Queen City and Other Dimensions. E.C. Wells
conscious entity. They can also will themselves together as a single consciousness. As One, they can open and close ranks to allow for outgoing and incoming ships; or form an impenetrable shield against meteors or any other known threats to Sumer.
The crystals provide every bit of energy needed to serve the needs of the entire planet without depleting a single non-renewable resource. The nanoscale crystals that fill Sumer’s atmosphere nourish the soul as well, deepening and widening an understanding of the essence of Nature, of Self, of Consciousness, of Overlords and the Oversoul of All There Is, Was, Will Ever Be. The crystals also grant wishes.
“If you were born in a holodeck, lived your entire life and died in that holodeck, holograms would be your reality,” a cunning red monkey said. He goes by the name of Kafka the Red, who sings arias from classic Italian and French operas acapella and the seldom performed lost opera written by Gertrude Stein that Kafka the Red found stuffed inside a dried baguette. Kafka the Red performs on a diminutive stage bordered with gold and quixelite filigree. A single red curtain drapes with especial care given to each velvet fold of levitating plush scarlet plunging to one side of the stage and held back by a thick gold cord with tassels in a vape bar in Sumer City, known as KAFKA’S LAST STAND——owned and operated by the red monkey himself.
Three young satyrs could not control their outbursts of ear-piercing laughter, until Lucifer had had enough of it and asked them civilly (for Lucifer) to quiet down. Satyrs do not respond well to being told what to do, civilly or otherwise. Especially, by an employee of the Underlord.
“Tell it to Dionysus, bonehead!”
“Well,” Lucifer whispered to Jesus, “I see that dimension will get us nowhere. It’s a dead end.”
The devil-twins were strolling——spying really——when they heard Lucifer called a “bonehead” by a satyr who hadn’t even earned his horns yet. The twins began giggling until they turned into sparks of hot quixelite and vanished. They are only allowed fifteen minutes a rotation. Remember all those sixes? That is a single rotation. One would be dazed by the amount of wreckage the twins can do in only fifteen Earth minutes. But, since the father of the children is Monsanto the King of the Underworld, the twins are privileged to do whatever the hell they please, as long as they limit themselves to fifteen minutes a rotation.
“There go the twins again. I swear by all the black matter in the universe I’d put them on a spit over the fires of Hell, but they’d probably love it! There they go. Back to Hell,” Lucifer said, then burst into laughter.
“Earth?” Jesus winced.
“Yes, planet Earth. That’s Hell enough, isn’t it? You would know something about that, wouldn’t you? Still in pain, dearest?”
A longish uncomfortable silence befell the two as they inhaled from their vape whips. Lucifer drew hard on his whip and inhaled the quixelite vapors. “My beautiful friend,” began Lucifer after exhaling, “we all know who took the blame for every sin in the world. Me.”
“You wanted the role, didn’t you?” Jesus asked Lucifer, already knowing his answer.
“And so did you!” bellowed Lucifer. “You already knew the lines. Every one of them. Forwards and backwards. You should play another role next time. How many seasons have you played that tired old Jesus character?”
“I don’t remember, Lu.”
“Of course you do, Jeez. You know we both freely chose our roles. I work for the Underlord and you work for the Overlord.”
“Just the order of things.”
“Jesus! You chose the ‘order of things!’ Sorry for shouting. I sometimes think that the Lords don’t exist? I already know you believe in yours, but don’t you think your Overlord is all about what to do and what not to do; emphasis on the not?”
“Lu, that is the order of things.”
“What a fool you can be, Jeez. Be a hairdresser next time you go down there.” Jesus finds that funny and laughs. Lucifer continues, “Why do you suppose the masses throughout history personified their Gods?”
Jesus shrugged and did not respond. He knew he was about to get himself embroiled in a conversation that he has had with Lucifer countless times. Jesus folded his arms, leaned back in the comfort of his vape bar chair and waited for Lucifer’s tired old grousing and pontificating to begin. He didn’t need to wait long for what usually starts with, “You know I love you, man.”
“And I love you, Lu.”
“So don’t be offended——”
“It is impossible to offend me.”
“One day I will bet you on that. Anyway, here goes: You cannot talk to the unconscious and assume they are going to understand you; much less, that they could possibly grasp any idea for what you said. They hear their own amplified confirmations of immortality; deaf to everything else——everyone else. Anything to comfort their mortal fears. You were a port in the storm, dearest. Anyone who promises life everlasting is going to be on the hit parade——a big seller. Do you want to hear what I would have done, Jeez?”
Of course, that was the last thing Jesus wanted to hear, much less, answer. He slowly inhaled before answering, “Naturally, I suppose.”
“I would not have given the rabble so much credit. You said yourself that they didn’t know how awful they were.”
“Something like that. I believe I said that they didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Same thing. Who does? Look! The fact is, they don’t know a thing and they don’t care to open themselves to learning new realities. There are so many alternate realities and yet they see and hear what they want to see and hear, because it makes them comfortable. They do not create, explore, take a risk. They see their reality as only one dimension. A dimension they can accept and agree upon. One that remains familiar. A world built upon a false sense of security. Threaten anything within their bubble and they will destroy you. If you really look at it, Jeez, it’s pretty much all your doing.”
Jesus pouted. “It was pure ignorance. They didn’t know any better! That is their original and only sin——ignorance. It is no one’s fault. Sometime’s, Lu, you fucking piss me off!”
“Sometimes, my dearest friend, you fucking piss me off, too. They do, indeed, choose their own ignorance. Period. Subject closed. They chose it,” the devil pronounced.
“You don’t crush a sapling because it doesn’t bear fruit; you protect it until it does. It needs time.”
“Sometimes, Jeez, when the tree can’t grow, when it folds back onto itself and withers from unexpected realizations in the shadows of false starts, disappointments, misdirections, too much compromise, withering into resignation, back into dust, you are obliged to put it out of its misery. Play another role next time. Take a rest. Take responsibility for the actions of your followers, as well.”
“Lu! Are you going to continue beating this dead horse?”
“Tell me, Jeez, how do you do it? Is it your amazingly divine good looks? Or your annoying goodliness? Or your deliciously edible ideas? Which is it? One? Two out of three? All of them?”
“Give me a break, Lu.”
“I love you, Jeez, and you know it! But, you should stop being a sapling and grow up!”
“I took the role of their Savior,” Jesus stated with a mixture of defiance and regret, “because I thought I actually had something to offer.”
“Yeah. You added more dark matter to an atmosphere already suffering from it. Not only was the idea of Them and Us bad enough, it was the cause of many wars, still is; a flesh and blood war over the invisible——the unknowable. How fucking sad is that?”
“I’m aware, Lu.”
Lucifer gave forth an invigorated exhalation of vapor rings. “Jesus, grow the fuck