Soul

Author's note: This chapter is NOT a stand-alone...The story starts here.

No gods here.

Francine is in my arms, as a daughter ought to be. I am consoling her. I just wish she would put her hair back the other way.

Aina, where are we with the Nuns, and did you find the time to add the next group today?

I added the second group while you were getting your massage and relaxing. It is done. Tomorrow I will add all within 1000km. There are not that many by density.

OK, and how is it progressing with the first group?

It’s a little like I thought but mostly like you thought. Some found cocks but most of it was cloistered sex. There have been many calls directly to the Vatican. They think the Devil has risen and are seeking to use exorcists. But the number of those affected has them stunned. They have no idea how to handle that number. The order from Rome was to isolate those females. That has created the problem of how it is to be done. At the moment all the convents are on lockdown as if they are prisons. Of course there are no suicides, at least not yet.

Suicide is the one thing I do not expect a female so devout to do. It is an irreversible mortal sin for them. Yes, if they lose their faith, they might consider it, but they are not in pain and the enjoyment of the sex, as they lose their faith, and thereby having assuaged feelings of guilt, ought to argue against suicide then as well. … This is good. When are we burying Joana?

Tomorrow. Hun, the mortuary asked which church would officiate. I told them that our pastor would take care of it.

Who?

You!

I see.

Yes, I told him your name was David Hume.

Having a bit of fun?

Why not? He won’t have a clue, anyway. No one will. Only you and me. Anyway, he is part of your family tree from the 1400’s.

Very funny. Amelae didn’t mention any lineage from that era.

She left four lineages out of the conversation. This was one of them.

Why?

They cross over, a lot.

All four?

Two pairs of crossings. One pair, the one in Europe and Great Britain is just a bit weird. The other is here.

What do you mean, here?

Joana’s great grandfather on her mother’s side is from Spain. Maybe you remember your wife Mirela and your son Eduardo?

Yes.

Eduardo became an official under the Governor-General Antonio Maria Blanco in the Philippines. That is part of it. But it is not all of it. Joana’s grandmother on her father’s side was a Tan. Maybe you remember the name, Tan?

Aina, there are millions of Tan’s.

Only one, whose grandfather was a Dutch sailor. Ring a bell?

Yes. Shit.

You are very lucky Francine is not a monster.

That is why you said it was a dead certainty she would beget a monster?

Yes. Sweetheart, you need to track your lineages more carefully.

So Hume is one of mine?

Yes. But so are Christopher Wren and Gesche Gottfried. It’s a mixed bag.

And there you have it. Sometimes it is best not to know. But, yes I get the point. Taking Joana was risky.

Hun, I am not pushing, but Francine will have her period in two days. She is not fertile. There is no chance of a pregnancy.

So you say. What do you know exactly about the creation of monsters?

Ummm. OK, nothing.

Right.

Point taken. I’ll take care of it with her one way or another. She won’t push any more.

Good. … Gesche Gottfried, really?

Eventually Francine gives me a daughterly peck on the cheek and moves off to figure out what she will be wearing to the funeral tomorrow. I sit down to read a bit, but find myself distracted. We have been focusing on the Catholics and while they certainly deserve it, there are others for whom a little disturbance in the normal order of things is long overdue.

It seems to me that if I am getting the Nuns to throw off their habits, then what about burkas, niqabs, shaylas, hijabs, al-amira and chadors? Is it not time to mess with others? How about this? Any female wearing these garments will feel the extreme and urgent need to remove all clothing and exit buildings into the streets. But to make sure none are hurt, no man or woman will find the desire to hurt these females, but they also will not be able to take their eyes off them. And the more they stare, let them feel nothing but love for all they have hated. I wonder if Aina can come up with a virus for that?

It will be two viruses. But the women have to come in at some point… and do we start in Mecca and just let it spread on its own?

Yes, they come in at sundown, but there is to be no retribution when they go inside. Still the clothing stays off. Yes start in Mecca and just let it spread for now but give it a 48 hour incubation period for the women and zero day for the male tolerance virus.

Sweet. You do know there are grandmothers and great-grandmothers who will be out there.

Yes.

I wonder if I can get back to my book now.

Of course!

The morning comes with five females in my bed. None of them have coupled with me. Aina has made sure that at least two other females are between Francine and me at all times.

As I stir, so do they. There is a scramble for the bathrooms and their morning activities. I decide to just check Internet news portals and see what’s of interest at the moment.

Our interference has broken through. News that the Catholic Church is under demonic attack is being reported, though the Vatican is denying the reports, calling it sensationalism. There is no news from Mecca as the incubation period has not lapsed yet. The Manila Bulletin is reporting that a high level Vatican investigation team has arrived to assess the matters with the local bishops and what has befallen them. This may be of no importance to me, but I cannot be sure. It is something to ponder.

I feel something.

Shit! Hun! You see?

I shout as loud as I can, Girls, I want you to go to your rooms and not come out until I call for you. No exceptions. Go now!

I’m not, and then again, I am prepared for this. It was going to happen. That is certain.

He approaches the gate, Good morning, Edgar.

Good morning, Sir. I will tell Master that you are here.

No need, Edgar. I assure you, he is aware. In fact in ten seconds he will open the front door and say, ‘I was expecting you earlier.’

Huh, yes I was going to say that, but there is no need now. So I open the door and say, No, I am not. It’s alright, Edgar. Allow the Lazy Ass-wipe to pass.

Always the sweet tongued gentleman! That is something I most assuredly do not miss.

You look odd in human form. It most certainly doesn’t fit you well. It is far too untidy for your OCD’ness.

Funny, very funny. But you are right, I find the thing far from acceptable. Still if we are to chat, I gather it must be this way, though I still find your choice baffling.

We are walking through the house

This ‘house,’ for instance. You are comfortable living thusly? Truly?

Yes. I find it pleasing. I know he doesn’t, which makes it even more pleasing to me. We enter my private area and walk down the hall and into the place I use as my study.

I must say, I never understood why you chose to do this. And then I thought, well, OK, once she departed, you would see the silliness of it and give it up. But no, you stayed.

That was a lesson, the death of that first wife. … I had wondered what it was, in this second round that had changed things so much. I mean the first time, you couldn’t get a soul, no matter how hard you tried. They all just came my way. Then this time, it was splitting down the middle. Even right now you and I are even. You aren’t even trying. I needed to know what you did, back then. I needed to understand what changed and allowed you to improve so much.

You know, now. You must. How could you not. It happened to you. You chose to live as a human. You must know.

Yes. I learned. It was a very crafty thing you did. You played on my sensibility and turned it against me.

Good! I am glad you understand. It is far more satisfying to hear that from you, than it would have been to hear you complain and whine about it.

Oh, how can I complain? You know full well, I argued for it! Yes, you led me by the nose. But it was I who asked that it be included in the second round. So yes, I understand.

Wonderful. So why are you still here?

Because, what we did, made more of a difference than you will ever understand. It makes this place quite remarkable.

You have told this daughter you have now about who you are?

Francine. Yes.

She knows?

Some, but not all.

At some point she will be confronted with the reality, no?

Yes, maybe, as will others.

You mean the four you have taken?

Yes them and their children.

So this is not going to end? Really? I mean, look, what’s the point? You know now.

I have known since the very first wife. You and I created this. You do not feel. It is just a game to you. You know I had second thoughts ever since the flood. The first time, there wasn’t much to them. I didn’t find them interesting. But what we did, for this second game, well, they became far more interesting and I started to regret the decision to continue the game. And then I was not sure it was regret that we started it, but rather concern that it might end. I mean, a two out of three? What if “two” never ended? How would that work? Was it possible?

You are right. It did appear to be a stalemate. I found it boring.

I worried that you would end this game like you did the first, but then you would have to admit defeat when you were really not losing. You may be bored, and you may not be winning, but you aren’t losing. We were tied. And it isn’t in you just to quit in that case.

Yes. That is true. So what was your plan? To just hang out here as it grinds on?

I thought, you and I might not end it, but they have free will and they might do something stupid and end it for us. If that happens, we would tally up the numbers at the end and see who’s ahead. In the meantime, yes, I hang out here.

You do know the irony of this, do you not?

Yes. The very thing that I asked to be included; the very thing that allowed you to tie up the board; that is the reason I am staying.

I have found it fascinating. Living as a human, you are limited to what humans can do. The only time you can act as ‘you’ is once you have bound a soul. I must admit, I was amazed that you had not violated that rule. Until recently you had only acted as ‘you’ on rare occasions. Yes, you had every right to save Erlyn. But in doing so, you tipped your hand. I was surprised you did that for a human you didn’t much like and who had disobeyed you. But then I find it odd that you are willing to accept the infirmities of humanity, even if you will not die as one … Do you not find it a bit contradictory that it is one of my rules that allows you to live as a human in such comfort?

Yes. You would have let Erlyn die. It is the difference. And yes, it is your need for orderliness, for sublimating the nature of humans into other tasks that has produced the feats of social and scientific engineering that gives me the vehicle I drive. Yes, I know. I am aware that my way would have not produced such things. It also would not have produced world wars and holocausts. My way is that of a three-year-old with Jinga blocks. They have fun at times and get angry at times. Sometimes they build with the blocks and other times, they throw the blocks, one at a time, and at anyone or anything. I would never have come to stay here as a human if it were that way. You added something that is a lie, and cruel, but creates things, while at the same time, depends on that which I asked be added. It was intriguing.

Is that why you left my churches alone, until now?

Yes. For the most part, though I did get pissed off at that one place that took bullshit to another level.

I find it humorous that you chose to settle down this time in my most productive region.

Oh, over time I have settled in many of your productive regions. What better place to understand about what makes it all work for you? I am surrounded by your faithful, though they would be appalled if they knew the truth. I mean, between us, you really are the asshole.

Isn’t that what these humans would call, “divine justice?”

Right now I am not thinking of divine justice. I am thinking about what happened to my last wife. The one you allowed my shit-for-brains son to kill?

Are you saying I broke the rules?

Yes.

And that is why you are braking them now?

I haven’t broken a single rule.

Then why are things happening that are beginning to tip the scales?

Not my doing. Maybe it is divine justice.

You are serious?

Yes.

What did the boy do?

Come to the funeral and look into the body of my wife. We will both look together and by doing that, not break any rule. That will be enough. I am not done taking vengeance for his act. But I am not breaking any rule to do it.

After I find what he has done, what do you expect me to do?

See that he is destroyed.

If I don’t?

You will lose. No round three.

And if I do?

I will return as best I can, the order of this world, and we will play it out, allowing for free will to end the game.

Tell me, have you thought of how you want to change things for round three?

I know why I am not doing better, and why you aren’t either. I am sure I don’t want to do anything about it.

I am curious. What do these new girls think you are?

They think I am God on one level and on another level, they haven’t got a clue.

But they love you, do they not?

You know that is a stupid question. What is your point?

I think I just made it. It is time I go. There is no need to look into your wife. I will take care of the boy. I will see you when the game is complete.

We get up and I walk him out to the gate. We don’t shake hands. It is not our way and we are not friends. But I do say goodbye. He says goodbye to Edgar, and is gone.

Walking into the house, I call out to the girls that they are released from their rooms. They emerge with questions on their faces. It surprises me not at all that it is Erlyn who asks, An old friend, Master?

No, not a friend. He is an old acquaintance, but not a friend.

How old? He know Francine’s mother? The two of you talk about those days?

He never met her. But he knows of her. Erlyn, he is such an old acquaintance, it seems like I have known him forever. He asked after the four of you.

He knows about us?

Yes.

Why you not allow us to meet him?

He doesn’t deserve to meet you. He is not good enough. He asked if you four loved me.

What you tell him?

I told him that, it is a stupid question.

Why it stupid? It true!

And that is why it is a stupid question. The answer is painfully obvious.

Aina, we have some things to undo… potentially. I will let you know.

You know, I know who that was and what has transpired, right?

Yes, I know.

Tell them!

You tell them. I want to spend some time alone before the funeral. If the boy is killed, after the funeral, I want you to wipe their minds of all they have learned of me. Let them think I am simply a polygamist. They will stay but we will find a new way forward. Let there be no gods here.

The End

Return to the Authors Index Page

§ § §