Nippur, Sumeria - April 19, 2528 B.C.
The heat was visible, rising off the sand on the desert horizon. Prometheus could see the groundwork for the great temple in the distance. Human slaves carried mud bricks and added them to the growing base. At the top was Enlil, in his natural form. He could afford to be-these people were building the temple for him, their god. By contrast, Prometheus was in a human form. His shoes dug into the dry desert floor and washed his toes with sand. Enlil recognized him approaching, as one progenitor does another.
"Ah, Prometheus! Good to see you again," Enlil said. He was in a good mood, his skin softly changing colors-first red, then brown, grey, blue.
"Good to see you as well, Enlil. How is the construction coming along?" Prometheus noticed two of the slaves arguing.
"Glad you ask. Your brothers and I are making great strides in the area of human manipulation. Our powers have long made us the subject of polytheistic religious myths, but we've discovered something even more... compelling." Enlil approached the bickering workers. He made a series of short clicking noises, a simple rhythm that he repeated a handful of times. Before Enlil finished, the disagreeable slave had returned to work, and was heading to fetch more bricks, moving about twice as fast as the others.
"O Enlil, great persuader!" the other slave proclaimed. All of the slaves nearby began to bow. Enlil turned back to Prometheus.
"This part is nice, but all the bowing can really go to your head," Enlil said. "What do you make of the first slave? The one moving faster now."
"Your pattern must have controlled him, somehow."
"Indeed. Humans have this vulnerability, you see. Short clicking sounds, arranged the right way and with the right cadence, can compel them to behave a certain way," Enlil said. "It's somewhat built into their own language, even. Right now the biggest barrier is figuring out more complex commands. I only told this one that he wanted to do what pleases me." Enlil smiled.
"You're talking about mind control!" Prometheus was aghast.
"Not exactly, brother," Enlil replied. "Think of it as strong mind-influence. The humans feel an itch to comply, but it is possible to resist. The real potential is when we get them in a group. Combine our clicks with a crowd of other humans doing the same thing, and that becomes very hard for an average human to resist."
"Exploitation like this will anger the humans. It poses a threat to us."
"Come now, Prometheus," Enlil laughed. "You know that we are superior to them. It is the natural order of life. We must mold them to our needs if we are to conquer Earth."
"The best way to mold them to our needs is to keep them happy. Polytheism has served us nicely, but tampering with their free will means tomorrow they will be on your doorstep calling for your head," Prometheus hissed. The mind-influenced slave continued to move double-time, eyes locked to his task.
"It is only experimental, for now," Enlil sighed. "And I agree that it would be unwise to exercise such influence to the point where the humans feel helpless." Prometheus worried. He kept on replaying Enlil's words in his head... hard for an average human to resist... what exactly did that mean? "I trust I will see you back here for the opening of my temple," Enlil said, looking brighter.
"Of course," Prometheus responded.
"It will be the jewel of our new capital city. A milestone in our indefinite rule," Enlil said.
Prometheus wasn't so sure anymore.