Sekhmet continued, “After two hundred generations of our benevolence, Set simply whispers in their ears and they cast us aside. But now we can reap the humans as they reaped the wheat of the fields…” Her voice clipped off as Ra moved toward her.
Ra knelt down and cradled his daughter’s chin in his hand, and said, “Creating fear in mankind only stokes them to more violence and rebellion. The power from their rage and fear and lust cannot sustain us or them. It will lead only to chaos.” He paused, letting go of her face, looking down at the floor, saying softly, “You did what I asked, but it was not what I needed nor what the race of men need. That was not your fault.” He looked into her eyes to see that she understood.
Ra spoke loudly to make sure everyone heard him, “They seek more in their lives, more than what is needed to sustain their bodies. We gave them a great gift with our benevolence, but they have grown past that need, the need for us. I see that now.”
Ra stood and helped Sekhmet stand up on her hind legs. He looked her up and down, then there was a flash of light from his body, and she was cleaned of the caked and dried blood, her fur once again a dazzling bronze with black stripes.
In a strong voice echoing in the dark chamber, he continued, “Mankind seeks more. Not just to live well, but to understand and control the world they live in. In that way, they are like us. They cannot be gods but their souls will seek the infinity of the universe in life, not just in death.” Ra stepped away from Sekhmet and the other gods, peering down into the depths of the underworld, as he said, “But their lives are short.”
As Ra turned back to look at the other three who had stood quietly as he pondered. “In life, they must not fear us but fear who they are and what they do with their lives. To take control of their lives they must look beyond their short time in the world of light and see that their children and children’s children will have a better world.”
He began to glow, brighter and brighter, until a blast of light left his body and dissipated into the cavernous dark world, his words booming, “What they need is to remember, from what they have learned, generation to generation.
“I have given them one last gift now. I will remove myself from their world so that they may determine their own lives. But that is not my gift. As Ptah gave them skills to shape the world to their needs, and as you my beloved daughter, as Hathor, gave them art, dance, and music to express their love, I now have sent Seshat, daughter of Thoth and Ma’at, as She Who Scrivens, the Goddess of Numbers, Words, Architecture, and Astronomy, to teach mankind how to capture their knowledge, to place it on tablets and papyrus, to record what they have learned, to be passed from generation to generation, so that they may gain… Wisdom. That will be my last gift.
“But that is not enough. To ensure mankind learns, prospers, and grows beyond their ephemeral needs, I will leave Horus in their world, to find strong men and women who can lead others. Horus will whisper in their ears and show them how to lead and govern mankind to a better world, lest they fall prey to their own vices.”
Ra now moved back in front of Sekhmet, his body still glowing. He continued, “And finally, if I am wrong again about mankind’s ability to rule itself and the world of light and day, there will be a safe-guard.” The glowing disk appeared again above his head and his eyes whirled in a thousand cascading colors, and she felt his warmth flow over her.
“Sekhmet, who was once Hathor, I make you now, Baset.” Sekhmet’s lioness figure began to shrink, down and down, until she was smaller than a dog but she retained the same features she had as Sekhmet. “I give to you again, the Eye.” A globe of light once again moved from the disk above the head of Ra into the small feline creature, who lay prone on the floor, resting, her tail slowly swishing. “You will remain here, my beloved daughter, Baset, in the underworld, in this place known to the human race around the world by many names; Ker, Baobo, Kalichi, Tamag, Diyu, Sheol, Gehinnom, Hades…Hell! But through the Eye, you will see the world of man through the small feline beasts you command.”
Then a hundred, a thousand copies of the feline Baset, jumped from her body, moved through the air, and disappeared beyond the cavernous walls.
Ra continued, “They will move throughout the world above, in the world of light and day, amongst these mortals, seeking shelter in their midst, in their homes.
“We shall wait another two hundred generations and if mankind loses its path again, then these creatures of Beset shall become the instruments of Sekhmet and a hundred thousand versions of The Destroyer will once again rise up and purge the inequities.”
Beset simply lay there, idly licking her paws.
An intergalactic, trans-dimensional pseudo-philosopher, part-time pirate and editor/publisher of an independent press, Tom sometimes writes.
A refugee of the business world, he has taken the art and science of reports, PowerPoints and Power meetings and spends lucid days crafting stories.
Find out more at 9dusks.com/tom-fruman.
45
A Plan to Destroy Humanity
By Shanda Forish
In an effort to find new ways to destroy humanity, a demon possesses a house cat. Can he succeed where others have failed?
“It was truly a good plan,” I mused. I should be upset that it failed, but, lying here, stretched out on this soft, pillowy bed, I really can’t manage to muster the regret. And now that Nahiel has been destroyed, the chances that anyone will find me, or even come looking, are slim to none. That suits me just fine.
I guess you could say that Nahiel was my boss. We were both ranked so low, though, that you’d be hard pressed to tell. It never bothered me. I did what I had to do to survive and screwed around the rest of the time. I had no desire to climb the “corporate ladder” or do even more work, but Nahiel did. He was ambitious, determined to make it into the upper ranks. I have no idea what he thought he’d get once he got there. We would still be living in Hell. There you go, though. He wanted it anyway.
We’d spent the day ruining lives, as usual. We didn’t often target someone that we couldn’t manage to tempt, but that day, our best efforts had been foiled. The woman was so close to straying, so close, to breaking her sobriety and walking into the bar, but the dog waiting for her at home kept her feet moving past the door.
“I’m behind, man,” Nahiel moaned over his drink. “At this rate, I’m never going to hit their goal.”
“Dude, you’re eighty-five points over quota for the month, and it’s not even half over! Tempting a nun and a priest at the same time shot you past your goal in one shot,” I exclaimed, rolling my eyes a little and pouring more whiskey in our glasses. The “people” on the other side of the bar just drooled and reached for the bottle they’d never touch.
Nahiel scoffed. “Child’s play. It’s almost too easy. Besides, it’s been done a million times before. I need something spectacular to put me on their radar. Something truly unique.” He downed the contents of his glass and reached for the tequila. “That dog, man. Why did she have to have a. . .” He trailed off, an anticipatory look in his eye. I’d seen this look before and it usually meant something fun.
“It can’t be a dog,” he muttered to himself. “They’re too loyal. Angels probably already use them. What else can get close to people without drawing attention?” He drummed his fingers on the bar counter and stared wildly through the crowd. “Dammit all to Hell, Archie, what other creatures live with people?”
I rolled my eyes. I hated it when he called me Archie, and he knew it. My name was Arcmaros, not Archie. I shuddered.
“I don’t know. That hoarder lady had a bird once. Oh, and that one guy you kept whispering to had an iguana.” I thought for a second. “I mean, lots of people have cats.”
“Cats!” Nahiel shouted, jumping up from the bar and spilling the entire bottle of finely aged tequila. The onlookers groaned at the waste. “That’s it. They’re perfect! This is going to be epic.”
We were going back to the office. I knew it. My night w
as shot. I felt almost as despairing as the souls crying out for “just a sip, please!” I chuckled to myself as I stood up and grabbed another bottle from the shelf. Before I followed Nahiel out the door, I tossed the bottle into the crowd. It was almost amusing to watch them pummel each other trying to get to it, trying to drink something that would never quench their thirst or bring oblivion. They were in Hell. There was no oblivion to be found.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” Nahiel began. “You are going to possess a cat.”
“I’m going to what? Is that even possible?” I asked.
“Of course it is,” he said dismissively. “I mean, at least in theory. Jerry possessed that dog a few years ago and got it to bite kids. People still hate pit bulls because of it.”
I remembered that. It was a stroke of genius on Jerry’s part. Getting people to hate dogs is tough and now they were trying to kill an entire breed. “Ok. So, I’m going to possess, like a tiger, and eat people?”
Nahiel laughed, and it was mildly disturbing. “No, silly. You’re going to possess a house cat. Torture people. Get them to do things they shouldn’t. Make them think they are crazy; drive them to drink or do drugs. That’s your specialty.”
This didn’t sound like a very well-thought-out plan to me. I tried to come up with a reasonable objection, but I couldn’t. Telling your boss that his brilliant idea is stupid is never a good idea. When your boss happens to be an actual demon. . .yeah, no thanks.
“Uh, all right,” I managed to stutter out. I turned around so he couldn’t see my face. “When are we going to do this?”
“Please say tomorrow. Please say tomorrow,” I wished in my head, my eyes squeezed shut. I wasn’t that lucky, though, and my hopes dwindled.
“Why wait? I’m sure there’s a kitten somewhere that needs a home,” Nahiel said. When I turned around and looked at him, he looked manic. His eyes were too bright and gleamed with Hellfire. “Ah, there’s one!” He clicked his fingers and pointed.
And that’s how I found myself stuffed into the scrawniest runt of a kitten anywhere. Right away, I knew this plan was in trouble. I’d always assumed that animals didn’t have souls and acted mostly on instinct. I’d never seen one wandering around the Nether regions. You know what they say about assuming, though. Yeah.
This scrawny little body housed a soul, and it was staring at me.
I could only assume that Nahiel was guiding things as a couple took me home the next day. I’d been around long enough to know that these two weren’t unfamiliar with chemical dependency. They were nice, though, and currently sober. That wouldn’t last long. I’d make sure of it.
Having never seen a cat in Hell and not having occasion to interact with one while tempting people to sin, I figured I’d sit back and let the kitten control things for a bit, just to ensure that they would keep us around. It seemed they needed a cat to catch mice around the house, though why they chose this cat was beyond me. He was barely bigger than the mice! Oh, they also called him Baby. He and I both agreed that it was even worse than Archie.
It didn’t take much to push the lady over the edge. All I really had to do was jump on the dresser and knock her drug kit onto the floor when she was around. Once she picked it up, it was over. I could see it in her eyes. The next day when her man was at work, I heard her ask the neighbor for a fix. Normally, Baby and I stayed out of her reach. He liked to explore and I didn’t really like people, so it was an easy choice. But when she was high, I decided we’d suffer through the petting to reward her.
That was another thing Nahiel’s plan hadn’t accounted for. Petting feels good. Really good. Especially when they lightly scratch behind your ears. It’s like an explosion of happiness floods the body. It’s hard to stay standing up. That leads to belly rubs. Ah, belly rubs . . .
I don’t know if there really is an eject button on the stomach. We’ve all seen the spots. Humans all have them. Cats, apparently, do too. Word got around a few years ago in Hell that such spots must be guarded during any possession as they were automatic eject buttons and we’d be thrown from the body if they were touched. Most people seem to guard them and cover them, so it seemed logical to us. So when the lady started rubbing my little cat belly, alarm bells started ringing for me.
I couldn’t let her touch the eject button! It felt so good, but I had to stop her! I did the only thing I could do and bit her.
I didn’t think I bit her hard. She wasn’t bleeding or anything but she stopped petting us all together. Baby was not a fan of this and started nudging her hand to get her to start again. If he could just get her to scratch behind our ears. . .
Alas, drug users do randomly pass out. She was out cold. There would be no more pets for a couple of hours.
Before we left to go exploring, I convinced Baby to let me knock a few things off the counter. It would drive the people crazy, but mostly, it was just fun to watch it fall and bounce on the floor. I’d do the same thing in other houses if we went in.
Baby and I established a routine of sorts. I would make sure to rub all over clothes that were laid out to cover them in hair and made sure there was cat hair in their food. I mean, it seemed only fair. There was cat hair in my food, too. He would catch mice and play with them for a bit. Then we would kill the mice and I would leave them in the lady’s shoes or on her pillow. At some point, she would get high, pet us, and fall asleep. The man would come home, drink for a while, and pass out on the sofa. Baby and I would just play around, knocking random items onto the floor and scratching up door frames and furniture. Hey, we had to stretch somehow!
Nahiel’s plan worked. He was right. It was a stroke of genius. Until the lady got help. She said she had the man and Baby to look after and needed to get well. The man took her to rehab and spent all of his free time at work to pay for it. Now, neither one of them were heading down the wrong path because she loved Baby and me enough to get help. Well, crap.
It also meant that Baby and I were alone a lot and the man didn’t come home to feed us very often. Cat food is bland and not terribly appetizing, but raw mice and insects are worse. Yuck! I thought about giving up, returning to Hell, and leaving Baby alone to deal, but that didn’t feel right. I liked the guy. Sure, he was a bit of a goody-two-shoes, but for months, we’d lived together in this little body. He didn’t know anything different. I also wasn’t too eager to go back to Nahiel unsuccessful. I would be way under quota and he’d be mad that I failed. Angry demon bosses are near the top of my list of things to avoid.
It looked like I might get another chance when a new guy came with a box to pick us up. He didn’t look like the type to be easily corrupted, but I liked a challenge. I was thinking of possible temptations for him when the car stopped, he picked up the box, and took us into a new house. He said, “Thank you, Mom. I really didn’t want to have to take him to the shelter,” to an older lady that looked straight out of the “don’t even bother to try with these people” book. Seriously, she radiated good. There was literally zero chance of corruption here.
“It’s no problem. He's a beautiful little guy.” She reached in the box and rubbed behind our ears. “I think your sister is going to pick him up this evening or tomorrow.” My ears perked up. There was a chance after all.
Once he left, she brought in food and clean water. It had been a while for both and this food was much better than the stuff we had been eating. It almost seemed a shame that our belly couldn’t hold anymore. Baby declared that a nap was needed afterward, and I couldn’t find fault in his logic. The lady had made us up a soft bed of towels, so we stretched out and slept.
The door opening woke us up. Blearily, we watched as the good lady and a new lady walked in. The new lady had another box for us to get in and took the time to scratch behind our ears. She seemed nice, but I was sure I could come up with ideas for her when I was more awake.
It didn’t take long to solidify my resolve. We didn’t go straight to her house like I thought we would. She said something a
bout a doctor, but I didn’t think much about it until we walked into a veterinarian’s office. Vets don’t usually make it on my radar, but they have vices just like everyone else. I never really thought about what they do at work, though. Why would I? Apparently, torture animals with shots is what they do. And this lady brought us here. Yeah, yeah, he said something to her about how each shot would protect us from some disease, but they really hurt!
Then, when she took us to her house, she put us in the sink and sprayed us with water! Ok, so the shock of getting wet was the worst part. She covered us in some blue stuff and massaged our whole body with it. The water was warm, too. After the bath, she dried us off and let us explore a little. Something was different, though. I couldn’t feel the persistent itches anymore. The bath or the blue stuff had killed all the fleas. After a couple of hours without flea bites, I was feeling pretty grateful to the lady. I hadn’t realized how annoying they were. Baby agreed.
Only, he wasn’t Baby anymore. The lady had kids and they decided to call us Samson, or Sam for short. Baby, or Samson, thought that was a much better name. Even better, he said, than Archie. He wasn’t wrong.
As the days went by, I tried to drive these new people crazy. I’d knock stuff off the table, but it wasn’t like before. There was no drug kit to use for temptation. Mostly, I’d knock junk mail on the floor. I shredded the door frames with our claws, but that just earned me a spray from the water bottle and a scratching post. I was running out of ideas. Finally, I started peeing around the house instead of in the litter box. Sam wasn’t pleased. He pointed out that the food was good, the beds were soft, and there were plenty of toys to play with. We got pets and scratches whenever we wanted and we weren’t expected to catch or eat mice. He was even less pleased when my stunt earned us a trip back to the vet for surgery. Apparently, peeing around the house gets your balls cut off. Noted.
Hellcats: Anthology Page 79