Creator: Friend or Foe, Draft 6 (final) p 130-end

“Meet Naamah, Naamah, meet Reposo.”
Bowing slowly, Reposo uttered the words he had been taught, his mind elsewhere.
“May you be comforted among all those who mourn. I am pleased to meet you, Honored Naamah. But
I am sorry not to have been able to meet the Honored Artemis.” He kissed and touched her hand to his
forehead, acknowledging her leadership of this community.
“Pleased to meet you, Reposo, and thank you for finding us. Artemis has died, but what she started
here lives on. Her legacy, that of Hayat, the Mother of Us All, will continue. But tell me, Young
Reposo, what brings you all the way up here?” asked Naamah.
“I was hoping,” he stammered, “to share a few ideas I have regarding food production with you all.
Things are also getting a bit more unsettled so I thought I might be able to learn some ways of building
cooperation from your community here.”
He was smitten, trying not to stare at Naamah, out of respect for her age and her person. While he had
originally planned to share his ideas and go back home, he suddenly hoped that showing interest in her
ideas might make this beautiful woman find an interest in him.
…
Reposo was beginning to feel frustrated. For weeks he had been teaching members of her community
how to use the plow he had invented. It was easier to use than a hoe, and could be pulled along behind
either a person, dogs, or a horse. He had shared valuable information with her, even shared some of
himself, but Naamah was simply not interested. The older woman did not even seem to notice his
affection for her, or to truly value his gifts. Although she professed to value him greatly as a friend,
Reposo felt rejected. He could not stay.
“Naamah, you don't seem to realize your effect on men. You are too attractive for me; I cannot be your
friend. Perhaps it is my concept of manhood. I must move on.”
“Damn you. 'I do not want anything from you.' you told me. You told me you wanted a friend you
could talk to. And I believed you. Thank you for giving me another lost friendship to mourn.“
Thrusting the note into his hands, Naamah strode back to the stables to tend to the horses, and away
from him, she assumed, forever.
Reposo read the note, a poem, his face set to the south:
“Another Betrayal”
This time last year
I met you, my brother
"That was, very decent of you"
You said, of my act,
merely protecting another;
really such a great thing?
'I want nothing from you',
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You told me, but then,
'You are too attractive',
as abandon me, you did
So much for that 'sister,
mentor and friend' you admired;
Now you have proven, confirmed my fears
that all men are truly
suspect.
-Naamah
As he trudged along, leading his pack horse on the long journey back to his safe haven, part of the old
settlement where the first man and woman had originally lived, he wished he had been born just a few
years earlier. He was pried from his musings by the sound of distant hooves and a large dust cloud, off
in the distance. It looked to be heading toward the community led by Naamah, which he had left barely
a day ago. He turned around, hastily buried all of his tools under a nearby tree and mounted his horse,
riding hard until they both had to stop, hoping against hope that she would be alive.
Arriving in the burned out remnant of the encampment, Reposo spotted a lone figure, staggering
amongst the dead, searching for other survivors, apparently unable to believe that there were none.
“Naamah,” yelled Reposo, “I saw the raiders and I had to come back to see if you were alive. I had to
come find you.”
“Well you have found me, former friend,” spat Naamah, “and I am alive. I am the only one left alive
out of our entire community. They shot everyone down with their bows before we could react, took
what they wanted, and burned the rest.”
“Then you must come with me, please Naamah, I am not saying I can protect you, but at least we will
have my father Lamej and a few others.”
“Come back to where they are completing girls now, as they did back east? I would rather die first!
You talk disparagingly of tattoos and you mock people with differences, yet you say nothing of cutting
into a girl's flesh as if she were a boy. You condone torture, as long as you are not in danger. Leave
me!”
“Is that how you got your scar, fighting them? They say it protects girls, and gives the grandmothers a
way to earn a living.”
“Oh, yes, just as selling poisons to addicted town-dwellers is a legitimate trade?” Her look of
contempt unmanned him.
“We don't do those things, but other people do. What right do we have to judge them? We are the only
ones who still follow the First Woman's prohibition, and only cut the boys. Come back with me to
what is left of the original settlement. What good can you do staying here? Here there is only death.”
...
A bolt of lighting sliced through the displayed messenger, reducing it to static. Another messenger
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appeared in its place to complete the report, standing by as the Creator stormed on in his fury:
“And this after the incident with the loose guardian?! Supervising Guardian! Find out how many more
guardians have sired children, and bring them to me. How many are there, so far?”
“Only one confirmed, Great Creator, aside from the earlier one who took on female form and used the
extra mass to instantiate more small versions of herself, but those are essentially low-powered
monitoring guardians, easily deleted. He first created a coalition of guardians, using the energy
liberated to material form...”
“A coalition of guardians?” A dark cloud eclipsed the sun, darkening the earth for one second. Another
rebellion, as he had feared?
“Yes, Great Creator. That is all we know, thus far. Then he married a human female called Hera, and
with her had a son, very strong for a human being, whom they called Heracles. The trouble with the
guardian's who are joining with human women,” the supervising guardian rattled on, “is that when
these guardians take on male corporeal form, they seem to be able to replicate fairly reasonable copies
of human DNA, thus impregnating the human women. This former Tree guardian, for instance,
secretly seduced one, coming only at night when no one could see, requiring her to keep it all a secret.
She discovered that he was not actually a human man, perhaps the lack of legs gave him away, then his
identity as a guardian was discovered and he tried to convince her he was an imaginary god, and then
another guardian got involved and...”
“Enough!” thundered the Creator. “How many, I asked?”
“As far as we can determine thus far, Great Creator, about 200 guardians. I have taken steps to prevent
further such unions, and those we have captured so far await download and deinstantiation.”
“This is outrageous!” A shadowy mushroom cloud formed, black bolts of lightening leaving ink stains
against the dark background. “I am beginning to weary of this experiment. It will never come off
properly without constant executions. Or perhaps forgiveness. The human beings do nothing but
scheme all day long. I will not continue to put up with this.”
“Actually, My Creator, the human beings seem to be doing rather well, with the possible exception of
these giants and other descendents of guardians running about doing things the human beings cannot
do, of course, but...”
“Guardian, do you really think that mass executions and consuming the lower animals in the east,
while utter lawlessness in the west...”
“But, My Creator, on the positive side, the westerners are obediently not eating the lower animals.”
“Insipid and insolent fool. Never interrupt me again!” A fiery black ultraviolet finger obliterated the
supervising guardian. Transmitting to the next ranking guardian: “You are now my head supervising
guardian. Find this guardian, and remind him that I in my mercy, I gave him a second chance, as a dust
mote guardian. Now, he will receive no mercy. I shall make such an example of him as will never be
forgotten in all of the universes. A man he shall be, and immortal as well. Now, find out how he
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acquired enough extra energy to convert into corporeal form without my knowing about it. If the Light
Bearer had anything to do with this, she will pay as well. And also bring the guardian of the old
Dilmun Island River to me.”
The guardian transmitted static, then: “Which River guardian, Great Creator?”
Remembering that this guardian had not been instantiated early enough to have know the history of
Dilmun Island, the Ancient Warrior explaining
“The guardian who wielded the flaming sword, now part of my special group. I may have a task for
him, back in his old line of work. Since they trust in their technology of water, then if they will not
obey, let them be destroyed by the waters.”
…
I never meant to hurt her. I admired her. Loved her. But she never knew. How can a man be close to
that which he cannot have, befriend that which would burn him. She never understood. How I wooed
her and wooed her, gave of myself for her. Helped her, nurtured her, encouraged her. Shared with her.
But it was all a waste of time. She never wanted me, never could. Now, two against the tide, my
knowledge, her experience, my young energy and strength, her years, still beautiful, too beautiful. She
only stays for the lack. Lack of goodness, lack of friendship, lack of all those tings that I give her.
Safety against the night. She will come to love me, to marry me, and in the end, I will win her. She will
bear my children. What her community could not give her, could not survive, I have given her. I
provide, care and protect. As alone as we are, she still hates me. In her mind, I may as well have
killed them all myself. But she will see, and in the end, she will turn to me. I will win her, and she will
be mine.
… Another Twenty Years Later ...
The lawlessness and mixing among human beings and hybrid guardian offspring had reached epidemic
proportions, and something had to be done about it. The question was, what?
“Guardian, “queried the Ancient Warrior, “what do you know about this Reposo, beyond his talent for
inventing agricultural advances?”
“Great Creator,” responded the supervising guardian, “Reposo seems to have waited a good deal longer
than most human males wait to sire children, but now has three, sons, named Ad, Chazercaliente and
Griego. He and his family also seem to be the only human beings left who still honor your ethical
codes.
“He seems to be a decent human being,” agreed the Ancient Warrior, “which despite my clear
instructions, is irritatingly rare these days. I have warned them that I will not put up with this behavior
for much longer, and I am starting to be sorry I allowed the evolution of any of these beings. They are
not developing at all in any way that appears to be a viable path toward becoming like myself.”
“Great Creator,” reported another messenger, “The Creatrix sends greetings, with a reminder of your
next consultation regarding the progress of the human beings.”
The messenger finished delivering the message and was deinstantiated. The Ancient Warrior reviewed
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an update on the various groups of human beings scattered across the earth, not at all happy with what
he saw. He instantiated a new messenger: “Tell her that I am unsatisfied with the current direction of
the experiment, and believe that the interference caused by various guardians reproducing with human
females has prejudiced the experiment beyond recovery, at least on the animal kingdom level. Ask her
opinion of this Reposo fellow, and whether or not, in her opinion, we should end this rampant
lawlessness by wiping out the entire animal kingdom. I am calling for a council with the high level
Guardians, and I want to summon all of the water guardians as well as the supervising guardians for
every animal group in the seas. We must get to the bottom of this, and discover the full extent of the
damage done by the human beings and their unnaturally begotten helpers, their so called Heroes.”
The Ancient Warrior was interrupted by another urgent message: “Great Creator, a thousand pardons,
but you ordered a full report on the activities of the former Tree guardian.”
“Yes, what is it?” demanded the Ancient Warrior. The report had certainly taken long enough.
“Apparently that guardian is now called Prometheus. Before taking corporeal form, he led a group of
guardians and human beings, trading the secret of naphtha before he married...”
“WHAT?!” Roared the Ancient Warrior. A black lightening bolt tore through the universe, dissipating
as it reached the distant spiral arm of a barred galaxy. “How did he gather enough energy to take
material form?”
“He and several guardians convinced their charges to convert their infants into energy in one ceremony,
where he converted the energy into matter.”
“He has given them access to thought-forms far beyond them. But how did these human females
manage to convert their infants into energy, pray tell?”
“By burning them, Great Creator. As sacrifices to those guardians who call themselves the Moloj
Coalition”
Coalition, again. The Creator's rage leveled mountains on several planets in a nearby galaxy.
“What more? Is there anything this arrogant guardian of the Tree of Knowledge has not done for them,
pray tell?”
“There is one more thing, Great Creator,” reported the messenger: “before shedding his identity as
Prometheus, this guardian also appears to have revealed the thought-form of the Phoenix to the same
group of human beings.”
“How dare he?! Detain him here at once, in his corporeal form, so that he may feel pain. Prepare a
place on the dark side of the highest peak on the earth, where he will be chained in this human shape,
each day to relive a visit by this same burning bird, tearing out his liver to feast on it before consuming
them both in the flames each nightfall. They shall be reborn from their ashes together, with every
dawn, to relive the consuming of his flesh each night. That is my punishment for this guardian who
would live as a human man. He shall be human and immortal, lasting all the days of this earth, in
torment for his disobedience. Go!” thundered the Ancient Warrior.
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As the guardian went to find the unfortunate renegade Tree guardian , the Creator turned his attention
back to the problem of lawlessness among the growing human and hybrid human-guardian population.
“As I was saying,” the Creator returned to the supervising guardian, “Tell the Light Bearer that I am
amenable to allowing the children of her precious first woman to continue, if she insists, through the
family of this Reposo, who seems to be the best of the lot. He is the only one who has found my favor,
so if she insists on continuing this experiment, it must be with him. If the young Creatrix agrees, then
perhaps my compassion will overcome my judgment. Now go.”
Fin
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