set a good example.
Begin with praise and genuine appreciation.
Admit your own mistakes first before calling attention to those of others.
Avoid giving direct orders.
Give others a fine reputation.
Make fault easy to correct.
Make others happy about their role.
Have fun.
Within the pages faint images of people ebb and flow.
She recognises the location.
It's her father's city store.
She shows it to her father but to him it's just gobbledygook.
He just shakes his head and mutters to himself.
Both her mother and X see what she sees.
The pages turn in her hands to the last few.
As Smouse said,
They are empty.
She almost closes the book but stops at the very last page.
She passes the book to her mother.
Vera Black instantly recognises the scene and the words.
Two spotlit children gaze in wonder at the magic of new growth.
The words,
Hope is the eternal seed.
Without it we are lost is written underneath.
And that's the end of Chapter 13.
Next time join me for Chapter 14.
