Here is a summary of the third chapter from GOD GAMES (previously titled Heaven’s Ant Farm). Click here for a synopsis for a brief description of this science fiction novel. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 3- The Sixth Rule of Life
Yahweh’s daughter Mary shows intense interest in the Grand Council of Heaven. This, the highest court in Heaven, decides over disputes based on The Six Rules of Life—“the only laws in Heaven,” Yahweh tells her. Yahweh and Mary bond as they struggle with the implications of the sixth and most important of these rules—thou shall not interfere in other people’s lives, or as Mary calls it, “mind your own business.”
Together, they lament over the implications of not interfering with the Elysiums, an isolated tribe whose children are dying of an easily cured disease. Mary and Yahweh believe Heaven should intercede to save the Elysium babies. After all, it’s “for their own good.” But the Sixth Rule of Life is clear—Thou shall not interfere in other people’s lives. Then, Yahweh realizes the possible wisdom in this law as he recalls Lucifer’s evangelical attempts to get him to renounce his scientific theories about the Loving Free Will Gene and follow Korbibtorian religion instead—supposedly for his own good. It’s a conundrum he will have to face over-and-over again.
Later that evening on the other side of the planet, lightning from a massive storm strikes a matter-antimatter factory. The incident starts a series of reactions in the antimatter factory to create a parallel universe where time flows erratically and thousands of times faster than the flow of time in Heaven’s universe. Yahweh and the scientists build a powerful holographic portal, nicknamed “The Pearly Gates,” to see the goings on inside the new universe. He then convinces them to insert matter and antimatter inside the stillborn cosmos to start life off with a big bang. Amongst the millions of stars and planets they find, two hold the scientists’ interest—Gehenna, a hellish place with bubbling volcanos, flying dragons and dry arid lands; and Earth, a planet much like Heaven.
To prove that the Loving Free Will Gene has helped mankind in Heaven, Yahweh persuades the scientists to implant the genetic material in animals on Earth that are destined to become humans. “Let’s make them in our own image,” he tells them. Together, they hope that a kinder, gentler human experience on Earth will be a high speed harbinger of what the Loving Free Will Gene will produce in Heaven.
But fearful that perhaps it might be beneficial and diminish the importance of his religion, Lucifer prevents the Loving Free Will Gene from being placed on Earth. Yahweh and the scientists are horrified at the results—predatory man-apes.
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