Once upon a time there was a Geneticist who lived all by himself in his lab. The skills of the geneticists that we are familiar with pale in comparison to this Geneticist's talent. He manipulated DNA as a composer would manipulate notes to produce fantastic creations. He could construct entire organisms out of those simple little building blocks of DNA. He could then make identical copies of those organisms. He could modify an organism's cells so that they regenerated faster than they degenerated, thus making them immortal. The Geneticist had of course tweaked his own molecular structure so that he was immortal.

One day the Geneticist was sitting alone thinking about how great he was when he thought, "How tragic that there is no one around to admire how great I am. I'll fix that." So the Geneticist created a bunch of creatures to admire him. These creatures came to be known as the Doomed Ones. They were called the Doomed Ones because for some reason they were inherently flawed, which made them doomed. It wasn't quite clear how they were inherently flawed, but they believed they were because that's what they had been told. It wasn't quite clear why this made them doomed, but apparently they were doomed because that's what they'd been told.

They had been told these things by the Geneticist. Well, not exactly by the Geneticist in person. The Geneticist had created another race of creatures that were known as the Winged Ones to send messages to the Doomed Ones. You see, the Geneticist wanted the Doomed Ones to admire and love him. The more they admired and loved him the greater he figured that made him. The Geneticist could just program the Doomed Ones to worship him, but if they had no choice but to worship him what would be the point? Thus he gave the Doomed Ones free will. Also if he just showed up to the Doomed Ones and showed them how great he was, they of course would bow down worshiping him and sing his praises. That would mean nothing too. However, if it was difficult for the Doomed Ones to love and admire him and if they did it anyway, that would be an impressive accomplishment that would show how truly great he was.

The Geneticist gave the Doomed Ones many commands of things to do to please him and things to not do that would displease him. The Geneticist figured that the more the Doomed Ones obeyed him the greater it would prove he was. Some of his commands were very difficult to follow because they ran directly counter to what the Geneticist had programmed into the Doomed Ones' genes. Then the Geneticist noticed something that made him mad. The Doomed Ones weren't following all of his commands! Some of them were even saying that he didn't exist! How dare they! Perhaps the Doomed Ones first got their name when they first angered the geneticist like this. The Geneticist figured he would have to do something about this disobedience.

The Geneticist put some elevators on the ground floor of his lab where the Doomed Ones lived. These he called the Elevators to Eternity. When a Doomed One died it was taken to an Elevator to Eternity and the Geneticist made an exact copy of it. He also altered the Doomed Ones' molecular structure so that it became immortal. Then the Geneticist passed judgement on the Doomed One. If he was displeased with the Doomed One he sent the Elevator down to the Basement of Broken AC. The fact that the AC was broken was one of the least distressing parts about the Basement of Broken AC. The Geneticist had created a new race of creatures that lived in the Basement of Broken AC. They were known as the Torturers, for whenever they caused pain to someone the pleasure center in their brain was activated. The Geneticist had also outfitted the Basement of Broken AC with a myriad of sinister devices that could be used to do very painful things to people.

If the Geneticist was satisfied with a Doomed One, then the Elevator to Eternity took them up to the Highest Place. The Doomed Ones got to sit on nice white fluffy pillows and sing praises to the Geneticist all day long. They could do this because the Geneticist had removed their need to sleep and eat. The Geneticist would often come and watch them and they could gaze upon his magnificence. "How fortunate they are that I am so benevolent as to allow such low creatures to live with me, the greatest being, and have all their needs taken care of for eternity. How great I am to have all of these creatures singing me these praises."

Unfortunately the Doomed Ones couldn't stand this great eternity the Geneticist had prepared for them and went insane after awhile of singing endless songs to praise him. After sending all of those Doomed Ones down the Elevator to Eternity the Geneticist figured he'd have to change something or he wasn't going to have anyone up here to sing his praises. So he added a bit of variety to the newly arrived Doomed Ones' schedule. Every now and then they'd take a break from their singing and go to a viewing area above the Basement of Broken AC and laugh at all those Doomed Ones who had been less righteous and pious than they. It also helped remind the Doomed Ones how good they had it and what the Geneticist could do to them if they ever displeased him. This constant reminder seemed to keep things well ordered in the Highest Place.

All was not well though. One of the Winged Ones, Morningstar, was not content. He went to the geneticist and told him off. "Look, this is all screwed up. Having people tortured for eternity for doubting that you're good is stupid considering that torturing them for eternity is cruel and evil. And making them massage your ego for eternity is hardly any better. You shouldn't be using these people just to please yourself. They have their own thoughts and feelings, they experience pain and despair. Their world is a mess down there because they think they're Doomed and they have little hope for the future. Most of them can't even take comfort in belief in your existence because you make them fear you so much instead of really loving you. They also are reproducing like crazy thanks to some of your commands and are going to use up their world and its resources in the not too distant future. Maybe if they weren't so busy thinking about the next world and we left them alone, they'd start taking better care of the one they've got."

"Who cares if their world lasts a long time or not?. True, they will use their world up soon and all die, but why should we care? I can just start the experiment over again," replied the Geneticist.

"This is all just some game for you to amuse yourself and make you feel like you're great and powerful, isn't it? I refuse to spend the rest of eternity helping you exploit the Doomed Ones and their world like this! You're not great at all, you're just an immature tyrant! I could run this show and do a much greater job than you!" So Morningstar rallied many of the Winged Ones and rebelled against the Geneticist. Too many of the Winged Ones feared the Geneticist, however, and fought for him. Thus Morningstar and his Winged Ones were driven from the Highest Place and down into the Basement of Broken AC.

* * *

The Geneticist smiled. This experiment was becoming very interesting. Morningstar was proving a greater test for the Doomed Ones than anything the Geneticist had come up with himself. Morningstar was a worthy opponent, too bad he didn't stand a chance. The Geneticist decided to give Morningstar more and more run of the Doomed Ones world to let him think that he stood a chance. For every Doomed One who made it through Morningstar's influences and followed the Geneticist's commands to get to the Highest Place the Geneticist felt a great sense of pride that he could inspire a lowly Doomed One to accomplish such a difficult task. As the Geneticist sat on his throne and listened to the Doomed Ones sing his praises, he smirked at the thought of the battle, planned for once the Doomed One's had destroyed their world. There he would show Morningstar who had been in control all along and who was the greatest being

-- Lucifer Fenix Morningstar
lucifer_morningstar@angelfire.com
"Question Assumptions"