Solutions: The Dilemma for the Gods, James Gerard [top 10 books of all time .TXT] 📗

I brought back two coffins.  One consists of my wife’s remains, and the other of the old man I took care of after the virus eliminated the others, Timothy.”

 

The coffins were unadorned and consisted of material that he had never seen before.   Without a word the two carried the coffins to a spot selected by the man.

 

“In just a moment,” the man said, “I will release this cloak of protection and within a matter of minutes will die.  But before I succumb to death, I give you this.”

 

The man handed Terrance a small black box.

 

“What’ this?”

 

“You will know when the time comes.  Please extend my apology to everyone.  I know it may not mean anything since in minutes I will be dead, but it would please this old man.  Now I ask that you hear my confession.”

 

“It is not me you have to confess to.”

 

“I am not so completely naive Terrance to acknowledge that a higher power will hear too.”

 

“As long as we have that understanding.”

 

“If you have not figured out by either word or deeds, we counted ourselves superior beings, superior in every aspect of the human condition.  We felt and believed that it was our right to control and manipulate, oppress all the inferior inhabitants of what we thought of as our planet, to take by power and monopolize the best things in life because we had always been the true rulers.”

 

“But you never truly believed that did you?”

 

“At first, yes, but as a young man I was slowly compelled to acknowledge the power of the One that had been rejected.  Understand this, we orchestrated a great deception.  Did any ever question how the materials came to be when they emerged from the underground shelters?  Did you ever realize that the food you thought you were providing for our consumption went to other colonies left purposely on surface colonies?  Did you ever consider that there were many colonies around the world?  Was the decision to send men to the Moon simply because it was there?  Our mental prowess solidified the plan in its entirety without anyone being the wiser.  The acceptance of an underground existence and those left to dwell on the surface was brilliantly carried out by those who had enacted the plan.”

 

“What changed you?”

 

“Things that we could not explain.  The first is the message we transmitted from what the Solution Center and other centers around the world interpreted as an offer of help to ward off the simulated asteroid on a collision course with Earth.  We manipulated the transmission so it would appear that it originated near the outskirts of the solar system.  In truth, it was sent from Mars.

 

“We manipulated Timothy, who at the time was a young man selected because of his…let us say susceptibility for deception.  In his reality he actually thought he had travelled as far as we led him to believe on the ten year journey.  I found it sad, really, that as an impressionable young lad he endured and survived the hopelessness of the desolation he faced along the way.  I violated our own superiority by acknowledging such emotions.”

 

“But you encountered the greater power you rejected?”

 

“You would be correct in that assertion.  Understand that the signal we transmitted from Mars was transmitted only once.  But from Timothy’s own testimony the light was visible at times during the whole ten year journey.  There were those of us who passed it off as sunlight reflecting off of space junk, but some concluded, including me, that the source was a mystery from a higher power.”

 

“God.”

 

The man smiled, “Maybe.”

 

“You started to believe didn’t you?”

 

“It was not so much the testimony of Timothy, but rather …I do not believe in miracles, yet there was no other explanation.  In his hopelessness Timothy acted in despair and shot himself in the head; but when we reached him he had survived intact with all cognitive, mental, and physical abilities.  The physicists, doctors, forensic specialists and such amongst us had no valid explanation as to why.  We deduced a logical reason, accounted his survival as pure coincidence.  But maybe it is because of that light he reported seeing; it appeared as if God were with him the entire duration of the journey.  It was long after I had been introduced to Timothy that I started to question the God I...we all had rejected.”

 

“Then you know I can’t grant you redemption.”

 

“No you cannot.  I am well aware of that.”

 

“If it’s any comfort to you, I’ll stay here so you don’t have to die alone.”

 

“Thank you Terrance.”

 

As if the belly were exploding a hatch popped open at the mid-section of the man’s metallic suit.        

 

Terrance caught a fleeting glimpse at the pathetic form of the man inside and quickly turned to escape the sight.  He heard the man gasp for a brief moment before silence fell upon the scene.

 

The last of the Gods, the idols, the men and women led astray, were now gone.  One of the two mysteries solved.

 

Terrance took the time to assure a proper burial of the man, his wife, and Timothy.  Before he lowered the three to the grave he prayed to his Father for mercy, then he pled for understanding that all had been overcome by the powers and principalities.  With the burial complete, Terrance confessed to his Lord that he had too been overcome by spiritual wickedness for all he had done in rebellion towards the men that had appointed themselves gods.  He could never see them as men and women, as children of the True and Living God, but now the Truth prevailed and set him straight.

 

Terrance walked into town with the books and notes he wanted to present to his brothers and sisters.  He was greeted by a mob shouting at him.  They were threatening physical violence.

 

“Listen,” he shouted.

 

The mob continued to voice the rage.

 

Terrance looked at the black box then to the lights that were all now fully alit.  He pointed the contraption at the lights and pressed its button.  The lights turned off.

 

“Is he one of the Gods?” a believer shouted.

 

“The Gods are at peace with us once again,” another believer shouted in joy.

 

“No,” Terrance screamed.  “I am not one of the gods; I am just like you.”

 

“Where are the Gods?” a high priest shouted.

 

“You mean the men?  The men and women you looked at as gods are all dead.  The idol, the one who perpetrated a great lie we all believed, is nearing an end.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“It means you’re all free.  We’re all free.  Our God has set you free from the deception of the evil entities.”

 

Terrance handed the books over to the store keeper.

 

“What are these?”

 

“Two are lies and the other the Truth.  Everyone needs to choose what truth they will live by now.”

 

Terrance looked around to spot his parents in the crowd, but they could not be seen.  He slowly turned away and walked back towards his former place of banishment.  He had no idea what was to become of his life, but he knew whom to turn to.  Suddenly he stopped and stared at something ahead.  Smoke billowed out the first cabin, Rita’s cabin.  He raced to the scene and noticed the tracks he had not noticed when coming across the man or walking back into town.  Eyes focused and moved as they tracked two sets of footprints leading to the cabin door; one very large footprint the other very petite.

 

Shear numbness overcame all physical sensations.  Disbelief wrestled with the evidence before the eyes.  Terrance dropped to the knees as the drapes to the small window were suddenly opened.  Tears rolled down the cheeks.  The second of the two mysteries was solved by Rita's warm smile.  A wave of her hand was an invitation to come and enjoy the plate of cookies held in the other.

 

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked up and whispered, “Thank you my Lord.”

Imprint

Text: James Gerard Burch
Images: Right to use purchased from style67-Fotolia.com
Editing: James Gerard Burch
Publication Date: 09-30-2015

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Dedicated to those of us who believe "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."