{"sf1_id":825279,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Destroying God by Being God","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":3827,"posted_at":"2015-03-01T20:09:00.000Z","tags":["Equine","God","Horse","Offworld","Plot Development","Steampunk","Story Progression","android","creator"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/825279-destroying-god-by-being-god","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/825279","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=825279\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#14 of Tales from The Hub\n\nThis is a recreation of the segment that went missing. Sorry if the editing is poor on it, but I am pressed for time. And as for the present formatting, that's this great new editor, not me.","content":"Despite\nthe fantastic spectacle in front of them, and having heard its words, many of\nthe Brotherhood began to fall and prostrate themselves on the ground, imploring\npity and benevolence from the terror in front of them. I was curious what the\nbig guy was going to do.\n I think\neven he was stumped for a moment. He hesitated before opening that black maw he\ncalled a mouth.\n \"Get up\nyou sad, sorry excuses for intelligent beings!\" His voice didn't roar, but\nthere was a touch of menace to it.\n Most\nall of them stood, trembling in their shoes. I noticed that the religious folks were more\nscared of the apparition than anyone else seemed to be. I guess finding out\nthat the god you were worshiping was really real was enough to loosen your\nbowels. Everyone else was still trying to make heads of tails out of it.\n He roared down to them. \"What\nexactly do you believe in?\"\n A small\nvoice proclaimed, \"You, oh great one!\"\n \"But I\nam neither in need of worship nor do I have any use for such a stupid,\npointless waste of time of someone believing in me. Is it not enough that I\nexist? I am already great! I do not need snotty-nosed, sniveling idiots\ngroveling at my feet, nor do I need them usurping my work as their own. I am\nthe creator. I made your ancestors and I made them to be proud and strong. However,\nI never made them in my image, for there was no point in such a grave display\nof vanity. While you may look like who you are because of my initial\nintervention, it remains that you are who\nyou are by your own choices. And yet look at you. You have chosen to be worms!\"\n His\nvoice shook the nearby buildings. I was hardly moved by his display, having\nalready felt his power and knowing that if he was going to smash me, he would\nhave already done it. One of the veteran policemen, feeling either brave or especially\nstupid, walked up and yelled at the monstrosity.\n \"What\nright do you have to be telling us what to do?\"\n A giant\nfist came down and smashed him where he stood. The gasp from the crowd was\nenough to move the air around me. I looked for the telltale sign of blood on\nthe pavement, but there was none. Instead, the fist opened up and a scattering\nof black sand fell to the ground. The cop was standing there, his pants wet\ndown the front but otherwise intact.\n \"I have\nno right to be here and yet I have every right to be here. I was called here by\naccident and yet I came because there was a need. And since I have been forced\nto return to the world that I created, I find that I must stay to set things to\nright. While I wish to interfere as little as possible, I am under the\nimpression that there are matters that need rectifying. This Brotherhood for\none. I don't know who thought that praying to someone who wasn't even around to\nlisten to their prattling was a good idea. You build a civilization on\ncooperation, technology, innovation and hard work. Throwing on robes and\ndancing little jigs is for mindless idiots. Are you adults or children?\"\n The cop\nbacked up until he was far enough away that he felt it was safe to run. So did\na bunch of his fellow officers, who seemed to run faster than the younger\nrookies. The crowd was getting edgy, now that their only source of protection\nas it were had deserted them. The members of the Brotherhood were mewling like\nfools and overall, the scene was disgusting. I mean sure, this guy was\nimpressive and all, but seriously? Didn't these people have any dignity?\n Jenar,\nor what had taken the place of him, clapped his enormous hands and\ndisintegrated into a non-cohesive pile of black sand. The folks on the\nperimeter, which kept changing in numbers and makeup, let out a gasp. In the\nnext instant hundreds of normal sized replicas emerged from the mound, stepping\nout to approach the people.\n Some\npanicked and fled while others, from either an inane curiosity or just plain\ncourage remained behind. As one, the duplicates extended their hands. \"Glad to\nmeet you!\" came the unified voice.\n I have\nnever seen more surprised looks on faces before in my life. Most reached out\ngingerly and accepted the handshake. When nothing bad happened, I think there\nwas a mass release of long-held breathes. \n From\nthere the duplicates seemed to develop personalities of their own, and went\nfrom person to person shaking hands and talking with them. Overall it looked\nlike a damn politician going around hawking for his upcoming election, only in multiples.\nI thought it was disgusting until it dawned on me what he was doing. He was\nletting people know he was real, and that he had a mind and a heart. He had\nshown his superior side, and now he was showing his less imposing forms. I\ndidn't know if that was brilliance or pure audacity.\n One of\nthem came over to me.\"Well Veracity, what do you think so far?\"\n I\nshrugged. \"How the hell should I know? You're the one with all the smarts.\"\n \"Now don't\ngo shortchanging yourself. In the end, the result here is that people will\nlearn to both fear me and to respect me. Fear is the jolting force to get their\nattention, sort of like in the ancient days of my world when children were\npaddled. I have gotten their attention now and from here, everything will fall\ninto place.\"\n \"But\nisn't that acting like a god? I thought you were against that!\"\n \"I am, but I have to kill the idea slowly. So\nunless I step into the shoes that have been made for me, I see no alternative\nbut to fill them until such time as they have worn away to nothing. People will\nnot let go of stupid concepts without a fight. So I'll give them what they\nthink they need for a while and then fade out into the sunset.\"\n \"So you\naren't sticking around then?\"\n \"I\ndidn't say that, not precisely. Everyone here will need to feel that there is\nsomething constantly lurking underfoot for a long time to come. It's like the\nsilly concept of heaven and hell. Your ancestors knew my opinion on such\nthings. The sad fact is, when you die, you die. There is no afterlife. My\nability to live on has nothing to do with mysticism, but with science. There is\nmuch more depth to knowing and understanding than there is in believing. You\ncan believe in anything you like and that doesn't make it real.\"\n \"I can\nsee where the truth can be a downer.\"\n \"Downer?\nWhy? If you know that everything that you do has a consequence to those around\nyou, and that all you have is what is before you, why not take that information\nand strive to be your best just for that reason?\"\n \"Because\npeople always want more.\"\n \"I\nsuppose so. That's not all bad until it gets out of control. I set down the\ninitial rules here just for that reason. A body needs a skeleton to function\nand so does a society.\"\n \"What\nabout some of those things that are reported to live in the great sea? They\ndon't have skeletons.\"\n \"I\nthink we can forget about such life forms for the moment. The more complicated\nthe form the more complex the requirements. A single person living on their own\ncan live by whatever rules they set, but when you have many, they must reflect\nthe needs of the many, not the few.\"\n \"Yeah, I\ncan see that. But the rules here have been subjected to tweaking that shifts\nthe law to favor those who have money or power.\"\n \"The former laws did reflect that. That is no longer the case.\"\n \"Just\nchanging them doesn't mean that people will follow them you know.\"\n \"Oh,\nthey'll be followed. Unlike any other \"god\" that has ever existed, I will have\nthe final say in what is and isn't allowed.\"\n \"I\ndon't follow you.\"\n \"You\ndon't need to.\n \"Ok,\nwhatever boss. As long as you know what you're doing I guess there isn't much I\ncan add.\"\n \"We'll\nsee about that. I think you might be more useful than you think.\"\n For\nsome reason his words didn't reassure me. I was wishing with all my might that\nthings were back to the way they were not that long ago. At least then I knew\nhow to handle myself. Now, I was totally out of my element. I liked being\nunderground and doing things on the sly. Being out on the open now had made me\nhigh profile, for I think it's reasonable to assume that everyone was beginning\nto associate me and my crew, wherever the hell they were right now, with this\nmassive disruption.\n \"Listen\nJenar, I really don't want notoriety outside of that which I can create for\nmyself.\"\n \"Too\nbad. You called me up and now you're stuck with the results. Besides, who else\nhere knows the city as well as you do? It's not like I'm going to make you king\nor anything. People get to decide who they want in office. After this, they\nmight be a little more careful about who they choose.\"\n \"Are\nyou implying that they might choose me?\" I felt a lump in my throat.\n \"That\nremains to be seen. You are rather honest in your own way, even if you go about\nthings like a thug. Then again, the underdog tends to use whatever means is at\nhis disposal now doesn't he?\"\n \"I'll\nrefrain from commenting on that, if you don't mind.\"\n The\nblack form chuckled. \"I know all about you Veracity. You know I do. I am not\nhere to judge anyone. What you do is up to you.\"\n \"I\nthink I've been through enough already. What makes you think I want to lose any\nmore of my time or life on this stupid city?\"\n \"Loss\nis a choice made for you, sacrifice is one you make for yourself. So I guess\nyou had better start thinking about the future. Your city may need you more now\nthan it ever has.\"\n \"What\nthe hell does that mean?\"\n The\nblack figure almost seemed to sigh. \"Religion is for the weak minded. It's not\nall bad, for it acts like glue. When you have a lot of personalities that don't\nagree on the same things, having one commonality to bind them together is a\nwonderful commodity to have at your disposal. But in lieu of that binding force,\nsomething often must take its place. People are simply not able to cope on a\nday to day basis with the fact that their lives are nothing more than they\nappear. You get up each day, and instead of hoping for something better, you\nneed to make it better. Those who succeed have the confidence to do so on their\nown. So with the abrupt ending of the Brotherhood, the people are going to be looking\nfor something or someone else to believe in. Since I intend to drop from sight\nwhen this is over, they will see you and your friends as the ones who had the\nclosest association with me, and therefore the ones with the greatest potential\nfor godliness.\"\n \"Fuck\nyou! I'm not going to have people dropping down and worshiping me!\"\n \"Nor\nwould I allow it. But they will look to you for guidance. I would suggest that\nyou think long and hard on it. You may get stuck with the job whether you like\nit or not. But don't think of it as an imposition, but a chance to impart your\nwisdom onto these good people.\"\n \"Wisdom?\nThat would be your department, wouldn't it?\"\n \"You\nknow, not necessarily. I have only a limited amount of the full potential of information I have stored back on my ship. This container, if you will pardon\nthe expression, only has room for a barely a millionth of it. I simply programmed my\npersonality traits and the information I had on this world, plus a small\namount on the universe and on my home planet. It's still a large amount of\ndata, but it is nothing compared to the\ntotal. But I lack a few things now that I had in that previously functioning biological body. One of\nthem is the capacity to love; to have compassion. I might be able to emulate\nit, but the subtle nuances are lost in an inorganic body.\"\n\"Yeah, about that. How are you able\nto jump from one form to another and still retain you, well, your mind?\"\n\"Oh, that's simple. My brain is\nmore or less a bio-technical construct. When the organic body died the nanites\nextricated the processor from it and I resumed life as you see me now. It's not\nall that clever from my point of view, but it's functional.\"\n\"You don't have something like that\nthat I could plug into my own brain, do you?\" I was ever hopeful to increase my\nown intelligence, and a jump start sounded just perfect.\n\"Sorry, but it doesn't work that\nway. If you start adding bits and pieces randomly, you'll ruin who you are at\nheart, and heart is what you need the most right now. A lot of people are going\nto be hurting that I came back and then left again after telling them what morons\nthey are. The truth hurts, and facts can cut to the quick. Still, there are\nharsh realities to life and getting jolted with the news can sometimes cause\npeople to shake off their sloth and their complacency and go the extra mile in discovering who they really are.\"\n\"That's kind of deep.\"\n\"So is a pile of shit Veracity, so don't\ntry to patronize me. There was an old adage from my world about a frog and hot\nwater.\"\n\"What's a frog?\"\n\"A small primitive life form. If\nyou put it in cool water and bring up the temperature, you can kill it because it\ngrows used to the ever increasing heat. But touch it with a drop of hot water\nand it will react because of the suddenness of the temperature change. I'm that\ndrop of hot water now, and I intend to make everyone react.\"\n\"I'd say you already have. But if\nyou leave, what's to keep this from all happening again?\"\n\"You'll see. Everyone will see.\"\nHis words sent a shiver go through my\nspine. I suppose I felt a bit like an Outlander does when I show up. At least, I assume that's\nthe way it worked. When I go out there, people notice and are in awe. While\nthey might be the big kahuna any other time, when I was there, I was bigger,\nbadder, smarter and more menacing, even if I wasn't trying to be intimidating.\nWith this guy, I wasn't sure of my own name when I was around him. Anyone who\ncould turn to dust and reconstitute himself again was a badass customer. The\nlonger I was around him though, the less I could think of him as being this all\npowerful entity. He might be powerful, but that seemed to be more to do with\nhis overall intelligence than it did with being divine. I believed everything\nhe said anymore, and I wished I could have seen the city in its glory years.\n\"That's what I'm afraid of.\"\n\"Now, now; no cynicism from you. I\nmade it work once; I can make it work again.\"\n\"If you say so. Me, I'm thinking we\nmight have been better off without you.\"\n\"That's just the frog talking.\nChange is good, even when it's not wanted. Life cannot go on if it is static.\"\n\"Meaning what exactly?\"\n\"Life may reach a plateau, but that\nonly lasts as long as the conditions that allow it remain fixed and unchanging. Any change,\neven if it isn't catastrophic, can lead to the demise of the system. That why\nthe gene pool here is so diverse, and yet in some instances it allows for cross\npollination.\"\n\"Pollination?\"\n\"Sorry; my attempt at humor. It\nmeans that two dissimilar kinds can produce offspring. So you see, in the event\nof some sort of cataclysm, your Outlanders stand a better chance at surviving\nthan those who have stayed here in the city.\"\nHe had a point. The Outlanders were\noften...outlandish looking, but they were tough mothers who lived in some of the\nmore inhospitable regions around. They didn't believe in anything, and would\nprobably toss aside any tales of this present occurrence as mere fits of frenzied\nfancy from some new drug hitting the streets. But it got me thinking.\n\"So you're saying that I could get\nsomeone pregnant not within my own class?\"\n\"You're part equine, but you have\nsome other genes mixed in. The conditions on this palent were not the same as those\non the one I grew up on, but that didn't mean that it couldn't support life.\nLife flourished here once, a long time ago. I had to tweak things to get the\ncombination correct for this sort of sunlight and atmosphere.\"\n\"Do you know how weird that sounds?\"\n\"Why? It's the truth. Truth is\noften stranger than fiction. Is not my real and glorious self more impressive\nthan anything your Brotherhood could have ever dreamed up?\"\nI coughed in my hand. \"Sure.\"\nBut then I looked around and saw\nall the copies of himself that were spread around, and how people were\nbeginning to warm up to them. I think that if there was a god, I'd prefer one\nlike this, not some invisible, non-existent, made-up deity that seemed to\nchange his mind about things at some mortal's whim. When you got down to it,\nand past all the weirdness that encompassed his present form, he was a decent\nenough guy. I'd sure as hell want him on my side during a fight, let me tell\nyou, not that I'd need any help mind you. I just would rather be on his side\nthan against him.\nThe black animation was now looking\naround the square. \"I'm glad this is proving to be easier to handle than my own\nworld would have been. Then again, there were a lot more of them, and many\ndivergent religions. It's very hard to convince everyone that they're wrong\nwhen they all swear they're right.\"\n\"You could have killed them all.\"\n\"The thought had crossed my mind,\nbut it was not in my nature, nor did I think that such a kindness was due my\nworld. I left and allowed nature to take it's course.\"\n\"That's a rather harsh statement. Have you ever thought about going back?\"\n\"Nope! I see no point in ti. It's\nbeen so long that no one will even remember me, much less take kindly to my\nreturn. And that's assuming there is anything intelligent left on the planet. I'm doing what I want to do and little else matters. Being by myself\nmeans I can do things my way, without interference or explanation, and I can\ndiscover what there is for as long as I like.\"\n\"Sounds fun, but lonely.\"\n\"It's both, though I hardly get the\nfeeling of loneliness. Again, that's attached to a biological form. My mind is\ncompletely integrated within the ship, which means I have a largely unlimited\nintellect when it comes to where I physically am located. I could send out\nhundred of duplicates like this and never diminish because the information is\nreplicable.\"\nI had to think that one out. \"So\nlike here, where you have multiple copies, you could do it all over the universe?\"\n\"More or less. It's not all that hard, if you know what you're\ndoing. Here, for example, I am the\noriginal, such as it counts as an original. The processor is inside me, and the\nrest are mere extensions.\"\nMy head was spinning. \"So you could\nreform as one giant monolith again?\"\n\"Sure, within certain physical limitations. The nanites\ncan only hold together with power, and the power need increases exponentially the\nbigger the form gets. So breaking apart was just easier on the power grid and\neasier for everyone to deal with on a personal level.\"\n\"You have this all figured out, don't\nyou?\"\n\"Most of it. Like I said, I'm not\ntrying to disrupt life here; just set it back on the course I set out for it. I\ndon't wish to undo the advances, only remove what I see as potential roadblocks.\nMy planet did some pretty stupid things over the course of the centuries as science progressed,\nand many of them ended in disaster. Science may not fill the emotional needs of\nan intelligent being, but it fills the belly, and supplies the creature comforts everyone was used to. If you need to have value to your life, do\nsomething useful. Praying does nothing that self appreciation and self love can't\ndo. I shudder to think of all the prayers people invoked in my name. How many\ndied thinking that I didn't love them, or think highly of them because i didn't answer them when in fact I didn't\neven know they existed? It's ridiculous! The information regarding how to\ncontact me was left with your ancestors. Praying is one of the worst things I\ncan think of for accomplishing any task and certainly wasn't in the handbook.\"\n\"Yeah, you and I agree there. Of\ncourse, the Brotherhood took to killing and frightening people to get their\nway. Praying was the least offensive of their actions.\"\n\"I am aware of that. It goes back\nto the matter of mob mentality. That will be taken care of in the future. \"\n\"How?\"\n\"Let's just say that for the rest\nof your life, and the lives of everyone on your planet, I will remain\nunderfoot, watching, lurking, and ready to come around again if I'm ever needed.\"\nAnd with that, every black\nanimation disintegrated into a pile of black dust.In the middle of mine was a strangely formed mass of metal. I was almost loath to pick it up, but I did, and not knowing what else to do I stuck it inside my coat. I had to smile at that, for who else had the courage to put what was left of our creator into his pocket? Let the simpletons wonder at the day's events. Me, I was heading out for a beer or two. I witnessed enough for one day, and the inside of a skanky dive was just about the perfect balance for my present state of mind."}