Visitor’s Wager

The divine conveyance slowed to a stop above the verdant blue ball. The god Nikostratos and his son Cthulmandias reclined on the sofas designed for their holy personages. Woven from fine particles of a neutron star, the perfect structures glowed softly beneath them, illuminating their multi-limbed forms. 

Cthulmandias had long ago destroyed their last living servant. Occasionally, he regretted it but the automatons that had replaced the sentients did their work so obsequiously and quietly he thought it was an improvement. Small mindless creations, they meticulously moved about the swirling mass that was the pair’s home in the cosmos.

The color of the world they looked upon was a bit off-putting, Cthulmandias thought. He much preferred deeper hues and less clouds. Nikostratos sighed as he soaked in the brewing atmosphere breathing life into the ocean dominated planet.

The two gods looked on with the languid attention of the mostly immortal. Below, the planet seemed to spin madly. The single large continent slowly broke into chunks that drifted apart. Cthulmandias reached with his will to a chunk of land he found resembled a former lover in profile. With a push and a thought, he broke the land into thousands of chunks. He noticed, belatedly that a number of major cities were obliterated and one whole continent was left alone far away from the others. He focused his attention on the dying remnants of this civilization

“Father, what do you suppose Atlantis meant to them?” Cthulmandias asked.

“Huh? Oh, I don’t know I was looking at the ice caps. Quite nice really,” Nikostratos replied.

Shrugging Cthulmandias said, “I’m sure they will figure the civilization thing out again. They always do, it seems,” he sighed, “So predictable.”

“On the contrary, son, sentient life forms are often wonderfully unpredictable. That’s why I love them,” Nikostratos’ deep melodious chuckle filled the air, “Don’t be petulant.”

Cthulmandias gestured towards the azure ball, “Come, just watch. Right there on the equator. The spot with not many mountains and temperate climate, see. There they are again. Sentients. Kinda boring. Do you want this one or not? You said I could maybe have some offspring this time. I have an idea for this awesome demi-god. See he would look all normal, like a regular guy then, when he gets really pissed off. Rawwwr!” Cthulmandias made a huge growling roar, “He gets all huge and green and goes around tearing everything up. And he would be super strong and he would be invulnerable and he would…”

“Yes, of course, we will talk about that later,” Nikostratos responded, three arms waving away his son, “Let’s watch for a bit longer. See how they are spreading out from that initial spot. Amazing how they have shaped rocks to be tools. Look!”

Nikostratos watched in fascination as the tiny shapes adapted to their new environments. Their coloration changed so vividly that it took him some time to realize that the creatures were mostly hairless but had wrapped themselves in fabrics. Their skins and hair had changed as well but they were all essentially the same, physically. The little buggers changed their environments as much as the environment changed them.

Nikostratos turned to Cthulmandias and said, “Let’s play a game on this planet.”

He gestured to the ball of life as the creatures he saw before began to sail along their coasts on the continents Cthulmandias had made, “Let’s pause the advancement of intelligent life, do some minor changes and see what happens. We can reverse the time flow and throw out the parallel universe we make. It will be clean intellectual fun.”

 Nikostratos again looked at the rolling mass of beings. They had begun to spread on to every landmass. Their large, masted ships heading to every continent.

“Oh, here looks nice,” he said as the explosion of gunpowder echoed on the continent known as North America.

Cthulmandias shrugged, “Very well, Father. Though that seems to be too late in the development. You know the Creator makes them all different and yet the same. Empire, decline. Empire declines over and over until a couple of egomaniacs think they are gods and mutually assured destruction is the only solution. Bango, bingo and gone. Look it’s already happening that way. Maybe we make the changes at the start?”

Cthulmandias gestured to the war, frozen in the time space continuum, below them, “They hate people who don’t look like them. They form pseudo-religions around single issue zealotry. If they perceive that there is a problem, they talk about it incessantly in the echo chambers of those who believe like them until the problem is ten times worse and they eventually explode. It is why I squish them so often.”

Two sets of arms smashed into open palms to further emphasize the point.

“Their only hope for redemption is to be stripped of the burden of free will and brought under my… um, our control,” Cthulmandias crossed one set of his many arms leaning back.

Nikostratos nodded sagely, “Your point is taken. That may yet happen. They may yet be assimilated into our dominion or they may self-destruct but what if?” He arched his divine eyebrows, “To the start.”

Nikostratos reversed time, as the planet returned to the first humans, skittering about and trying to find their way across the planet.

Cthulmandias wasted no time as he stared silently at the planet. He stamped his foot and pointed, “Look at the damned mess they were making. Let us deprive them of weapons of war. I predict that without the strife they will turn to wholesome pursuits and the whole globe will prosper. I shall take that away by stripping them of their pursuit for destruction."

And with a word, Cthulmandias struck from the hands of every man on the planet any weapon of any kind. He further struck from them the will to make war. He left only the peace and calm of phila delphia.

A sound reached the ears of the two divine beings. A song of pure joy and happiness. Cthulmandias made several different gestures simultaneously, all of which meant an unmistakable, “I told you so.”

The song swelled and died to a low hum as the people below fell to work in earnest. Great cities were built, the population exploded, and lives were longer. Businesses emerged, great conglomerates that served every person so that there was no more fear of privation. The work was hard but in a very short time not one person was without the best of everything. A period of peace and prosperity and advancement for the common good. All were equal.

Cthulmandias laughed, “If you wish mortals to do good you must remove their ability to do evil. A simple binary choice is ok, but the absence of choice is far better.”

Nikostratos nodded as he interrupted his son excitedly explaining himself, "These people, they want comfort, they want peace. However, they want to build it for themselves. Granted there are one in ten who do not but look at your brother Culoscaput. There is one worthless member of every group.” 

Nikostratos shook his head and sighed as he continued, “You mistake a thing’s opposite for its enemy. We are about to see the anathema of both good and evil rear its head. Just as fear is the common enemy of both combatants in war, apathy is the true destroyer of both good and evil. The only thing worse than making the wrong choice is never making a choice. Watch.”

As the first generations of people died their children and grandchildren took over. Their life of ease had allowed them the best education and training so there was a second surge in advancement so rapid and stunning as to defy belief. But cracks began to appear in the system just as quickly. People stayed at home and their lives remained the same, so they never returned to work. Every need was satisfied so the interest in anything new, waned. As more and more of the population sunk into the lassitude, things became harder to procure and produce. By the time anyone shook themselves from the sleepy daze it was too late. There were no more competent people to bring the world back from the brink and the civilizations of man returned to hunter gatherer cultures and quite rapidly they were supplanted by a new creature, the dolphin, who created a weak but thriving underwater culture.

Cthulmandias jumped from his seat, hands flying in all directions, “What? All they had to do was keep it going. It was all so clear and easy.”

He began to leap in the air pounding his hands until the whole earth was in splinters. All the while screaming, “Damn, you all!”

Nikostratos let this little tantrum play out for a moment then serenely reached out and turned back time by shunting all of the recent events off to an unused parallel dimension and bringing the world back to the point just before Cthulmandias’ interference.

“It is my turn I believe,” Nikostratos said, “We only learn lessons by paying for them with failures. I will give them the ability to learn. I will not give them wisdom; I will give them intellectual curiosity. I will let some be better and some be worse. I will let some be wildly successful as the rising tide will lift all boats. I will let some be worthless and dangerous, as lessons to the rest and to keep the memory of the consequences of never developing a competence for anything.”

Nikostratos spread his hands over the newly reconstructed planet, “I will not leave them with faith. It is the brother of fear.”

He waved his hands and the players moved back to their positions on the tiny stage. “Nor will I burden them with hope. It is the sister of despair.”

With a gentle nudge he sent the planet on its spinning course. “I have planted the seed of it in their minds and souls. Those that follow will prosper and those who stray will not. Happiness can be found in success, but true Joy comes from within.”

With a beneficent smile Nikostratos sat down on his divine throne. His final words came in a whisper, “Do not seek perfection little people; it is reserved for only one being in all the Universe. Seek what we all can find and be most happy, balance. Find your own balance.”

The two beings watched as the humans struggled and fought. Cthulmandias, who seemed never to cease speaking, was silent. Nikostratos hummed a deep but merry tune. It was not pretty. There were many struggles. Nikostratos smiled. Cthulmandias fretted.

The cycle continued, struggle, advancement, struggle and advancement. Many rose to great power, headless of the suffering they caused others. They used others in the pursuit of their own gains. Power was eventually placed firmly in the hands of three families. Their descendants carved out kingdoms. They fought endlessly with one another until the flash of fire blossomed across the planet. And again, humanity fell as the fires of conflict raged across the globe.

Cthulmandias made as if to speak to his father...

Suddenly, several beings appeared in the divine conveyance. Most of them had a mix of beards, robes, armor and looked like humans. Several others had multiple appendages and looked like beasts. A beatific looking human stepped from the group. He was the obvious spokesman of the group.

“Hail dudes, we are the deities of Earth. My name is Jesus, and these others are my buds from the other religions. We just popped up because we noticed the whole apocalyptic destruction and remaking of the planet thing and were like, ‘Whoah!’.” 

The man smiled a smile that could power a sun as he continued, “A couple of us, I won’t mention any names, wanted to come up here and like, mix it up right away to get you guys to leave.”

At this a few in the crowd looked a bit embarrassed and others very hostile.

One stepped forward, a bearded man with an eye patch, holding a magnificent spear, “Aye. The boy is right. He is new, so we figured we would give him a chance to talk to the newcomers.”

Jesus chuckled, “Right. So, I told everyone ‘They just didn’t know this one was taken so’ and maybe it was a misunderstanding.”

He gestured in a little helpless shrug as if it were all out of his control, “Yeah, it’s taken so...You’re welcome to watch of course. But you have to keep your hands to yourself.”

He smiled that high wattage smile once again. The others behind him nodded in agreement.

Jesus continued, “You see we are like a limited liability corporation of deities; you know. Very useful, all the advantages of a pantheon with the freedom of monotheism. Really cool concept but, well when we first showed up, Vishnu and I were talking. He was all like, ‘Screw free will’ and I was all like ‘No way, they can totally sort this out’. We made this bet, and we are seeing how they would do. I know it sounds crazy, maybe a little childish but we’re like, right in the middle of it. Then you guys came along, did some tinkering of your own and it got us thinking. Maybe this bet wasn't a good thing. Maybe, we let them find that balance on their own. Maybe a bit of conflict leads to social peace. Maybe the power of a few spread amongst the many, but not so much as to be overpowering. So... basically, if you don't mind, we are going to stop meddling and let them figure it out.”

Both father and son looked awestruck at the strange man.

Cthulmandias spoke first, “So you really think that all of that freedom will work out? No polar extremes? Just allowing them to take small parts of many different schools of thought? No hard party lines? You think cool rationality will work for them?” Rage boiled on his face as his voice rose to a crescendo, “You guys are out of your minds! Father, we should leave. These people are not going to work out.”

“Indeed,” Nikostratos said with a sad smile on his face. And the divine conveyance winked away. The many deities of human creation went back to their vigil, while the humans strove on, unaware of what had transpired.