{"sf1_id":694467,"sf2_id":null,"title":"God...in the Flesh","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2087,"posted_at":"2014-04-18T18:20:00.000Z","tags":["Bovine","Equine","Fox","Human","Steam Punk","creation"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/694467-god-in-the-flesh","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/694467","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=694467\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#8 of Tales from The Hub","content":"Needless to say I was totally\nshocked. The paralytic charge wasn't painful, but it managed to lock up my\nmuscles. I might as well have been a statue. Serrena charged the glowing\ncylinder of light. She had a big fist balled up, all prepared to come to my defense.\nBig mistake. Whatever this was hiding within the glow stopped her in her\ntracks.\"You know, when I put forth life on\nthis planet I had high hopes for it. Your ancestors were given exceptional\nskills at reasoning, and they had a high degree of intelligence. I gave them a\nfull complement of data units to allow them to have a head start in building an\nempire to rival anything else in the universe. And instead I come back to\nsquabbling, lame brained morons!\"The light grew brighter and\nbrighter until the room was lit like a sun. Then it grew dim. I couldn't see a\ndamn thing. My retinas were nearly burned out by that brilliance. I found that\nI could now move, and I could hear Serrena gasp a few deep breaths before she\ntook a tentative step. That, however, didn't explain the other footfalls on the\nfloor. I wiped at my eyes, trying to crush out the blindness. As they cleared,\nI saw a small figure standing there. He, if it was a male, was just a little\ntaller than Bolshoi.  \"Hello Veracity. My you're a big\nbastard. The original genetic matrix allowed room for growth, but you're kind\nof vulgar.\"                I was\nsquinting at this thing. It was furless, except on top, and it seemed small and\nweak.  I knew  Lagos that had more meat on their bones. But\nit had just hit me with incredible power, and I was wary. \"What are you?\"                \"I'm\nme, which is more than I can say for you. Damn, you look like a cross between a\nrhino and a horse!\"                I had\nno idea what the first one was. He explained. \"They're big, stupid, nearsighted\nlumbering beasts from my home world. Come to think of it, maybe some of their\ncoding ended up in your DNA. You fit the bill pretty well, all except for the lack\nof horns.\"                So our\ncreator had a sense of humor. That was good to know. \"Your world. Aren't\nyou  God?\"                \"If it\nhelps your mind, sure. But your great, great, great, great grandparents would\nnever have been so foolish. They knew what they were, and they knew what I was.\nThere were no delusions; I created them to live on this world. It had\neverything life needed except the spark. It was so far along in its geologic\nhistory that I figured starting small was stupid. So, I created plants and\nanimals, bacteria, fungus, and a few things that never were to inhabit it. It\nstarted out well enough. Now I just need to figure out where it went wrong.\"                Serrena\nwas watching this thing like it was a trigger happy maniac. \"You just said you\ncouldn't come across the; wherever you were, to be here. You said it would take\na long time!\"                 \"And I'm still there. I have the ability to be\nin two places at once. Luckily for me, this equipment is still in running\norder. Whoever had the sense to have it put in storage and connected to the\npower grid was a genius. Too bad there wasn't some who could keep up the maintenance\non it.\"                She\ngingerly reached out and touched it. It was solid.                     The\nentity walked around with a bemused look on his face. \"It's been a long time\nsince I occupied a living body!\"                He was\nlooking at his hands as he paced back and forth. He stopped when she touched\nhim. He reached out and gave one of her triple nipples a squeeze. She jerked\nback as if she were burned.                He\nsmirked. \"What's the matter? Are you afraid of getting zapped again? Sorry, but\nyou're safe for now. Once the tissue generator finished configuring the genetic\ncode I downloaded, that ability left me. I'm as fragile as you are. From now on\nI'll need to eat and sleep and all those annoying things I gave up a long time\nago.\"                She\nwalked around him like he was a poison tipped cactus. \"You're not what I\nexpected from our Creator.\" She said it deadpan.                \"And\nyou're exactly what I pictured when I saw your genetic code. You and this huge\nbundle of attitude over here.\"                He\npointed to me. I knew I could move, but I was afraid of the consequences if I\ndid.                \"Look\nVeracity, if this world is in such dire straits, it seems only logical to\nprovide as much help as I can. However, this body will not last for long. The\nmachine is old and I can feel there are problems within its matrix.\"                My\nvoice cracked. \"Why are you so small?\"                The\nnearly hairless thing cackled. \"And what were you expecting? A hundred meter\ntall behemoth bent on destruction? That was the stuff of movies from my home\nworld. No, true power is never in who you can kill or subdue. Money is not\npower unless you grant it control over you. Real power is knowledge. You of all\npeople should know that.\"                He was\nright. Sometimes having the dirt on someone was enough to keep them in line.\nWhen that failed, forced was the more enjoyable option. I wanted to exercise\nthat option right now, now that this thing was vulnerable. But something in his\nvoice made me quaver.                \"Look\nVeracity, just because you're three times my weight doesn't mean I can't drop\nyou. But if all you intend to do is question me and bicker about details, then\nI'll sit in a corner and wait for this body to expire.\"                Before\nI could make a retort, Bolshoi walked in. She looked around and her eyes went\nwide when she saw the third person in the room. The creator gave a low whistle,\nwhich unnerved her even more.                \"Hello\nfoxy lady!\" I had considered Bolshoi to be graced with good looks, even when I\nthought she was a he. But this thing; this creator; he had no qualms about\nstating his opinion.                For her\npart Bloshoi, aka Veronica, look to the two of us for an explanation. I just\nsort of shrugged. What the hell was I going to say that she would believe?                \"Just\nwho the hell are you?\"                He made\na sweeping bow, an exaggerated motion that seemed to be purposefully elegant.\n\"I am Jenar Lorash. Some of you seem to think I am your Creator, though I have\nsaid that you must look to your own parents for that. I was once jokingly\nreferred to as God, but I never felt that was a good role model for me. Too\nmany inconsistencies in all those old Earth mythologies for my logical mind.\"\nThen he did a slow walk around her.                She\nfroze like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. He walked around inspecting\nher like a buyer in a Mord yard. \"I know it's just the unfamiliar hormones speaking,\nbut damn you look good! I was worried that some of the necessary recessive\ngenes might end up predominant, but I see my fears were unfounded. It's so hard\nto tell what evolution will do when left to its own devices. \"                She was\ncoming to grips with the idea that this was who so many worshiped as our great\nbenefactor. Like the rest of us, she was receiving mixed signals.                \"Excuse\nme, but how did you get here?\"                He\npointed back at the machine behind us. \"Genetic generator. It's what I used to\ncreate the first people on your world. Well, that, and the primordials, and the\nplants, bacteria, fungi and everything else that this world could support. From\nmy readings, life hasn't gotten far away from the point of origin here. I gave\ndetailed instructions for expanding the population to the far corners of the\nplanet within four hundred and fifty years. I am pretty pissed that it hasn't happened. I'm\ntelling you religion was the near death of my world. The hell if I'll let it ruin\nthis world as well!\"                \"Primordials?\"\nOf all the things she could ask, she asked what primordials were!                \"Yes! I\nthink your predecessors simply referred to them as Mords. They are genetically close to some\nof the animals found on my world. You yourselves have much of their DNA\nincorporated into your structure.\"                He was\ngetting me curious. \"And what else is mixed up in us...God?\"                \"Me.\"                \"What?\"                \"Hey, I\nlearned it from religion. The concepts are great, but the delivery is awful.  It was something they called the divine spark. I\nmixed my DNA; human chromosomes and coding, into that of other species. It\nsolved two problems. The first was intelligence. Humans had that going for\nthem, though the fools seemed to think it was a curse. Heck, they treated it\nlike a curse. Then there were the conditions on this rock. It was hospitable,\nbut not for the kind of life I was familiar with. It took some tweaking to get things\nright.\"                \"Get\nthings right? You mean you experimented on people?\"                The\ncreator sighed. \"Yes, if you want to put it that way. That's why this was\ncalled my great experiment. I regretfully had failures. Before you go trying to\nchide me, understand that I had good intentions at the time. Today I am far\npast that kind of thing. I now have a full set of calculations in place for\ngenerating genetic code. I could duplicate you; or you; or you, without any\ntrouble.\"                Bolshoi\nwas examining the nude creature. \"So you're a human? I always thought those\nwere bedtime stories meant to scare us. Now that I see you in the flesh, you're\nnot so frightening!\"                In a\nflash he had snatched her pistol from its hidden holster and was holding it to\nher head. In the next instant he had twirled it and placed it back into her\nhands. \"Never underestimate anyone. Just because I may look weak compared to\nyou doesn't mean I'm not capable of handling myself. I lived one hundred and\nthirty three years in a body like this, and centuries more as a free spirit. I've\nlearn a lot during that time.\"                \"Free\nspirit?\"                He\nlaughed. \"Sorry! That makes me sound like a hippy. For me it meant full\nfreedom. I incorporated my mind into a machine of my own construction. I've\nbeen traveling ever since I died. I had to stick around for my funeral of\ncourse, but then it was time to be off. My world was full of dissent. It hardly\nmattered to me if it was the religious wars that kept breaking out, or the\ncraven greed that others allowed to rule their life. I put over a hundred years\ninto trying to get them to come around. In the end, I stopped my heart, transferred\nmy consciousness and left. I figured if you can't beat them, leave them.\"                \"So you're\nnot really a god?\"                He got\na sore look on his face. \"I've been saying that. If you want me to be rude\nabout it, then all you are are products of test tubes and Petri dishes.  However, what I was trying to do was create a\nbetter world, one that might grow where mine failed to thrive. I gave you\neverything right off the starting line, but apparently I gave you too much. The\nconcept of money and religion mean well, but they always fall to the same evil.\"                \"What's\nthat?\" I asked.                \"Stupidity.\nI can cure all kinds of diseases, but an ancient Earth comic once said, \"There\nain't no cure for stupid!\"                I could\nonly agree with this guy. I was getting more comfortable with him as the\nminutes passed. I had expected some sort of arcane nebulous phantasm. Getting a\nflesh and blood compatriot was beyond my breams. \"Hey God...\"                \"Jenar...\"                \"OK\nthen, Jenar. What are we going to do about the Brotherhood?\"                \"Well\nVeracity, I think I'll do what I do best.\"                \"What's\nthat?\"                \"I'll\nblind them with science!\"                \"Sounds\ngood! When do we start?\"                He was\nwalking around Bolshoi again. \"Depends. This is the first time I've been in a\nflesh body for centuries. How about it sexy? You want to have a romp before we\nkick some ass?\""}