God is in the Rain

by Bruce Burk

  They came to a room with three stone Babylonian gods. John read the inscription at the base of the gods, “We are the three gods of Babylon - X, Y, and Z. Our names are Darkness, Light, and Grey in no particular order. Darkness always lies, Light always tells the truth, and Grey will answer truthfully or falsely in a completely random matter. Your job is to determine our identities by asking three yes or no questions. We understand you in whatever language you chose, but we speak our own language and answer questions as “ja” or “da” in some order. You do not know which word means which.”

  “We don’t have time for this, Clark can you just put this into the computer so we can get going?” John asked. Clark walked up to the statutes and began inputting some of the data into his tablet. One of the statutes leaned over and knocked the tablet from his hand. “No cheating!” said the statute as it framed itself back into place. Then, the statutes quickly rotated like a cup and ball magic trick so the identity of the objecting statute was now hidden. “Well, I guess we'll just have to figure it out ourselves,” John said. John went to the middle statute, “Is it true that da means yes, and Z is random?” “Da,” said the statute. John went to the left statute, “Is it true that da means yes and Z is random?” “Ja,” said the statute. “You already messed it up,” said Clark. “There is no way for you to know whether the statute you're talking to is random or not. Either of them could be random,” John said. The statutes shifted again. John sighed deeply. “What's the trick?” he asked himself as if he was thinking out loud. “What if I phrase the question as a hypothetical. Random should basically be flipping some sort of coin in its head that says either Dark or Light and then answers based on that,” John said. “So we need to ask whether the statute is random in a hypothetical. That should reveal their identities,” John said. John walked up to X and asked him, “If I asked you ‘Are you Random?’ based on your current status, would you say ja?” The statute answered, “Da.”

  “Ok I get it. If X would have answered Ja, then he would be random, and I could ask god Y, If I asked you ‘Are you Light, would you say ja?’ If he says ja, then Y is light and Z would be darkness. If he had answered da, then Y would be false. But because he answered ‘da’ it means that X is not grey. He has to be either darkness or light.” John asked X a second question, “Are you light?” “Ja.” John said, “That means that X is light.” Then, he asked it a third question, “If I asked you, ‘is Y Random?’, would you say ja?” “Ja.”

  “Aha! That means that Y is random and Z is darkness. The puzzle is solved,” John said. The statutes bowed to John and the rebels and a door opened behind them. The Knights walked towards the newly opened door.

  “Wait,” said the god of Light. “Now I have a question for you,” it said. “Is my identity Light because that is my permanent identity, or have you given me my identity by your reason?” it asked. “What ... the hell ... is going on,” Gavin said. “Quiet,” John said. “Both,” John said. “Ja.” The statutes then disappeared into the platform bowing to John and a small box rose from the floor. John opened it to find a key and the continued into the opened door.

  “I need a beer,” Gavin said as they walked onwards. The hallway was filled with images of primitive man. There were images of the earth, and equations. “This Iam tribe, how long ago were they here?” Sophia asked. “Seems like a long time,” John said. “Seems like they came here at some point during per-historic man and made all these determinations about us.” “There it is,” Clark said. The rebels ran towards a locked box. John placed the key eagerly into it. John removed the third branch of the natural law. Clark translated it and turned on his projector. The third natural law displayed on the temple wall in front of them:

  “Every human is endowed with certain unalienable rights that are absolute and cannot be trampled on for the expediency or security of any state or institution. Among them are the:

  Right to life

  Right to liberty

  Right to the pursuit of happiness

  Right to freedom from slavery

  Right to be free from torture or cruel and unusual punishment

  Right to an account of the history of man

  Right to practice non-violent cultural traditions

  Right to freedom of religion

  Right to education

  Right to a uninterrupted sanctuary of thought

  Right to rest

  Right to privacy and secrecy from the eye of government

  Right to expression and discovery

  Right to access the basic needs necessary for survival such as food, water and shelter

  Right to participation in the affairs of government

  Right to have children

  Right to marriage

  Right to speedy, just, and public trial by jury for being accused of a crime

  Right to not self-incriminate

  Right to equality before the law

  Right to freedom of movement throughout the Earth

  Right to leave the Earth

  Right to access nature

  Right to engage in agriculture

  Right to freedom of the press

  Right to peaceably assemble

  Right to protect yourself and family from harm

  Right to be free from coerced participation in the military

  Right to a nationality

  Pursuant to these rights, a human may appoint an agent to carry them out. These are all the rights that we have as individuals. It is what must be true based on our status of human beings. These are things we need over the course of time to prosper and exist. These are our natural rights. They are self-evident and deducible by reason.”

  John grabbed the cross around his neck. “Why wasn’t any of this in scripture?” he asked himself. John searched his mind for passages in the Bible containing some of the natural rights listed before him. This is something that wasn’t important enough to be put in the Word of God? The natural rights of man?” He asked himself.

  What does it mean when there are things that are true based on self-evidence that are not contained in scriptures? How can the second natural laws be so universal between all the religions, yet the church had attempted to monopolize morality and salivation itself? John could feel himself standing in the church of his childhood at the altar. He could feel himself beginning to walk slowly away from it, leaving the cross behind. He could see himself walking out of the church. Where he saw truisms written in the sky and within his soul. He asked himself if truth itself could be an idol of worship; if God was in truth itself. He could feel the fear of betraying his upbringing and the church. He could feel the thoughts of hell cloud his judgment. Perhaps his soul spoke to the universe out loud through his thoughts and asked, “Should I ever believe anything out of fear?” John took the crucifix off his neck. He stared at it deeply, thinking of all the stories and things had been told as a child – of the battle in his heart. John took the cross and forcefully threw it into the sand, leaving it behind forever. Sand blew over the cross as it disappeared into the desert. He felt no connection to the cross anymore.

  Bob Loyalist scrolled through a menu of dinner meals at the Brooklyn Diner. The smells of freshly cooked bread, the Split Pea soup served at the table in front of him, and the combination of porcini mushrooms with turkey filled his nose with a large appetite. The holo-screen came up at his table and provided a selection of entertainment for him to watch while he waited for his meal. He could watch the gladiator fights but he grew rather tired of seeing all the terrorists being killed. He could watch the Eidolon documentaries on how great he was and how much better the planet was now, he could watch some shopping channels for pointless gadgets and gizmos, or he could watch the One State news, which he selected. “The terrorists are still at large. The public is expected to remain obedient with the military movement throughout the city and with random living square searches,” said the One State anchor. “FREEDOM IS SECURITY.”

  An absolutely gorgeous waiter came up to
him with a smile that could melt a candle. Her shorts were short, her chest was barely contained in her shirt, and she had a flirtatious and suggestive way about her, “My name is Candice and I'll be taking care of you today. What can I get for you sir?" She asked him in a soft, sexy voice. “I'll have the cheeseburger with pastrami,” said Mr. Loyalist. “I'll have that prepared for right away,” she said as she turned her head to see the door open. Several OSS officers entered and sat down at a table next to Mr. Loyalist. “I'll be right with you boys,” she told them. Mr. Loyalist could overhear their conversation. “You guys see the new M19 blaster rifle? I tried it out on patrol the other day. Got to shoot some terrorist criminal scum with it. Its accuracy is unmatched,” said one of the officers. “Eidolon really has changed things. Everywhere I go people are just afraid to commit crimes. They seem to just go to their job and back to their house, never really questioning anything. Their kind of just like robots in a way,” another officer said. “Do you have any idea how many bribes I’ve taken in the past week? How many times I've planted evidence? How many times I myself have broken the law and gotten away with it? The law just doesn't apply to us. It only applies to the citizen,” another officer responded. “Did you get a look at that ass on our waiter,” he said. “Yea I did. I think I might need to search her. She could be a terrorist,” the officers laughed.

  The waiter walked back into the kitchen area and touched the comlink in her ear. “Kaslov, a group of hostiles are in the diner,” she said. “Good. Bring Officer Eppolito outside so we can ... have a talk with him,” he said. Officer Eppolito left the group to go to the bathroom. The waiter pinned him up against the wall. “I saw you looking at me big boy.” She grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts. “Why don't you take off your equipment and come outside with me. I wouldn't want your bosses to be jealous.” Officer Eppolito quickly removed his comlink, and all other equipment he had on him and ran outside the diner. The waitress let him kiss her and touch her all over.” “Oh I'm going to have fun with you,” the officer told her.

  “Not as much fun as we are going to have with you," Kaslov said as he punched the officer, knocking him out cold. Kaslov and his men performed similar feats all throughout the capital cities of the One State. They extracted information from the officers as to the layout of the One State security procedures, their levels of technology, and weaknesses in the surveillance state.

  CHAPTER 17 - MAYANS

  Several OSS officers were cast into the gladiator pit as Aiden spoke on the loudspeaker to a crowd of several hundred thousand. “Behold, the traitors amongst us,” Aiden said. “In a truly secure society, we cannot tolerate dissent. These officers have been found to engaged with the terrorists. As punishment they will face trial by combat,” he added. The crowd roared in thunderous applause. It was truly incredible the level to which a deprived humanity can steep. The Dark Marines were released on the traitors who were slaughtered in a matter of no time. “Let this be a lesson to anyone who is in league with our enemy: FREEDOM IS SECURITY, DISSENT IS TREASON,” Aiden yelled.

  “One State! One State! One State! One State!” the brainwashed masses cried. Eidolon’s countless stream of indoctrination and lack of critical information within the Universal Database was paying off. Aiden walked back to his chambers within the capital. He sat at a table with generals and other military persons. “Where is Officer Eppolito?” Aiden said. A group of officers brought him in tied and with duct tape over his mouth. Aiden ripped the tape from his mouth. “Where are they?!” he screamed into the officer’s face. “Your greatness, I do not know! I swear to you!” he answered. “Well that’s a shame. But it is not a total loss. For now we have the perfect test subject for our new toy. We simply cannot have our Officers subject to the corruption of the propaganda put forth by the terrorist rebels … which of course … this officer has clearly succumb to. “No! I’m loyal! I swear!” he screamed. “That may be the case … in your current mental state. But a truly secure empire cannot afford to allow our soldiers to have the option of being loyal or not. Your free thought is clearly a detriment to the security of this empire. But we have ways of … strengthening this weakness,” Aiden said.

  A scientist came into the room with a tray. On the tray was tiny machine in the shape of a fly. It had mechanical wings and a its body was composed of a computer chip. “What is that? What are you going to do to me,” the officer cried. “This insect will fly into your brain through your ear. It will install a computer chip that integrates with your brain directly to the Universal Database. All your voluntary functions and thoughts will be ceded to the One State,” Aiden said. “Nooo!!” The officer smashed the tray and quickly tackled Aiden. The OSS officers raised their blasters but were afraid to shoot for fear of hitting their leader. The officer grabbed a blade from Aiden’s belt while they struggled on the floor. He swung and cut Aiden’s shirt that ripped off in their struggle. The brawl paused for a moment when the officer saw the gruesome scars that dressed Aiden's bare chest and back. It looked like he had been stabbed or whipped nearly to death. The pink and red lines filled more of his torso then did actual skin. The officer punched Aiden in the back in one of his largest scars.“Aahhh,” he cried as he knocked him across the room.

  While on the ground, Aiden’s thoughts traveled back to the past. The neurons in his repressed memories were awakened and forced onto the theater of his mind. He could feel the lashes from the other children whipping across his back; the feeling of arrowheads being dug into his skin, and the blood emptying from his body. He recalled death itself hanging over him as he crawled across the ground in a pool of blood. For every ounce of blood that he lost, he gain an equal amount of anger and hatred. What had he done to deserve this? Was he not simply just doing what he was told? What he was chosen to do? Tears fell from his eyes as he inched forward through the mud and the rain. Finally, he shook his head as he came back to the present.

  “Your ... your back, the officer said. “What happened to you?” The officer asked down the barrel of blaster rifle. “There are two types of people in this world. There are kings and pawns. I was born a king. I once let the pawns catch me off guard and they gave me these scars. Today we assure that never happens again. We assure the pawns no longer move across the board based on their own whims, but by the command of their king.

  “No!! Let me go!” the officer yelled as the OSS finally brought him back under control. They tied him to the table and taped his mouth shut. Aiden took tweezers and raised the tiny fly near the officer’s head. The fussing and shaking was in vain. The fly flew into the officer’s ear. His face was still for a moment, then he began to shake. Sweat dripped across his face. Screams tried to exit through his muzzle. The fly attached itself to the mechanics of his brain. Suddenly, he went limp and his eyes rolled back in his head. “Is he alive?” Aiden asked the scientist. Suddenly, the heart rate monitor starting beeping again. His eyes opened. The scientist loosened his shackles. The officer stood at attention and saluted Aiden, “Reporting for duty sir.” The officer stood still, waiting for a command. “Very good. He will respond to any of my commands?” Aiden asked the scientist. “Yes sir. All you have to do is speak into this headset and your commands will be sent into the Universal Database and wired straight into the mind of the soldier,” the scientist said. “Soldier! Your foot is a danger to the Empire of the One State. I command you to destroy it,” Aiden said with lust and power as he handed him a blaster. The soldier quickly grabbed the blaster and shot himself in the foot. “Owwww,” the soldier cried. Through his pain, he muttered, “Target ... eliminated ... sir,” he said. “So their nervous system is still active?” “Yes sir they have simply lost the ability of cognitive free thought. Their basic biology remains the same,” he responded. “Hahaahahaha ... it is so beautiful. So much power. So much control. I want these installed in all of our OSS officers immediately,” Aiden ordered.

  “The fourth natural law is hidden on the Island of the Mayans,” John said as he r
ead from the Book of Remembering. He turned a map and found the small island of Cozumel off the coast of Old Mexico. “That’s got to be it,” John said. “Hey guys look at this,” Sophia said as she and Clark watched the holo-screen. Clark had hacked into several spy drones. He zoomed in and saw bird falling out of the sky in Old France. Fish were bottoming up off the coast of Africa, and cows were committing suicide in the heartland of Old America. Bee populations were disappearing. Dogs and cats had been acting up all throughout the empire. “What is this happening?” Sophia asked, “This looks like something out of Exodus.” “We know that Eidolon has been suppressing nature from the people. The citizens of the One State are forbidden to access nature. Many of the zoos, nature preserves and wildlife have been either neglected or destroyed. Most of the plants that produce food are kept indoors, subject to harsh conditions,” John said. “It’s like ... the animals are upset. It’s like they're trying to tell us something,” Sophia said with a worried look. “Is there something we can do?” she added. “Sophia, we don’t have the resources or time to do anything about the animals right now,” John said. “I just hope it’s not too late,” she said.

  The Thunderbird flew through the air towards the Gulf of Old Mexico. Gavin was in the cockpit listening to Led Zeppelin on his old Ipod, “You need coooooolin. Baby I’m not foolin. I’m gonna send ya back to schoolin. Way down inside, honey you need it. I’m gonna give you my love. I’m gonna give you my love.” Suddenly, the ship was blasted in the rear. In the cockpit of the other ship was David of the Will of the Cross. “Stop messing with my ship!” Gavin shouted. Clark, Sophia and John were thrown from their seats. John ran to man the blasters on the top of the Thunderbird. The planes flew through the air, spinning through the sky. A large blast shook the ship throughout. “They’ve hit the engines. Our cloaking device has been disabled,” Gavin yelled from the cockpit. John fired several blasts, missing their pursuers. “The Lord has spoken. Your end is near John Shepard,” said David. Flames engulfed the engine of the ship as it began to make its decent.