still a little defensive, but quite aware that powerful as he was, he was
not running the show in this part of town. Moses had made his point.
“Well, I’ll level with you Schlechtmann. Hundreds, thousands of
years ago, this stuff was a cakewalk. When each of us were on earth
previously, we couldn’t practically walk into a room without men
pledging their lives to our service and women falling at our feet.”
Gareth nearly swooned at the notion.
“The men of that era were a different breed than you. They were
warlike, savage, superstitious, dumb as posts, and incredibly gullible.
There was no such thing as television or books to teach people how
to tell a spade from a spade. They just believed whomever seemed to
believe in himself the most.” He turned his palms up. “A little magic
didn’t hurt either. A few minor miracles and you could find yourself
with whole tribes of unhappy peasants sitting around waiting for you
to show them a better life.
“Problem is, it’s been years since we’ve last been on Earth, and
man has changed more than we realized he would. So, the
conundrum: what can we do to show man that we mean business?
Sure, we could go and make the seas boil and send locusts to infest
the planet, but that’s not what we’re here for. We didn’t come to
punish man, just to judge him, and if he’s found to be unworthy of
carrying on management of the planet, then we’ll just terminate him
painlessly. We’re not inclined to cause him suffering. You see? We
need to somehow pull off a paradox, whereby we befriend man and
at the same time get him to willfully cooperate in the deciding of his
fate. It’s like an executioner inviting the defendant out for beers prior
to a potential beheading. Not an easy thing to do.”
Gareth was silent for a moment, lost in deep contemplation. All
at once, an oceanic grin spread across the media guru’s face that even
Moses would be loath to part, and he remarked:
“Unless he thinks it’s really good beer.”
Moses observed the twinkle in Gareth’s eyes with wonder and for
the first time in his experiences with modern humans, a creeping
sense of awe. “I sense that you’ve got an idea,” he said.
“You’re right. And I’m willing to make you a deal.”
When they returned to the room, Yeshua was pleading with Bob to
try and understand what was going on.
“Okay. Let me try again,” said Yeshua, frustrated. “Who are we?”
“You’re Jesus. And those are prophets.”
H O L Y S H I T !
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