I woke on a hillside with clouds drifting past under a deep blue sky. The air came into my lungs better than “clean room” quality; it was crystaline and bracing with a tang that did not distract from its purity but only enhanced its quality. It was better for human consumption than that filtered air ever could be.



Naturally, I was suspicious because I am the product of a time that regards good things as somehow “unreal”, while the vile is always real. But this felt, if anything, hyper-real. A smile tugged on my lips, and my whoop echoed over the empty hillside to be carried away by the gusting wind.



I startled a herd of sheep enough for them to look up at me, and then they got back to eating the lush green grass.



Right then, I determined to stay as long as possible. I needed a vacation.



The weather was perfect, and no human being with their cavalcade of problems was in sight, and it seemed a perfect spot for a picnic and a light read of a Tom Clancy, Insurance Investigator murder mystery by Jack Ryan. I had been hoping to get to that book in the last five worlds.



Sitting down, and spreading out upon the soft grass took a few minutes. Unfortunately, I had no red and white checkerboard blanket, but a verser has to tote everything, and so we learn to be the consumate business travellers in our packing.

My Russian Army wool blanket served quite well. The dozen holes its folded self had required to stop a nearly spent Luger bullet were not tearing badly. It probably had another dozen years of service left in it.



Looking out upon the hills and tufts of grass and feeling the gentle wind in my face brought about an intense feeling of gratitude.



“Thank you, Lord.”



*You are welcome* The booming voice said as a figure in shining armour appeared in front of me.

*I am not the One you gave gratitude to, but I am responsible for the weather* The Man continued.

“Uh, uh.” Book falls from my fingers as my mouth gapes wide.

I’ve met very few gods in person, but it is always a shattering experience.

“What would You?” I asked as I figured that asking Someone what they wanted of your humble, little, tiny, and fearful self was a fairly safe move. But keep in mind, that gods do not specialize in safety, at least when they appear to you. Usually, they want you to become braver, stronger, more loving, and in a right hurry. This tends to be a lot scary.

*Hm’m this preoccupation with safety is almost cowardice, but no it is not close enough to require punishment.”

Gods also can read your mind as a casual sort of thing.

“So what’s the punishment for cowardice?” I ask with a fake casualness. We humans are so wedded to our lies that even when they are pointless, we keep on with them.

*You would be the first human for that kind of craving for safety that is a desire to hide in a hole rather than face life. Probably, I would confine you to a cave for a thousand years as an example.*

“Where I come from, the desire to hide under the covers rather than face Monday morning is quite common.”

*Not here. That has not been invented yet. The machine of life has very few grains of sand tossed in it yet.”

“Um, just how old is this world?”

*Five hundred and twelve years ago, my sisters and brothers built this world out of an asteroid belt. Ten years later, we created the first human couple.*

“Oh.”

I sat and thought for a few minutes.

“This is like Cain and Abel. I do something bad, and a god comes down to make an example of me so that the others who have not even thought of that sin yet can take heed and learn. Do I have this right?”

*Yes, but there is the good as well. Your gratitude brought Me.”

I thought while He patiently waited. If I stay here, I am liable to get into trouble when I do something nasty. Face it, I am the end product of thousands of years of dysfunctional families. Compared to the people that live here, I am an orc. They are elves.

I indulge in a moment of self-pity, and then fearfully look up.

*Self-pity was invented thirty years after the First Breakdown.” He informs me, and I am glad not to be example-zapped for that sin.



Worse than the effect on me is that I would be a bacterium in the probably wonderful society that lives on this Earth.

“Drat.”

*Yes?*

“Can you send me elsewhere?”

*Of course.*

And then I am gone from there without versing. I just appear in another world.



Tadeusz