Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 10 & 11 (Final two chapters)

Chapter Ten.
WAR IN THE HEAVENS

So it began. Many thousands of Perfect Men crossed over into the higher plane, as did the minds of the Spiritual Men allocated to the task. Intellectual Men were left behind as planned, with the intention of Spiritual Men passing constantly between planes to take orders and pass on information. A planet in the higher plane was chosen as a base, one that was far enough away from the creator’s planet as not to be noticed by the bronze men and not so far away that the journey into battle would take an excessive amount of time.

When the time came the hordes of Perfect Men, accompanied by the disembodied Spiritual Men, took flight towards the said planet. The bronze men they passed along the way looked upon them with surprise and worry and immediately fled back to their home planet. On reaching their destination they found a vast army of the bronze men awaiting them, floating gloriously around the planet with looks of resentment upon their faces; however Perfect Man outnumbered his enemy two to one. It was a representative of the Perfect Men that spoke first, in the language of the beings they were confronting (through a method of telepathy which all could hear) ‘Intelligent beings, men of great worth, we come to you now in both an act of brotherhood and hostility. We, as highly intellectual beings are here to request an audience with the creator whom you serve, the lord of all, the star maker, the man behind the curtain. We hide nothing from you; it is with malice and contempt with which we look upon your God. But know that we hold nothing against you our brothers; we are understanding that you have been tricked or forced into the servitude of this awful being and it is with open arms that we welcome you if you wish to join us. We should be fighting together, not apart. This is our offer, what say you?’. The reply was both courteous yet fully threatening ‘We understand your plight perhaps more than you know friends, yet do not insult us with such an offer. You pretend to know exactly what it is we protect here yet really you know nothing. An audience directly with him you cannot have. He is a being far too great for you to shame with your ignoble plight. I am permitted to speak for him and I tell you now to return from whence you came immediately and we shall not lay claim upon your lifeless corpses. I warn you men, if he knew you were here you would not be presented with such an easy escape’. After discussing among themselves Perfect Man’s representative retorted with ‘Do not ridicule us. If the creator is unaware of even an enemy knocking on his door he is as we thought, not a being as noble and powerful as you say. Enough of this’.
And such a battle as had never been seen before started on the edge of this magnificent planet. Thousands of Perfect Men and bronze men flew at each other in unison against the backdrop of the intense golden light radiating behind them. Perfect Men made excellent use of the powers at their disposal, but were matched with far superior powers. Perfect Men hurtled bronze men into each other with telekinesis, bronze men healed their injuries with regeneration. Perfect Men, through a lack of natural elements to manipulate, used their immense physical strength to tear the bronze men apart limb from limb, bronze men retaliated by conjuring fire out of nothing and propelling it across space as though it did not need oxygen to survive. Perfect Men tried to confuse and confound the bronze men with telepathic manipulation, bronze men paralysed Perfect Men with a mere thought. The Spiritual Men all the while commanding the Perfect Men telepathically and sending other Spiritual Men back and forth into the Earth’s realm to report and receive orders. The battle echoed the biblical war between angels in heaven when Lucifer challenged God for the throne. Such ancient nonsense did not seem so foolish here, to my eyes at least.

Once it reached the point where Perfect Man’s numbers had dwindled too greatly and even the reinforcements had been destroyed, bronze man brought the battle to a halt and looked upon what remained of his vanquished foe. Perfect Man’s number had diminished from the countless thousands strong to a mere two thousand pitifully wounded creatures. A vast sea of bodies, of both species, slowly spread out into space away from the planet; yet bronze man’s number looked the same now as at the start, with a seemingly endless supply of reinforcements being supplied from within the planet. With great fury in his eyes the same bronze man spoke out as before, his words searing painfully the minds of the remaining Perfect and Spiritual Men; ‘You are a treacherous and arrogant race of men, each and every species of you. You shall look now into the eyes of the life giver and know true punishment. You are not the first men to bite the hand that feeds it but know you shall be the last’.

Our minds were immediately filled with a shockingly painful clarity. In each of our mind’s an eye burned brightly before our sight, one which we could not turn away from no matter how hard we tried. With it came a shocking realisation in our hearts at what we had done and how foolish we had been in our endeavours. Not foolish in the way that we believed what we had done was wrong against the creator, but foolish in our believing it was possible to destroy him as we had destroyed our predecessors. Coupled with the sight the continuing voice of the bronze man rang in our ears; ‘Know it is he the life-giver whom you look at now, and hear forth his punishment’.

Chapter Eleven.
THE SCATTERING

I am writing in the first person because I am, of course, one of the Spiritual Men who observed and played a commanding role in that battle. Upon that moment a voice entered my head so clear and commanding that I immediately blocked out all the anguish and the pain in order to focus intently on it. The tone was fierce, the words themselves vanquishers of all hope. It was explained to us that mankind should never have reached this stage in committing such an offence towards his creator, and by committing such atrocity he would be doomed to a slow but eventual extinction. Each single man, woman and child would be taken and placed into his own separate universe, one which was fully devoid of any intelligent life and held no prospect of escape or happiness. He would live out the rest of his days on a habitable planet until every last person had died and mankind had become extinct forever. This was to be our punishment. After his last sentence I do not remember anything.

When I awoke I found myself in a lush jungle with springs and thick vegetation, though one with no animal life except the smallest of insects. It has been thirty years since that day and I have since lived in complete solitude, doing nothing but wandering this world in silent contemplation. Over time I have managed to produce many writings etched on thin bark and it is on such that I write this now. I have been able to give so detailed an account due to my vast knowledge of man’s history and my role played in the war. All of my connections to the higher plane were taken from me; I am now nothing but a ‘normal man’ as it were. This irony of man’s depletion back to his original stage has both taunted and humoured me throughout my days.

Looking in retrospect over these events, I believe this punishment was set upon us to put mankind in his place before his final demise. In being scattered among the cosmos we have each and every one of us been shown just how small and insignificant we are compared to the creator and his multitude of creations and have been forced to experience loneliness on perhaps the grandest scale possible. The number of universes must indeed be infinite if every man was put, like me into his own to become lord of it’s cosmos before he perishes.

I am confident that this will find its way into your hands and it will do you and your kind the greatest service, I am confident because I have a very secure method of preserving this manuscript for many a thousand years at my disposal on this planet, one which my knowledge of science has allowed me to develop. So if the creator does decide to fill this wondrous Universe with intelligent life again after my demise, you will hopefully one day excavate these writings.

In truth I write this story as much for myself as for you and your people. I write it now, long before I expect to die, so that I can organise my thoughts clearly and sanely, for the loneliness I endure will inevitably bring me to the edge of my sanity at some point, probably very soon. Once I have laid this completed document in its secure place I will wander again across the plain to make further exploration of this vast and magnificent planet. I only hope that the men who outlive me in other universes have been given as beautiful a planet as I to live out their last days on. I find it poignant that the very last man will know no more of his significance that if it were to be me right now. Perhaps it is, who can know. Or perhaps time does not flow in these separate universes in the same way one would expect it to. Know though, whoever you are, of what we as a species endured, and also of what we achieved. Learn from our mistakes so that you may not commit such atrocities. I leave you now.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 8 & 9 (out of 11)

Chapter Eight.
REVELATIONS

For a long time a divide existed between Intellectual Man (with the few remaining Physical Men) and Spiritual Man. Trade ceased between countries, cooperation ceased in all fields of scientific experimentation and communication between the two species was in general non-existent. Each race made locating the creator its primary goal and desperately tried to achieve this goal before the other.

Eventually an agreement was reached, with both races acknowledging the futility in working separately when they were both trying to achieve the same goal. A meeting took place, in which a representative from each of Intellectual and Spiritual Man took to debate amongst a crowd of their peers. Spiritual Man starting by stating that although he had quite despised normal man and his existence on this Earth he did thoroughly not agree with what Intellectual Man had done, yet for the sake of mankind achieving the ultimate goal, he was willing to put aside their differences and fully cooperate with each other again. It was also revealed, to Intellectual Man’s astonishment, that Spiritual Man’s religious beliefs had changed over time to that of the hostile faction, though he would only condone violence towards God: not any other being.

Intellectual Man retorted by saying that although he had been deeply offended by Spiritual Man’s lack of unity at the time of war and in his neutral stance, he was willing, for the sake of brotherhood and for the goal, to accept the proposal. Also, he stated that he was very pleased with Spiritual Man’s change of faction over this time and spoke of how this would bring each race even closer. Intellectual Man was first to reveal his discoveries. It was explained that a long time ago, he had come to the conclusion that since the cause was now a hostile one against the creator they would have to create, like normal man had done before him, a far stronger and more capable man than any that existed at that moment. Intellectual Man admitted that over the time of the dispute he had used the few remaining Physical Men to experiment on in aid of this cause, for he realised that a creature must be made to contain all the abilities and more of the three existing races. Spiritual Man could not be studied of course because of the dispute, and neither could a peace offering be made to solve the problem, so a different measure had to be taken. It was revealed that a handful of Spiritual Men had been contacted and had willingly crossed the border to subject themselves to experimentation for the sake of the ultimate goal. It was explained to Spiritual Man’s representative before he could react angrily that both the Physical Men and Spiritual Men used in the research had given themselves up of their own free will, knowing that death would await them at the end of it, due to the extreme testing of their power’s limits. The representative replied that each Spiritual Man had the right to govern his own. Intellectual Man’s representative then went on to reveal that, coupled with the study of their own race, phenomenal progress had been made, and that they now had the precise blueprint for the ‘Perfect Man’ (as he put it). He said that with Spiritual Man’s consent and cooperation they could begin the process of creation which would result in a great milestone for mankind. The Spiritual representative expressed his doubts on the quality of this idea, asking what would stop this new race eventually reacting precisely as Intellectual Man had done in destroying their creators. The representative replied saying that, because these new beings would have a perfect incorporation of all three races, he would have the sense and clarity in perception of Spiritual Man, who he noted would never act in this way.

Then the turn came for Spiritual Man to share amongst them precisely what he had achieved over the vast amount of time they had spent apart. Their representative started by saying that although Intellectual Man’s achievement over this time had been truly great, what Spiritual Man had achieved was even greater and far more beneficial towards the ultimate goal. He described how Spiritual Man had made a huge breakthrough in locating the creator’s whereabouts. He told of how Spiritual Man took to studying in full the spiritual plane they connected with so easily, in the hope of understanding it fully. It was discovered that this force did indeed exist across the universe that had so far been explored. They realised that the only way they could achieve their goal was by gaining full access to the plane itself. Spiritual Man took to observing the plane as a complete Universe unto itself, one that existed on top of his own but was at the same time completely separate. Up until now, Spiritual Man had been existing half in one Universe, as it were, and half in the other. It became his goal to give a few selected men full access to this other world. Once a method had been attained (one involving much altering of the volunteer’s mental construct) these men were sent into this other Universe with high hopes. This method though, could not send a Spiritual Man through in body but only in mind. This was safer for the men, for if they encountered a hostile alien race in their journey they would at least be physically invisible to them. Each man was assured that he would have full movement in his state on the other side as a disembodied spirit and had only to use his mind to get him where he willed to go.

Only one of the handful sent returned and what he had found was described to the council as the greatest discovery in mankind’s history. Here follows some excerpts from the exact account given (from what I can recall from memory) by the man upon his return, which was shared with the council;

'This other realm, Universe or plane, whatever one wishes to call it; had the precise layout of my own Universe, yet none of its inhabitants or unique characteristics. In this world, Mars, Saturn and all Earth’s nearby planets were exactly where one would expect them to be, yet they looked nothing like one would expect. Here it seemed, a different history had taken place, one with very different results to our own…. ….In my movement about the stratosphere I had come across these beings quite coincidentally. They had the exact form of a man, but with the height and stature of that which would have put even Physical Men to shame; a bronze skin with a metallic quality to it, as though if one were to touch it, it would feel like steel; and a manner in their movements and apparent discussion that suggested a high level of intelligence. What I found most astonishing though was that these beings were able to move through space without any means of transport. They had small dark coloured wings upon their back, but these showed no sign of movement in propelling them along. They simply floated much as I did, though they in physical form, across space without any struggle and seemingly with no need to breathe. What advanced beings these must be to have found a way to achieve such a thing. Luckily they took no heed of me in my observations…. ….There existed one planet, very far from where Earth would be in my own Universe, which was more magnificent than anything I have ever witnessed or could ever describe with justice. This planet, abnormally large in size, seemed to radiate light from itself, in a very different way to which a Sun or a Star would as we know them to, which obscured my vision of the planet’s very surface. This wondrous planet was the only one I came across in my journey that I could not descend upon and observe among its surface. Something seemed to block my movement completely at every try. Many of these strange men went to and fro from this planet (disappearing from my view the second they passed through this light) making me believe that this place could perhaps be the very place we are looking for…. ….It seemed (due to my eventual comprehension of these men’s languages) that my theory was in fact correct. In their conversations when travelling these men talked about how pleased their leader would be with their work, which seems to be the observing of races such as our own. This leads me to believe that these men are able to view our world at will when at a certain point in their Universe and that this is in fact the very disruption we have so long pondered on that gives us such a period of bliss. They discussed how our races and others were progressing, how long each will last before its extinction, and through these conversations I even learnt that there exists a multitude of Universes, all of which are connected to this higher one in the same way as ours. These revelations, I think you’ll agree, are beyond astonishing. Mankind has finally discovered his origins and is very close to meeting his maker.’

Much debate then flowed, primarily on the credibility of the account then on what this meant to mankind as a species if it was true. The Intellectual and Spiritual Men left the meeting with renewed vigour in their hearts: this astonishing collaboration of intelligences meant that the goal they and their ancestors before them had strived towards was now very close to being realised.

Chapter Nine.
THE CREATOR FOUND

Thus Perfect Man was born. Intellectual Man designed him to have the ability to pass fully into and out of the ‘higher plane’ as it was being called, both physically and mentally, now that Spiritual Man had completed his research. His intelligence was just above that of Intellectual Man, his physical capabilities twice that of long-gone Physical Man’s; with such powers as no Physical Man could ever have dreamed. Whereas each Physical Man had been reared to have one special ability, Perfect Man had at his disposal every power that had ever been developed in Physical Man and more. This being had the power of flight not only within Earth’s atmosphere but also in space. More beings had been sent into the higher plane to observe these strange men until the method of flight had been discovered. This being could manipulate all of the Earth’s elements at will, could heal itself from major wounds and could even change its appearance to give a near perfect effect of invisibility. It seemed there was nothing these beings could not achieve, making them very intimidating, yet perfectly equipped to achieve man’s ultimate hostile goal. Upon having explained to them their purpose at an appropriate age they seemed to share the hostile reasoning of both races and showed no signs, as Intellectual Man had predicted, of rebellion towards their immediate creators. These beings were bred in huge quantity and in this way Intellectual and Spiritual Man built up a vast army.

Meanwhile, further research was taking place in trying to find out more about this strange planet on which all these men seemed to live. Men had speculated that these beings were perhaps the creator’s own personal race that he used to do his will. Why they had been chosen it was not known, most were in general agreement that the creator had created them himself. It was also generally accepted that the creator lived on the planet; or even, as some speculated, was the planet. Whatever the theory, it was realised that war must be launched upon this world and its men before they realised they were being observed. A ‘final meeting’ was called, which lasted over a period of several days, where Intellectual Man, Spiritual Man and Perfect Man all debated both the ultimate goal itself, whether it was an ideal past its time, and how applicable it was to their modern society. They also discussed battle strategies on the war to come. It was concluded with this strategy; contact would be made with the bronze men, in which a peaceful meeting with the creator would be proposed. If they refused, the planet would be attacked, and upon being breached, they would confront the creator themselves with their questions (whatever he may be): he would then be destroyed. If they accepted, then man would meet with the creator and find out what he wished to know, then continue the attack as planned. Either way a conversation would take place in which certain questions regarding his indifference and existence would be put forth, and then he would be attacked regardless with full strength, and annihilated.

Perfect Man would be man’s infantry, Spiritual Man his leaders and Intellectual Man his tacticians. Spiritual Man would be in the higher plane in mental form only among the fighting Perfect Men, and Intellectual Man would have to stay in his own Universe (for they could not pass through), and would have to give tactical command to the Spiritual Men which passed back and forth. Supreme confidence was heralded all around in Perfect Man and his (hopeful) superiority over the bronze men, and eventually over the creator. It was rationalised that if the creator needed such men to guard him then he must not be so all powerful, and it was thought that if they could defeat the bronze men then defeating the creator would be an easy task.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 6 & 7 (out of 11)

Chapter Six.
LIFE FOUND

After many centuries of this peaceful observation and personal development a breakthrough regarding the ultimate goal was achieved. Through man’s gradually expanding exploration of the universe a planet was found which it was obvious had quite recently contained intelligent life. Intellectual man, along with normal man, had taken complete control of space exploration (with the other two races merely acting as observers) and it was through their ever increasing ingenuity in methods of space travel that such far reaches of space had been reached. The planet that had been discovered was similar to that of Earth except for the fact that it seemed to be experiencing an Ice Age that had recently come into full effect and was increasing exponentially year by year. Upon this planet lay many ruins of what had been impressive architecture as well as the remains of a species long dead. It was revealed through analysis that this species had looked something like a cross between man and some form of wingless bird species. It was found that they had been covered on most parts of their body by a thick quilt of feathers and seemed to have entertained some type of beak in place of a mouth. It was assumed that their intellect had been advanced, but not past that of ancient man in the first millennia. They seemed to have attained an agricultural level of development and had left very few written manuscripts. Upon further excavation, something more astonishing was found. Not far beneath the surface of their planet existed the remains of what once had been tall industrial buildings, much like those that had existed on Earth in the 22nd Century. Further study showed that these buildings had been destroyed by explosions of a nuclear origin. It was pieced together then, that this race had faced a global war, on a scale that Earth had itself once narrowly avoided, which completely destroyed and ruined this amazing civilisation. The survivors, it seemed, had many years later started to rebuild civilisation, but this time modestly, and had abandoned many things which they could easily have made if they had wished to. In the presumed amount of time this new civilisation resided on the planet after the war they could have built a world up to the standard of their predecessors and more, yet it seemed that they had chosen to live humble and modest lives, in the manner of old man, purely being concerned with agriculture and minor trade, and without excessive technology and weapons.

This discovery had huge repercussions back on Earth. Man had now confirmed the creator’s lack of care for his creations. An intelligent race upon another planet had been totally annihilated, even after achieving complete rehabilitation and a lack of arrogance, and yet God had not intervened in the slightest to save his race; he merely let them die without a care. This confirmed that if ever mankind were to face extinction, God would take the same approach in doing nothing to stop it. Many men, normal, intellectual, physical and spiritual, united gloriously in the righteousness of their beliefs and wept bitterly upon the true realisation that they were not cared for. This was considered a time of huge victory for the hateful faction, and their number increased dramatically. The hearts and minds of many were changed; all of normal men now belonged to this hateful faction, as well as two thirds of Physical Man and even one quarter of Spiritual Man. Mankind as a race was now becoming increasingly hateful towards God and it seemed that upon completion of the ultimate goal, the result was far more likely to become a hostile one than a peaceful one.

Chapter Seven.
THE RETURN OF WAR

All through the new men’s existence normal man was forced to take a backseat to all that was happening, and had long resented it. Some claimed that it was a mistake to have created such beings and yet others claimed that it was necessary and the only way to achieve the ultimate goal. Whichever view they took, all were united in their fear for their own existence and in their resolve to survive. Intelligent Man had long since cut off all communication and involvement with normal man, deeming it futile, and it was well known that his despite for him had reached a new height.

Three and a half thousand years after the finding of alien life, all of normal man, Intellectual Man and Physical Man now belonged to the hateful faction. Only Spiritual Man held out in its majority with members of the alternate faction. The general despite of God among the newer races was now a source of great danger for normal man. The final part of the ultimate goal was now fully conceived. Once God had been found he would be met by mankind with fierce hostility and after everything man wanted to know had been found out, God would be destroyed with the same complete lack of empathy he had showed man. This led to the train of thought that before they defeated the ultimate creator they must defeat their immediate one; normal man. Although they had initially been treated by them with great empathy and love, these relations had long since faded and the situation, in the view of Intellectual and Physical man was beyond repair. Coupled with their uselessness and constant plundering of the Earth’s precious resources, it was decided that they had to be destroyed. In terms of population at this time normal man took up around 40% of the world, Intellectual Man 15%, Physical Man 30% and Spiritual Man 15%. War was promptly declared by Intellectual and Physical Man against normal man. Spiritual Man did not try to intervene. This was mostly due to his fear of the complete control Intellectual Man seemed to have over Physical Man; but he bravely refused Intellectual Man’s request for allegiance (which greatly angered him) and stood completely neutral throughout the war.
Normal man did not last long. The war was fought almost completely in the old fashion style, with army pitted against army. Both sides agreed not to ruin the planet with the extreme explosives man had crafted over the years. Intellectual Man had Physical Man under complete control; only Physical Men were used in their armies, so that Intellectual Man was not put directly in harms way. After a decade and a half the war was finally coming to a close. Normal man’s weapons had inflicted some damage but proved ultimately ineffective against Physical Man’s highly developed powers, coupled with the machines that Intellectual Man had devised to aid him. Telekinesis, advanced strength, self-regeneration, manipulation of the elements and more were all used to bring about normal man’s downfall.

With the complete destruction of their creators, and taking courage in Physical Man’s mass depletion, Spiritual Men finally united in strong defiance of the other two races and the atrocities they had committed.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 4 & 5 (out of 11)

Chapter Four.
DISPERSION

All these three beings were conceived at the same time by different groups of scientists across the world in order to compare the development between them. Breeding was encouraged amongst them but strictly controlled. Within thirty years of creation their overall number had increased from the initial 90 to 146, and their number grew exponentially from then on. They were each fully aware of each other but were kept strictly apart until adulthood had been reached. After much deliberation, it was decided by normal man that each race should be given its own land to live on, and would be ruled over in no way by normal man except in his laws. They would be allowed to appoint their own leaders among themselves (which in truth they had already done) and live as they pleased, with some normal men living among them constantly so as to study them and maintain a solid relationship. With respect to their own wishes Spiritual Men were given several Northern continents to occupy, Physical Men several continents about the equator (in that their athletic nature demanded a hot climate) and Intellectual Men several in the South, all separated sufficiently by their creators so as not to cause strife between the races.

Chapter Five.
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NEW SPECIES

The relations that existed between these new races were few and far between due to extreme diversities. Intellectual Men and Spiritual Men looked upon each other primarily with respect, for they were able to see in each other an advanced species of a different kind they could converse with, at least to an extent. Secondly they looked upon each other with contempt, for both thought themselves superior to the other; and thirdly with a jealous eye, for although each thought their area of advancement the better one that would bring them closer to the ultimate goal, each looked upon the other’s with wonder. Spiritual Men wished to be able to achieve such a high level of intellect as to not rely on Intellectual Man’s experiments, and Intellectual Men wished they had the capability to connect fully with the wondrous plane which could give them clarity in their thinking and thus their work, which could possibly be the link they needed to the creator.

If the Intellectual Men and Spiritual Men looked down upon each other then they both did doubly so upon Physical Man. He were handled with care, for all the other men knew well enough how dangerous he was, but he was generally excluded from meetings among the races, especially regarding intellectual pursuits and the ultimate goal. Physical men despised the way they were looked upon as lesser beings. They desired to achieve the ultimate goal as much as any of the races, but did not care for the means, purely the result. All that concerned these men were the more simple pleasures of life, relaxing and enjoying what they were given. Among them existed the notion of romantic love, as well as monogamy. Adultery was greatly frowned upon in their community. What they were interested in most though of course, was personal advancement in all physical aspects. Fierce, highly regular athletic games existed, as well as showcases of many different individual ‘powers’ (as physical man named them) for entertainment’s sake, such as magnificent displays of telekinetic ability and amazing displays of super strength. All individuals were encouraged and aided in developing their power to its maximum potential, and through this astonishing things were achieved.

Regarding the factions that existed among man, each new race took on the train of thought they found most plausible and joined the respective faction. Intellectual Man took to the side of the believers, but to the faction that viewed the creator as an enemy who had perpetrated a great sin upon man kind in his carelessness that should be punished.

Physical Man on the other hand, due to his low level of intelligence, initially took the view that there was an all caring and loving God watching over him, and with whom he could share a mutual appreciation; but upon revealing this to the other races he was greeted with shock and anger that such a barbaric and ancient view could have re-formed in this day and age. He was shown the ‘error’ of his ways and taught to appreciate all three of the existing factions first, then told to choose which one suited him best. This led to Physical Men each choosing different factions to one another, causing (beneficially) their nation to become a very diverse one in terms of belief.

Spiritual Men were unified in their beliefs like Intellectual Man, yet did not share the same opinion. They believed that the plane they were able to connect with was not the creator himself but something definitely deeply linked to him. It was debated continuously as to its true nature and purpose but most believed it was the creator’s method of travel and of observing his experiments. There were times in this state, perhaps once every two decades or so, that a huge disruption occurred causing Spiritual Men to become mentally inept for however long the period of time lasted, resigning themselves to their homes, not being able to communicate or do anything accept sit in solitary meditation in awe of this wondrous increase in their perception and state of mind. It was said by many to be the presence of the creator when he came to make his observations on mankind. Within this time of resignation Spiritual Man claimed there was nothing but goodness and bliss in the world he perceived, which logically meant the creator was not an evil being. They all therefore took to the faction that believed in a God but held no hatred for him, believing him to be an essentially good if neglecting being, and looked upon him with the same indifference with which he looked upon mankind. Atheism then, was completely non-existent among the new races; it only remained with normal man. When this was realised by normal man, the atheists reasoned that if these higher beings they had created all believed in God then logically God had to exist and what they were doing was folly. From that day of realisation onwards, Atheism was forever dead among mankind.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 2 & 3 (out of 11)

Chapter Two.
THE COMMON GOAL

It was upon reaching this peaceful age that unrest began to show again. A great divide formed between those who believed in an indifferent and unjust God. There were those that looked upon this being with anger and hatred at his experimental and careless attitude toward mankind, and those who looked upon him without animosity, but with the same indifference with which he regarded them. This divide was worsened still by young radicals who wanted to see each other’s faction marginalized or completely obliterated. Action was taken in order before any real hostility could arise. A meeting was arranged between the factions, which would not end until their differences were settled. After much debate it was concluded that though their views conflicted, their goals were effectively the same. Both had long dreamed (and such had been the dream of all man) that they could one day find this being and make contact with it, for whatever purpose. It was believed that man had now definitely reached the technological stage where such a goal could be achieved: all that was left now was for man to reach the stage within himself where he would be ready to do so. They devised how he would achieve this level through his now unequivocal mastery of genetic modification. A new, improved man, worthy of contact with God, would be created.

With the abolishment of nationalism, the Earth was now run by a World State, which contained equal members of all three factions; the two forms of believers and the atheists. This was a state that, up until now, imposed very strict restrictions on both genetic engineering and space exploration. Both of these were practised, but in moderation. This was the case with genetic engineering because the believers within the state feared within themselves the capability of becoming like the creator himself, bringing into existence a new species of man purely for the sake of scientific experimentation that would not be loved or nurtured. It was the case with space travel because believer and atheist alike feared the individual colonisation by any single faction on a separate planet or moon where it could not be monitored, thus having the capability of starting a rebellion. After the landmark meeting of the factions however, it was decided that man was ready to be given total freedom in both these fields (though with guidance), to aid him in reaching his single goal. Philosophers gave assurances through their own reasoning, that by God having created life from physical matter once, and that physical connection having once existed, he must be reachable, and it must be possible for that connection to be re-established. It was realised that the new form of man to be created must excel in many ways that they did not.

For many years it was debated whether the creator could be reached through a predominantly spiritual, physical or intellectual being, based on speculation of the creator’s own make-up. Some argued that since the universe was created of physical matter, then the creator would logically himself have to be a physical being and exist somewhere out there in the universe. Others argued that religion, in both its old and new form has always been rooted thoroughly in the spiritual side of things, and they argued that it was only through the soul, and through man’s oneness with existence that God could be reached. Others still, argued that God must be a being of unfathomable intellect to have created such a wonderfully complex thing as the universe and that the only way to make contact with him would be to advance man’s intellect to the highest stage possible, upon which the means of contact would become clear. It was then rationalised that by covering all angles they could not fail, and it was eventually decided that they would make one species of man excelling in each attribute: for if they tried to make one that embodied all, the combination of factors would result in a confusion of aims and principles that would result only on failure.

The moral implications that previously placed restrictions on genetic engineering were brought up again. It was suggested that this could be solved by treating these new beings purely as equals, not as inventions of man. This would (in man’s eyes) shift any blame that could be cast from man onto the very creator he was aspiring to find. Regarding deep space exploration, a theory was put forth which it became extremely important to prove. Man’s previous, restricted exploration had discovered life, but only miniscule and bacterial. No intelligent life had ever been discovered. It was reasoned among man that if any intelligence was discovered then it would prove God’s experimental attitude towards his living creations. The thinking behind this was that if another intelligent species existed in the vastness of space then it was only logical to assume there were many more to be found. Man figured that the more numerous God’s creations, the less he cared for any one specific race. It was also thought that if evidence could be found that an intelligent species had once existed and been wiped out to the point of extinction, then this would prove that God had not intervened when one of his creations was threatened and thus cared even less about their fate. Lastly, if such a race was found, it was hoped that they would have the same aspiration as man and be able to help him with his quest.
Of course, not all were in full support of mankind’s new united goal. The atheist factions that still existed among them viewed man’s new quest primarily with amusement, in that they thought it a futile mission to search for something that wasn’t there; over time this turned to anger as the vast majority of man’s attention and resources was being put into these efforts. They thought there was many a better way in which such resources could be spent. This did not mean to say they didn’t relish in the findings acquired through space exploration, being themselves men of science.
So man took on the first step in the journey, creating three completely new species of man.

Chapter Three.
THREE NEW MEN

Intellectual Man

Initially it was designated that thirty humans of each species would be created: fifteen male and fifteen female. Intellectual Man was the firstborn. His brain was designed to be precisely two and a half times the size of a normal man’s. He was thus given an enlarged skull to compensate. The sheer weight of this new man’s head demanded that his body be designed to have an extremely large and muscular neck and shoulders, not to mention legs stout and sturdy to hold the excessive weight. In order to accommodate the huge muscles necessary for all of this, Intellectual Man’s average height was brought up to around 7 foot, making him an extremely powerful and intimidating creature. The high levels of intellect were instigated through certain parts of the brain being injected with a substance that could increase activity in that region. This was administered to the parts of the human brain that normal man knew would benefit from such increases.
The way these men were brought up and educated throughout their youth, it was realised, would play a great part in how their intellects would evolve. They were subsequently given the best education available, by normal man’s finest, from a very young age. These beings (to the delight of their engineers) responded positively to this and showed a hunger for knowledge and personal advancement in a way that would be considered abnormal among ordinary men. Upon having described to them man’s aspirations to reach God, and the role they were to play in what was to come, Intellectual Man seemed to find the prospect intriguing and took pride in the importance of their species. By the age of sixteen these beings had taken in everything normal man had to offer them intellectually, they were thus encouraged to create their own experiments in many fields and to continue to pursue their advancement of intellect. Intellectual Men relished this sudden change and worked exclusively with each other in these experiments, relegating normal man’s role to that of mere helpers. After a while even normal man’s top intellects, assigned to the demeaning role of observation, started to lose understanding of what was being explored due to their inferior intellect. Thus was normal man reduced to funding experiments they knew nothing about, and although they were angry at their complete lack of comprehension, they trusted that whatever these new men were undertaking was very necessary and beneficial towards their goal. In truth Intellectual Men’s work was progressing at an exponential rate, as indeed was their intellect, and though appreciative of their creators they looked upon them as pathetic, feeble minded creatures.

Physical Man

Physical man was designed to possess all the abilities of normal man’s best athletes multiplied tenfold. This supreme athletic skill was engineered to be achieved naturally through growth from childhood to adulthood, rather than having to be achieved through strict repetitive training. This amazing skill obviously required a strong, large physical stature, even larger than that of Intellectual Man, placing the average height of this race at 8 ½ foot. This similarity in size and stature made Intellectual Man’s overly large head and brain the only way to tell each race apart visibly. Normal man was technologically able at this time even to manipulate evolution itself and thus encouraged in Physical Man a rapid progression of such by rearing them in specific environments to develop within each of them an astonishing abnormal ability. There was a vast range of environments used in order to acquire diversity, the result of this being that each Physical Man developed a power unto his own. Among them lay the gifts of abnormally great strength, astonishingly developed agility and speed, the ability of some to breathe and thus survive under water and even in some cases the power of partial flight, though not sustainable for very long. They paid a price though for what has been described; their mental state suffered heavily and they were barely able to achieve intelligence at the level of the average normal man. They were however shown great love and affection, making them kind and loving yet very powerful beings. Some argued that this was a race close to the old image of God from the time when religion was rife; an innocent, all-powerful yet loving and caring being.

Spiritual Man

Spiritual Man was a far greater challenge for normal men to devise than the previous two, for spirituality had been something strongly linked throughout the past with religion. These men were raised then with very idealistic values. It was reasoned by normal man that even though it had been established that God was not the creator, or at least the nurturer of all that was good in the universe, goodness still existed in some absolute form and was an important thing to connect with. During the time of religion long ago, many men had claimed to be able to achieve a state of mind on a different level to that of the average man through various methods including meditation, the use of drugs and religious experiences. Over the years man had discovered that this higher state of mind was no delusion and that there did indeed exist something all around us with which we could mentally connect. Much debate at the time included the argument that this very thing was God himself. A method was devised to give easier access than before to this plane of thought: a very complex and expensive to produce drug named Tribathiew B. At the time this was only affordable by the very rich, or was given freely to men of great intellect with the aim of advancing mankind in their fields. The drug itself only enabled a very short period of time in this state as it was found to be often fatally dangerous otherwise. Thus not much was discovered. Gradually, with the progression of science, man had devised a way to genetically engineer his senses to the point where new ones could be created. Much inspiration was taken from the study of the wide range of senses various animals hold and the way they use them. Thus man learnt that a sense could be engineered within a being which automatically connected them to this strange frequency which existed everywhere, without the need of any drugs at all. This was tested and re-tested with minor beings until it was perfected in theory and thus put into effect with Spiritual Man.

Here then was a being that could tune itself in and out of this state of clarity at will. Of course no new knowledge could be discovered if these creatures suffered from low levels of intelligence, so from childhood they were given the best education available and encouraged to develop their own experiments much in the way of the Intellectual Men, though at nowhere near the same level due to their brains being of an average size. So although not as intelligent as the Intellectual Men, through this higher state they could achieve a form of understanding beyond the reach of Intellectual men (at least for a long enough time to gain anything from it) and were potentially already closer to God than mankind had ever been before.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Introduction and Chapter 1 (out of 11)

An old short story of mine in the vein of Olaf Stapledon. I will be uploading two chapters at a time from now on, every once and a while, until the entire story is on here.

Babel's Tower
By Chris J. Hart

Introduction.
LOOKING BACK

This is a historical account, written to document how the occurrences of the past 19,000 years, of man’s folly, over-ambition and blind arrogance has led to destruction for the majority of our race: and something far worse for the rest. I have decided to create this account, for both my own benefit and the benefit of others. It is my hope that you will learn from the mistakes we have made so that you may not commit such crimes yourselves.

Chapter One.
THE MOVEMENT

It is the year 3411 that marks the true start of what was to come. A spiritual movement was conceived that allowed man to delve far deeper than before into the pit of arrogance and ignorance in which he already wandered. Up until the year 3000, man’s constant struggle with religious wars and terrorism hampered his development greatly and suppressed any change for the better that could possibly have taken place. After many wars, and the constant cyclical progression of hate breeding hate, it was concluded that the only way to defeat the problem was to attack it at its core; to attempt to change religion thoroughly. By this stage in man’s existence, he had developed the intellectual capacity to conceive in mass that religion, though laudable in its ideals, was fundamentally illogical. How could there be a God, all loving and caring like the most popular religions claimed, who was willing to let limitless pain and suffering occur amongst man and not intervene in the least? How could he let entire species, whether intelligent or not, become extinct as though they never existed? How could any of the worshipped Gods of the time be real if, when looked back over history, a vastness of different incarnations had been given by each religion, and each had held their God to be the only true one? It was therefore deduced by many that if indeed a God did exist at all, it was most likely that he was indifferent to his creations and cared not in the least about any of them. This led man into a period of agnosticism and what became known as nihilistic theism, led by many great philosophers and intellectuals who previously held these dispositions. This was aptly named the Movement of Spiritual Clarity. Through a realisation of this lack of love, love itself did not fail on Earth as one might think, but instead it grew exponentially. Man became less divided through his abolition of orthodox religions and united as one with pride in his own species, much as many unwanted children would band together in the absence of their parents and look out for each other.

One might wonder how this Movement of Spiritual Clarity was brought about, and how people so fixed in their beliefs that they were willing to die for them could be made to change their ways. The truth is that by this time man’s intellect had evolved and grown to the point where it was a natural thought to abandon these naive ideas of an all caring deity. Many religious wars were still being fought; more to protect and conserve nationalism and the religious traditions of those before them than because they really believed in their God. All that was needed was one major movement such as this to unite everyone in this new way of thinking.

For four thousand years man was at one with his new outlook on religion. His lack of animosity allowed him to focus instead on more important things such as developing science as far as possible and in this time vast developments were indeed made. The problems the planet faced, such as the ever dwindling fuels and the effects of global warming, were able to be given full attention and were, over time, solved completely. Population levels were now under strict control, meaning that mankind was free to give his attention to what it considered the two scientific fields most worth pursuing; deep space exploration and genetic engineering.
The planet was secured as a safe home for mankind. At least until a new danger arose.

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Short story: 'The Roads Not Taken'

The Roads Not Taken
By Chris J. Hart

"By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes."
— Aldous Huxley


Detective Investigator Myles Vexlynd crouched beside the body, watching the blood flow gracefully along the smooth warehouse floor.
After a while he glanced up at his apprentice partner, Hal Stapp. The poor guy had been assigned to one hell of a first job.
“Not a pretty sight” he observed.
“Indeed not” replied Stapp.
He donned a pair of white gloves and crouched among the remains, careful to hold his coat away from the pools of blood.
“So, the many-worlds interpretation states that each possible outcome of this suicide attempt is played out in a different universe. And therefore what we are experiencing is merely one in which he died?” Stapp pondered.
“Exactly” said Myles, impressed.
“Most of us experience life linearly. Like this” – he traced a single, straight line through the more clotted blood on the floor with one gloved finger – “But this is an illusion, because everyday life presents us with a myriad of choices. As a result, life should look more like this” – he traced two further lines off-shooting in separate directions from the end of the first, then paused and gazed up at Stapp for a moment to check that he was following.
“Each choice leads to a new path,” he explained, tracing more and more off-shooting lines at the end of each of the previous ones.
“And each choice we take creates a new reality,” finished Stapp. “A succession of roads not taken.”
“Precisely” said Myles.
He stood up, stripped the gloves off and placed them on a table. “What our friend here was trying to prove is something called quantum immortality. It dictates that with every life or death situation, there will always be at least a small chance – however minuscule – that we will survive.”
“And thus an alternative reality exists to accommodate that survival” chimed in Stapp.
“Exactly. And they say that our consciousness will always follow this route, no matter what. For example, the odds of this guy surviving these many lethal devices that he rigged for himself is extremely slim, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I would” nodded Stapp.
He walked around the victim slowly as he talked. “Yet quantum immortality dictates that in at least one universe he has somehow miraculously beaten the odds and managed to survive. If the theory is true, then that is the one in which he exists now, having narrowly escaped death. We just happen to be perceiving one of those many universes in which he did not.”
“According to this theory,” he said, “each of us, by our own perception, will outlive all of those around us and live forever. We will live to see civilisation fall, and even to see the end of the world itself. And after all life around us has ended, we will each of us be alone in our own universe, existing in whatever strange state of being that allows consciousness to continue.”
“Each in our own private Hell” concluded Stapp.
“Indeed” said Myles, bitterly.
“An extremely depressing theory” figured Stapp, joining him in scanning for clues. “So why try to prove it to yourself? Why not just believe in the science?”
“If there was a chance that you could be immortal, wouldn’t you rather know for sure? I imagine that realisation is very liberating, not to mention dangerous to those around you – to know with absolute certainty that no matter what you do, you cannot die. The world would be your playground.”
Stapp’s attention was caught by something across the room, and Myles watched his partner walk over to an air vent on the wall and begin to remove its cover.
“Are we looking for anything in particular?” Stapp asked.
“In almost every case so far, the victims have not left suicide notes behind. I suppose they don’t care about leaving one family behind, in clueless grief, when they have another one to welcome them in their alternative universe.”
He walked among the technical gadgets, timers and weaponry that surrounded the corpse. “If you ask me, this guy seems somewhat cleverer than the rest. If you are going to try to prove to yourself that you are immortal, by miraculously beating the odds of death, then it is best to choose a method of suicide that has an extremely high probability rate of killing you good and proper. That way you ‘awake’ in the other reality having witnessed what was seemingly an impossible miracle before your eyes; allowing you to know you are immortal.”
“Serge” called Stapp. “I think I’ve found something.”
He looked over to see Stapp probing into the ventilation shaft with one arm, to the shoulder. With a jolt, Stapp pulled his arm free to reveal a small piece of paper in his hand.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a note,” Stapp said, glancing up at Myles briefly. “It says;
Good luck getting out of this warehouse alive. I wish you a particularly improbable and miraculous escape. This paper you just pulled started a mechanism that will detonate the explosive charges at the base of this building in a few seconds time. Enjoy immortality – my gift to you. A.”

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