NEO MESSIAH


"Dawson."


"Hello, this is Christiansen from the Institute for Extra Spatial
Material Study. We have conducted the tests on the samples that you sent
us a fortnight ago."


"Oh, what were the results? Temporally-sedimented carbohydrates
as expected?"


"Well, actually, I called to see if it would be possible to keep
the samples for an undetermined time. We would like to conduct some more
tests."


"What's the matter? Did the original tests fail?"


"Not really... We got some weird result concerning the aggregation-state
of the matter. We would as I said like to conduct some more tests to see
what the results could be caused by."


"Those are our only samples, our entire research is based on those.
I think that was clearly explained when they were handed over to your department.
"


"Of course we weren't planning to do any destructive tests on the
samples. But we would very much like to keep them here for a prolonged test
period, for scientific purposes."


"Were you planning to study them for your own research? What is
it that you have found out about the samples?"


"We got a lot of inconsistent measurements. We really don't want
to say anything for now, but I would say that the possibility of measurement
error has been ruled out..... I think you better come over here."


 


The two men were looking at the screen, one grimly serious, the other
uncomprehending and impatient. A greenish glow that emanated from a large
water basin, visible through a glass wall, gave their faces a surreal look.


"There, it really is KS-curvature. This is amazing..."


"I'm sorry, but I don't understand."


"Klamp-Shiamato. Klamp-Shiamato curvature was discovered just a
few years ago. It is sometimes referred to as a new force of nature, and
it seems like the sample is, permeated by it,  as if it were made out of
the curvature itself."


"So the samples aren't made out of normal matter...."


"That is simply too extreme to be possible, but that's what the
results say.


Look, isn't it about time you told us here where these samples came from."


"That is classified and you were clearl...."


"Damn that, damn the classification. We are standing here with
on of the largest discoveries in the history of mankind, so you bloody well
tell us where you got it from!"


Dawson turned toward the glass wall. He solemnly regarded the big egg
shaped pod that contained the sample. Windows in its shiny metal surface
let out a strong blue glow that filtered through the water it lay submerged
into.


"The samples are from the Shroud of Turin. They were sent here
when it was unveiled that since the first scientific study of the object
in 1986, that is 300 years ago, no material decay has be detected at all."


"Jesus Christ's shroud!"


"You see now why we kept it secret. This discovery will not only
send ripples through the scientific community."


 


"In 2307 - 56 years ago stable Klamp-Shiamato curvature was for
the first time detected in the famous Shroud of Turin. The extensive research
that followed proved a connection between KS curvature and what was long
ago considered to be religious phenomena."


The androgynous speaker voice continued as the little train continued
along the monorail. Stephenson looked out through a small window in the
train-wall, the shiny piping that lined the tubular walls  in the tunnel
outside went past in a blur of motion. Soon the train would reach the capacitor
core. He looked over his back, the officials that were to observe the procedure
were getting increasingly anxious the further into the rock mantle they
travelled. Stephenson felts his anxiety build up as the train cart started
to decelerate. It would take a while to get rid of the excessive momentum
that the train possessed on it's high speed journey


"Today, 50,000 units of KS curvature will be concentrated and merged
with a genetically engineered human body. It will provide the specimen superhuman
senses and this will lend the scientific community a way to probe the inner
workings of the Klamp-Shiamato curvature, what is usually referred to by
the laity as the Divine plane."


The train finally came to a halt and the speaker stopped. The starboard
half of the cabin folded away leaving free passage into the complex.


"Gentlemen, follow me."


Stephenson started walking down the narrow corridor. He studied his
reflection in the blank metal wall. His face had a shifting trellis pattern
superimposed on the skin, projected by the lighting below the grating floor.


When they entered the experimentation nexus the civilians cast distrusting
glances toward the central, transparent sphere. In it, floating in a clear
blue fluid a seemingly lifeless body hung.


But the Specimen was very much alive. Under its chalky, semi-opaque
skin its neural pathways were channelling impulses through the body. The
impulses did not come from its brain, but from the cables connected to its
body. Thousands of black tubes ran from its titanium neural system, through
plastic sockets in its skin and up, out toward a giant horseshoe-shaped
machine.


"Will he feel any pain?" The older woman had her vision fixed
on the specimen's back, struggling with the fact that it had a wide groove
in it.


"It's there so that we could attach the cables to it's spinal cord
without excessive surgery."


"What?"


"The hole in its back. It is a genetic manipulation, it was born
with it. What did you ask before."


"Ehh. Will he feel any pain? When he is being permeated with the
Divinity, I mean."


"It. It doesn't have a sex. It's an "it". But no. It
is incapable of feeling any discomfort at all. No genes for it. And it's
Klamp-Shiamato curvature, not Divinity, that's a layman term."


"Oh."


Stephenson contact-lens computer suddenly came to life. A thin laser
beam printed a discrete message on his retinal. He glanced toward the observation
hall, through it's long glass wall he could see Zollner waving.


"It's time." He turned around toward the crowd of civilians.


"Ladies and Gentlemen. If you would follow me, please. It is now
time to take our places and prepare to witness the Experiment."


Seeing that everyone had heard and understood what he had said he turned
around and started to walk toward the observation hall. Behind him the structure
that suspended the specimen in the liquid slowly started to turn.


The specimen was gazing out through the thick glass walls of the containment
pod. The world was distorted and tinted in a hazy blue tone by the viscous
fluid in the pod. It saw the visitors moving into position behind a screen
together with a veritable army of scientists. It knew what was about to
happen. Since it's birth it's brain had been fed with memories and information
about the outside world, and especially the Experiment. But it's brain had
not been the only part of it that had been fed. Through it's neural system
- made of titanium after genetical optimisation - it's entire being had
been manipulated into an open conduit for the Klamp-Shiamato curvature.


"Wish me luck." a single, friendly goodbye issued through
the brains of the spectators. Emitted from the specimen, it had - unhindered
by glass, steel and fluid - carried on a wave of KS curvature. Stephenson
smiled. The civilians had never before been in contact with the specimen's
powers, and now it showed it's true nature in such a tangible - yet abstract
- way. He turned his head away from the specimen, thinking of how history
now would be made. He though of the duty invested in him, an honour that
all humans in the history of mankind had reason to envy him for. He wet
his lips.


"Initiate."


 


It's flesh rippled and shock. The cables started to slowly move and
slither like live eels in the fluid. Suddenly an arc of lightning shot from
a metal beam to it's back. A storm of bubbles erupted from where the discharge
had been just a moment earlier.


Stephenson's eyelids tightened. He had known that it was going to be
quite a colourful show but something was not quite right. "The fluid."
he thought. It looked as if it was glowing with an internal light. He shielded
his eyes as the glow increased in strength, filling more and more of the
spectrum, until every object in the room was tinted in a warm, white tone.


"Oh mother." Zollner's cry for help was too weak to be perceived,
not that anyone could have comforted the scientist, nor - if they could
- would have offered their assistance. Then, as if someone had flipped a
switch, the glowing fluid turned opaque. Billions of minuscule bubbles with
evaporated liquid had burst into existence simultaneously. The pod wall
first seemed to bulge out from the gaseous pressure inside, but then, an
instant later, they broke. Actually pulverising, the myriad of splinters
that a moment ago had been a spherical, transparent wall was consumed by
the shockwave of what had once been liquid, but now, in the sudden depressurisation
had turned into an expanding wall of gas. Obscured from the spectators the
specimen - enclosed in a halo of white light - hovered in mid-air, it's
cables hanging limp by it's sides, burnt off by energies untold.


 


"ABHORATION."


"?"


"ABHORATION, THAT IS WHAT YOUR PEOPLE WILL CALL YOU."


"GOD?"


"YOU WOULD REFER TO ME BY THAT NAME, YES."


The specimen caressed the fabric of reality. It had been prepared for
these new senses every day since it's spawning. But it wasn't that which
startled it.


With it's mortal, material eyes it was how it's body was lifted into
the air and up through a tunnel, burnt right through the roof and rock by
searing divine light. Not that that vision was any worse than that which
it saw with it's new eyes.


It looked at God. It always looked at God. Focus and direction had no
meaning for it's newly acquired senses. He felt God's powers.


"YOU ARE REMOVING ME FROM THE EXPERIMENTATION COMPLEX."


"I AM ONLY RELOCATING YOUR BODY. I HAVE ALREADY FREED YOUR MIND.
FOR THE MOMENT IT NEEDS YOUR BODY, THEREFORE WE NEED TO TAKE IT WITH US."


It sensed God's being.


It sensed itself.


It was still a creature of flesh and blood, but now also possessing
abilities to detect and manipulate KS curvature. "So the experiment
was a success," it thought "largely because of God's divine intervention,
no doubt."


"WHY? WHY GUIDING MY MIND TO THE 'DIVINE PLANE'? AND WHY TAKING
ME FROM EARTH?" With it's eyes it saw itself - encapsulated in a glowing
halo - being lifted through the top layers of the stratosphere.


God heaved his metaphysical bulk. It was like an organic fractal suddenly
growing larger in space-time. The specimen could sense his subatomic neural
pathways pulsate.


"BECAUSE YOU NEVER WERE SUPPOSED TO PROBE THE INNER WORKING OF
DIVINITY. THE THREAD BY WHICH YOUR WORLD HANGS GROW THINNER THE MORE YOU
LEARN. EARTH IS UNDER TOTAL CONTROL AND ANYONE WHO IMPAIRS ON THAT WILL
BE ANNIHILATED. YOU ARE A VERY REAL THREAT AND IF YOU WOULD HAVE STAYED
ON EARTH, HUMANITY WOULD HAVE BEEN DOOMED."


The specimen cast it's eyes down toward the earth. "Control"
it thought as it watched the bluish splendour of it's home. "The divine
being mankind had worshipped - in one way or another - since the dawn of
civilisation had let his powers get the better of his humility." Through
the KS spectrum the earth was a looming shadow, it's multifaceted surface
lit here and there by cruising gravity waves.


But something lay deeper. The ether itself was an array of forces that
wound an infinite matrix across the universe. "God might hold supreme
power over earth but whatever this is, he hold no power over it." it
thought.


God regarded the specimen, its newly acquired senses sweeping it's tendrils
over that web of omnipresent forces.


"THE DOCTRINE." As he spoke Gods presence enveloped the specimen
like a pixelated, psychedelic amoeba. Their extradimensional sentiences
started to orbit the sun, the specimen's material body resting in a cocoon
of holy light at their centre.


"THE DOCTRINE IS THE BILE THAT PERMEATES THIS WORLD.


UNTOLD AGES AGO I WAS A MERE MORTAL, LIVING IN A WORLD MUCH LIKE YOUR
OWN. WE ALSO CALLED OURSELVES HUMANS, AND WE ALSO LIVED OUR LITTLE LIVES,
FIGHTING OUR OWN WORLDLY PROBLEMS.


ALSO WE FOUGHT FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR WORLD. WE EXPLORED,
RESEARCHED AND LEARNED. BUT ONE DAY WE LEARNED TOO MUCH. WE CROSSED A LINE
AND THE DOCTRINE CAME INTO OUR LIVES.


IT DIDN'T DECIMATE OUR WORLD. IT ANNIHILATED IT. OUR SITUATION WASN'T
FUTILE, IT WAS UNCHANGEABLE. OUR PLANET WAS GROUND INTO PURE ENERGY, USED
TO SCORCH THE SURROUNDING SPACE TO BURN OUT ANY TRACES OF OUR RACE. I WAS
A PRODUCT OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, THE KNOWLEDGE THAT HAD CAUSED OUR DOOM. AND
SO I WAS THE ONLY ONE TO ESCAPE. I, A SINGLE BEING WAS ALL THAT REMAINED
OF OUR WORLD. I ALONE POSSESSED ALL OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE THAT WAS
LEFT OF OUR ENTIRE RACE. SO, WITH THAT I SET OUT. I WATCHED NEBULAS CONDENSE
INTO STARS, ONLY TO DIE AN AEON LATER, AND TO HAVE OTHER STARS BE BORN OUT
OF THEIR DUST, ONLY TO DIE AGAIN. I WATCHED GRAINS OF SAND CONGLOMERATE,
COUNTING EVERY ONE, UNTIL A QUASAR HAD BEEN BORN. I WATCHED PROTONS DISASSOCIATE.
ALL THIS WHILE I WAS SEARCHING THE UNIVERSE FOR THE RIGHT PLACE.


THIS WAS WHAT I FOUND.


HERE I SPAWNED A PLANET, BROUGHT IT TO EXISTENCE FROM A QUANTUM WOMB
WITHIN THE VERY FABRIC OF THIS REALITY. I LET THE SUNLIGHT FALL ON ITS SURFACE
AND PLANTED IN IT'S DEAD CRUST A SEED.


A SINGLE MOTE OF LIFE


I WAITED, GOVERNING THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR WORLD, SHAPING AND MOULDING
IT INTO AN EXACT REPLICA OF MY UNFORTUNATE HOME. I GAVE YOU ALL THAT I HAD
BROUGHT WITH ME, TRYING TO CREATE A HAVEN OF MEMORIES, AN ICON OF WHAT HAD
ONCE BEEN.


I WANTED TO GIVE BIRTH TO THE HAPPINESS THAT MY WORLD ONCE HAD ENJOYED,
THE JOY OF LIFE. I SOUGHT TO MAKE A NEW HUMANITY, A HUMANITY THAT MIGHT
SURVIVE THE DOCTRINE. BUT NOW I FEAR THAT IT MIGHT COME BACK FOR THE REMAINS
OF WHAT SHOULDN'T BE ANY MORE, AND EARTH WILL SUFFER IF I AM TO SAVE WHAT
IS DEAR TO ME."


They continued in their orbit, the sun being a mere marble of light
as they reached their apogee, high off the ecliptic.


The specimen's mind was awash with thoughts.


"The Doctrine, the devil? Or a race so advanced that they muster
to compromise the influence of even the mightiest deity in this universe.
Whatever it is, it seems like the earth will perish. Maybe it wont be crushed
by God trying to sacrifice us to save his own existence, but by that superior
race, only letting us live for as long as it takes their unrelenting arrow
to strike it's target."


"SO YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF MANKIND, AND NOW MANKIND IS YOUR CREATION."


God's nonmaterial body rippled and fluctuated as he spoke. "MANKIND
IS STILL THE SAME, ONLY NOW I HAVE TO NURTURE AND CARE FOR IT. I LIVE A
PERILOUS EXISTENCE, BUT THAT HUMANITY MIGHT FACE TERMINAL JUDGEMENT FOR
WHAT I HAVE DONE IS A BURDEN THAT IS TOO HEAVY EVEN FOR A DEITY."


"WHY? WHY CONDEMN THE WORLD YOU GAVE BIRTH TO? EARTH HAS DURING
IT'S ENTIRE HISTORY BEEN SATURATED WITH SUFFERING, AND NOW IT WILL DIE,
BY THE HAND OF IT'S OWN CREATOR." The specimen could hardly contain
it's fury, it's now divine mind lashing out with its massless tendrils uncontrolled
across the divine plane.


"YOU BLAME ME! I HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF YOUR WORLD. I AM A LOVING
GOD. THE EVIL IN YOUR WORLD IS NOT ONE OF MY SEEDS. THAT IS THE DOCTRINE'S
DOING. IT CHANGES EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE TO IT'S OWN ENDS, MANIPULATING
EVERY ORBIT, EVERY ATOM, ONLY TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF IT'S OMNIPRESENT NET
OF DIVINITY THAT PERMEATES THIS EXISTENCE. WHAT ITS CHANGES LEADS TO ONE
CAN NEVER BE SURE, EXCEPT THAT THEY ARE FOR THE GOOD OF THE DOCTRINE."


Giant arcs of unidentifiable forces and magnitudes sparkled between
the two entities as they spoke, gravity waves being born and propelled out
toward the void of space.


"YOUR WORLD HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HAMPERED IN IT'S DEVELOPMENT, PAIN
AND SUFFERING LASHING AS RIPPLES ON A POND ACROSS ITS SURFACE, THE FACES
OF THE VICTIMS BEING REFLECTED IN EVERY WAVE."


"BUT WHY IS EARTH TO BE SACRIFICED TO THE DOCTRINE, WHY ABANDON
IT AFTER ALL THIS TIME? BECAUSE WE HAVE ADVANCED, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW A THREAT
TO YOU! IS THAT WHY YOU FREED ME FROM THE MATERIAL BONDS, WAS IT ONLY AN
ACT OF DESPERATION TO MAKE SURE MAN WOULD NOT LEARN ABOUT YOUR INNER WORKINGS."


"I AM NOT A THREAT TO YOUR WORLD. IT IS I WHO WANT YOU TO ADVANCE,
IT WAS ME WHO GAVE YOU THE CLUES TO DISCOVER DIVINITY. I AM A LOVING GOD!
THE DOCTRINE IS THE PERIL THAT WILL CONSUME YOUR WORLD, JUST AS MY WORLD
WAS CONSUMED. WE LEARNED TOO MUCH, AND WE TURNED INTO A THREAT TO THE DOCTRINE.
NOW I HAVE GIVEN MANKIND SIMILAR KNOWLEDGE, BUT FOR A REASON. I SUPERVISED
THE ENTIRE EXPERIMENT, LEADING IT IN THE RIGHT DIRECTIONS UNTIL IT SPAWNED
YOU, AND IT WAS BY MY HAND THAT YOU WERE FREED FROM THE MATERIAL PLANE.
YOU ARE NO LONGER A HUMAN, YOU ARE THE NEW MESSIAH."


Stillness suddenly reigned over the duo. Their nonmaterial minds slowly
settled in the dust of ether. The two were both spent and the specimen was
struggling with the new revelations.


"BUT WHY, IF THAT IS WHAT WILL KILL US." It whispered.


"WHEN WE STARTED TO MANIPULATE THE DIVINITY BECAME DANGEROUS TO
THE DOCTRINE. IT IS THE SAME THING WITH ME. I HAVE SURVIVED THIS LONG ONLY
BY ONLY MANIPULATING MATTER, STAYING CLEAR OF THAT WHICH THE DOCTRINE HOLDS
MOST SACRED. AND YOU MUST FOLLOW SUITE IF YOU ARE TO SUSTAIN. YOU ARE NOW
A PART OF THE DIVINITY, JUST LIKE ME, AND THE SOLE WAY FOR YOU TO SURVIVE
IS TO ONLY MAKE YOUR MOVES IN THE MATERIAL PLANE.


HOWEVER YOU MUST BE AWARE THAT NO MATTER HOW MUCH STEALTH YOU UTILISE
IN YOU ACTIONS, THE DOCTRINE WILL ONE DAY REMOVE YOU FROM EXISTENCE, BEING
FATIGUED WITH YOU PRESENCE.


THAT IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME."


"THE DOCTRINE WILL DESTROY YOU?"


"YES, YOU CAN FEEL IT COMING FOR ME IN THIS VERY MOMENT."


The specimen carefully reached out, seeking to touch that web of forces
he had witnessed earlier.


"IT IS VIBRATING."


"YES. TIME IS SHORT, THAT WAS WHY I FREED YOU. I CANNOT LEAVE WITHOUT
GIVING THE EARTH A SUPERVISOR. YOU ARE THE NEW MESSIAH. YOU WILL SAVE THE
WORLD...."


Then the space around them exploded. Blue lightning tore the fabric
of space-time and novas of light danced across their fields of vision. In
a vortex of radiation a wave of darkness materialised. I flooded outward
and started to consume their view of the distant stars.


"NO! NOT NOW, NOT HERE!" God tightened his metaphysical grip
around the messiah he had given birth to. "NOT WHEN THERE IT SO MUCH
AT STAKE." They started changed course in an instant, now suddenly
flying for earth, near the speed of light.


The specimen regarded the black, ominous wave that trailed behind them,
seeking to crush them.


"YOU MUST GET TO EARTH, YOU MUST PROTECT IT, MAYBE EVEN MOVE IT
TO A SAFER PLACE, A SAVER SYSTEM. OH THERE IS SO LITTLE TIME, THIS WAS NOT
SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN THIS AT THIS MOMENT."


"WHY?"


"WHAT?"


"WHY RUN, WHY ALWAYS FLEE FROM THE DOCTRINE. I AM AWARE OF YOUR
POWERS GOD. THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY TO SETTLE THIS.


THE DOCTRINE MUST BE FOUGHT!"


The two raced toward earth, their velocity tearing the space-time that
was left bubbling and sizzling in a glowing ribbon behind them. A ribbon
that was consumed by the dark vastness of the Doctrine's hand, chasing them
like a black wave.


"THE DOCTRINE CANNOT BE FOUGHT."


"IT IS ALIVE AND I HAVE SEEN IT. AND WHAT CAN BE PERCEIVED CAN
ALSO BE DESTROYED, DIVINITY BE DAMNED. THIS IS HEAVEN AND IT IS GOVERNED
BY IT'S OWN PHYSICAL LAWS. NOT THE DOCTRINE. THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO
TO US THAT WE CANNOT DO TO THEM, MAYBE NOT ALONE BUT TOGETHER, WITH AN ARMY
OF MESSIAHS PRODUCED BY HUMANITY."


"IMPOSSIBLE. THE DOCTRINE IS NOT A SUPERIOR RACE OR AN ENTITY FROM
ANOTHER PLANE. THIS IS THE DOCTRINE. OUR VERY CONTINUUM IS IT'S HEARTH AND
SOUL. THAT IS WHY YOU CANNOT OUTGROW THE DOCTRINE. THIS ENDLESS UNIVERSE
OF DIMENSIONS IS IT'S BODY AND NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU QUEST TAKE YOU, NO
MATTER HOW DEEP YOU PROBE, YOU WILL FIND IT'S PRESENCE.


IT WAS THE NEW-BORN UNIVERSE THAT CAME TO LIFE. IT LOOKED AND SAW ITSELF
BEING THE ONLY LIVING ENTITY THAT HAD EVER EXISTED AND THAT EVER WOULD EXIST,
FOR EVERY LIFE THAT SPAWNED INSIDE IT WOULD BE A PART OF IT. EARTH IS JUST
A SINGLE CELL IN THAT INFINITE ORGANISM AND THE DOCTRINE IS VERY STRICT
ON IT NOT BECOMING A CANCER."


"THIS UNIVERSE....THE DOCTRINE...." The specimen was beyond
speechlessness.


Without prior warning the moon shot past them. God started to decelerate
them both, the earth partly lit up by the bow wave of blinding radiation
that appeared as he took a firm grip in the fabric of space.


"MESSIAH." God's divine being was cracking and melting, constantly
changing form. He was invisible form earth but for the specimen's senses
he was as real as the earth itself. "HERE, IT'S YOUR BODY. YOU WILL
SOON LEARN TO BREAK YOURSELF COMPLETELY FREE FROM IT." God returned
its body, making sure that the protective cocoon of light remained unbroken.


"IS THIS IT, IS THIS HOW IT WILL END."


"NO, NOW, ONLY I WILL CEASE. I AM THE ONE THAT HAS BROKEN THE RULES.
I WILL BE THE SACRIFICE THAT WILL SPARE EARTH FOR NOW. I REGRET THAT IT
WILL COME SO SOON SINCE THERE IS MUCH FOR YOU TO KNOW."


"I CAN'T CARE FOR A WORLD."


"NEITHER COULD I."


The specimen remained quiet, pondering the comment. Approaching was
the hand of the Doctrine, it's fury casting long shadows over the face of
the moon.


"FEW ARE AS LUCKY AS TO SEE THEIR EXECUTIONER." God started
to slowly make his way toward that vortex of darkness.


"PROTECT HUMANITY. BE THE MESSIAH THAT I TRIED TO GIVE THEM TWO
THOUSAND YEARS AGO.


TEACH THEM TO STAY CLEAR OF THE DIVINE PLANE, FOR THEN THE DOCTRINE
WILL LEAVE THEM BE. BUT WHEN THE DOCTRINE COMES FOR YOU, NEVER FORGET WHAT'S
AT STAKE. SPAWN A NEW MESSIAH. GIVE THEM A NEW SHROUD OF TURIN. HAND OVER
THE LEGACY."


And with that he flew toward the darkness. The Doctrine lashed out for
his body and consumed it, making it burn at its touch, causing the age old
entity to smoulder and disintegrate.


God was quiet, this was his destiny, this was his fate.




The messiah was still. In his mind he was crying. It had all happened
to quickly. The God of its world was gone, never to be back again. In the
light of the burning god he remained. His mind working, his mission clear,
his duties paramount.


"Now I am a god."


(c) 1999 DANIEL KALLIN