Not Taken to Heart3
"How bizarre," I reflected, ascending a gently sloping hill of fluffy white clouds towards a shimmering set of elegant, delicately worked gates. Paul and Eleanor had frequently debated whether or not an android could have a soul. Here I was, climbing towards the Pearly Gates. I must have a soul, yes?
As I neared the gates, a chunk of cloud blew aside, and I discerned a familiar looking fellow seated on another chunk of cloud, reading a book. He was wearing a long, white gown, and had feathered protuberances rising up behind his back. Wings! I had no doubt about it any longer: it was Brennan!
I might be dead, but I couldn't remember Brennan dying.
As I approached, Brennan finally noticed me and set aside the book, which he was holding upside down. Walking on clouds dampens most sound.
"Hey, Adam." He fluttered his wings slightly. He must have been glad to see me.
"Brennan! I didn't expect…" I caught myself. Brennan was an unrepentant thug, and I had to watch carefully that he didn't steal lab equipment for pawning or re-sale, but this hardly seemed like the place or time to re-visit old times.
"That's okay, Adam. After serving my prison terms, I dedicated myself to noble works among the poor."
"Really?"
"Sure. How do you think I got this job instead of the one walking the Hounds of Hell?" Brennan smiled, and reached behind him, pressing a button with a wing-tip. The gates swung open wide, noiselessly.
"Go right in. God's waiting for you."
I entered the gates, and then realized I wasn't sure quite where to go. Brennan noticed my indecision.
"Second door on the left. You can't miss it."
Brennan was right. The second door on the left was oddly familiar, polished stainless steel…where had I seen that before? Before I could recall, the door slid open to the left.
The office was oddly familiar as well…lots of steel, glass, and a generally cold atmosphere. Shouldn't God be warm and fuzzy? Then I noticed God. I always thought of God as an old guy with white hair, but never as this guy with white hair.
Mason turned around in his chair. "Adam! What are you doing in Heaven?"
For a moment, I was speechless. Mason smiling had that effect on most people. "I followed the white light and eventually came here."
"Incompetent idiots in traffic control. Well, until I can straighten out this problem, you may as well relax. Have a seat, Adam." He was still smiling as he picked up his phone.
"Why aren't you wearing white?" Mason was still wearing one of his black pinstripe suits. I could not believe it.
"I'm God. I can wear what I want."
I looked about Mason's office. As far as I could tell, every detail was exactly like his Genomex office except that the back window looked out onto vast ranges of clouds, topped by harp-playing angels.
He put his hand over the phone, and said, "Hard to believe, but they've put me on hold. Can you imagine, putting God on hold? Adam, the reports I've seen about you have been pretty grim. The Genomex mutants as a group are aging, and a lot of them are suffering pain and odd complications. Did you ever develop any guilt about creating so much misery?"
"I was helping sick children."
"Oh, Adam, remember who you're talking to…and that I was there." He turned a monitor around so I could see it plainly. "Watch this, and tell me about your good intentions again. You've left quite a legacy."
The images were horrible. Mutants, many of whom I recognized, suffering from out of control powers, powers inverted against their own body tissue, all manner of horrors. The worst were the ones with children, people I had placed in the underground. At the time, I felt good about getting them out into society, but now, they were in agonies from their complications and from the knowledge their children would suffer after them.
Mason hung up the phone. "Guides will be here shortly. Adam, if you had just honestly recognized what you had done, and tried to make amends…we would have been willing to work with you." He paused, and shook his head. "I don't like to send people there, I really do not. It gives me no joy. You met Brennan out front. Brennan turned his life around, late in life, admittedly, but he did make the effort. You had so many more abilities. You could have worked such good for so many people." He looked genuinely remorseful.
"What if you sent me back, and I did good works?"
"That's against the laws of Heaven, Adam. I'm sorry."
The steel door slid open. A pair of women in red leather suits carrying tridents walked in, unsmiling. They had long tails ending in sharp points that they kept in constant motion, like a pair of nervous cats, and shiny black, leathery looking wings. I recognized them. Christina and Danielle.
Christina did not hesitate, but strode right up to me, and poked me with her trident.
"Ouch! That thing is sharp!"
"What did you expect? Out of the chair. We have other business besides you."
Danielle addressed Mason. "We came as soon as you called. I don't know how the bean-counters will handle this, but your traffic people have to learn to be more careful about where they direct souls. There will have to be some kind of intradepartmental cross-charge for this pickup, Mason. We're busy harpies."
"I understand fully, and I promise I will have words will them. Now, if you would…"
The two harpies seized me by both arms and began beating their wings furiously, rapidly soaring up and out of Mason's office. Mason didn't even watch. Brennan waved as we went by. I couldn't wave back.
The beating of the leathery, bat-like wings made a horrible rustling sound, dreadful to hear. I was relieved when the pair stopped climbing above heaven, and began gliding…down…except that they made no move to slow their descent. We fell faster and faster, finally breaking through the clouds of heaven, falling towards the fires of hell, extending to the horizon.
Then, the two wretched harpies let me go, laughing! I screamed. I screamed for a long time, until I was hoarse.
I woke up with my heart pounding. I stayed there in the dark for a long time, relieved to have the memory fade quickly, as dreams will. Then I remembered I had to get up and prepare for an arrival. I had arranged with a Genomex mutant I had made more than two decades ago, to work on her in vitro implantation…and of course, I made improvements of my own…she would be here in less than an hour.