Vale Ch. 07: The Coming of the Gods

"It seems you have something of her power," she said to Zo. "Can you not wish for this island to be stable?"

Zo shook her head. "It is one thing to wish for something, quite another to make it true. I might wish for this island to stay afloat, only to make it float indeed, and be swept by ocean currents into the polar north. Or I could wish for the rock beneath us to be more solid, and thereby cause volcanic eruptions and tectonic shifts.

"The truth is that we're sinking because of a wish. In granting the wishes of all of us, Vale gave us a fresh start in a new world, but she brought ancient myths back to life, and a thousand buried sexual fantasies too. We wished, some of us, to make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence - and here you are. Some of us, I don't doubt, wished for gods to walk amongst us - and maybe that, too, will be you.

"Granting wishes is not something to be done lightly. More than anything, I wish for Vale to be here with us - and I doubt anyone would thank me for that."

Veh Shla nodded. "Perhaps you are right. As bad as things may be, they could be much worse."

*

The humans brought food and clothing for them, and gave them a comfortable building to stay in with many small bedrooms and a central, communal space.

"We're stuck here," Veh Shla told the others. "The ship is damaged, and we don't have the time or the tools to repair it."

"Even if we did," Uxur said, "We are no longer ourselves. We would be seen as curiosities to study, not as individuals with rights. I, for one, would rather stay here. It is a young planet, and I am enjoying the warmth of the yellow sun."

"It is the moon that excites me," Ulaxr murmured, "and this body has a lot of potential. The humans are very interesting creatures."

Err snorted his opinion of that. "These ones are well educated," he said, "but wait a few generations as they scatter throughout this world, and you will see them return to wickedness. In time they will destroy this world as they did before."

"I don't think so," Mina We said. "Vale sent us here so that we could guide them to a better future."

"We are not like them," Veh Shla mused. "We are stronger, and can see further, and their minds are open to us. Zo said that we might be gods, and perhaps we are."

"There is an intriguing subtlety to this world," Der Shil said. "The laws of physics still hold true, but there are other laws at work, other energies, and intelligence too. If we can learn the language of these other laws, we may be able to manipulate this world like a musical instrument. Then we truly would appear as gods to them."

"Heresy," growled Err, but without anger. "If I were a god, I would create heaven and hell, for only the threat of eternal punishment would suffice to curb their extremes of wickedness; and only the promise of heaven would inspire them to goodness."

Mina We sighed. "Your heaven would be a desolate place."

"Then let it be," Uxur said. "We will be gods to these people, and we will teach them how to live, so that when they get to the stars, they will remember our names and praise us."

"Or curse us," Mina We muttered.

"But they will know our names," Veh Shla said. "They will live and die with our names upon their lips."

Or perhaps all these notions of divinity were fanciful nonsense, and Veh Shla and the others would be dead and forgotten before the year had passed. But as she stared out of the window at the humans passing by, many of them glancing up at her with yearning curiosity, Veh Shla felt sure that she would be watching over them still when they were not five thousand but five million. And perhaps, in time, when they were five billion and more.