Alexander had just finished dressing when Samantha entered his room. She looked at him for a moment and liked what she saw. He had discarded his hospital look of the previous days and chosen a more formal one. Not so much more formal, but still. Black cowboy boots, black Levi's 501 jeans, white t-shirt, and a black shirt with the top two buttons undone. Samantha just knew that he would never be a guy for protocol and suits. She came to stand in front of him and he took her in his arms and kissed her.
"Alex, everyone is here. Are you ready?"
"Are you ready Red?"
"What should I be ready for?"
"If I have to be the prince in a situation like this from now on, and you want to be a part of it and be by my side, then from now on, in a situation like this, at a table like this, you have to be the princess. Not just my girlfriend."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that."
"Samantha, I can't do this without you, I don't want to do this without you. You are the fuel I need to get through this because when I think about how big this is, I start to shake. I get sick to my stomach and I have to run to the bathroom."
"Alexander, I am all you need because all I want is you. Now and after this is all over."
"Then let's get this show on the road."
Arriving at the meeting room, he took a deep, nervous breath and then stepped inside, followed by Samantha. He walked to the head of the table and was surprised to see everyone standing. Samael admittedly with some reluctance, but still. Alex took his place and they all took their seats. He absolutely did not like this protocol stuff and hoped that if he led what was to come in certain directions that it would gradually ebb away and everyone would become more comfortable.
"Good morning, welcome to my little war room. Yesterday Samantha, Celine, Michael, Gabriel, Fuzzie and I had a little brainstorming session."
At the mention of the nickname Fuzzie, several of the participants laughed a little and Raphael turned a little red in the face.
"It was Celine who had a brilliant idea."
He stood up and walked over to the board where Celine had drawn the basic model of what he would need the day before. And outlined what Celine had explained to him. As he sat back in his seat, he asked:
"Lady Aisha, Lord Franklin, is this feasible in practice?"
"The creation of a mini-dimension between the two universes is possible. What about the passage of time in that dimension? If we anchor it to you, then you are the one who decides. If you decide that only one minute has elapsed in the universes to which the dimension is attached, then time in the dimension will adjust to make that happen."
"And what does this dimension look like? I don't feel like floating around in some kind of nothingness and maybe having to talk to some angel for days on end."
"The dimension is anchored to you, so you decide what it looks like in there."
"Cool!"
Alexander said with a sneaky smile as a picture started to form in his brain. He took a sip of his coffee and asked his next question:
"As the Gods of all creation in this multiverse, and when I say that I assume there are several, do you have control over time? Is time linear for you?"
It was Franklin who answered:
"No, time is not linear for us, although we exist linearly."
"You can go back and forth in time?"
"Yes, but we are very careful about it. At the slightest mistake, you create an infinite time loop because of the paradox."
"I have read about this. Can you explain it to me in small words, as if I were very, very stupid?"
Aisha nodded and then gave a brief overview of the paradox of time travel.
"But why would you want to time travel, Alexander?"
She asked. He thought for a moment how to answer that and then said:
"Most of last night I was lying awake. Wrestling with the question of what I should save in that universe. Only the Silver City and the angels with it. All of Heaven and the souls already there. Do I leave Earth with its billions of souls and Hell with its hundreds of millions of innocent souls to their fate? Or do I go for it and try to save all three? It took me a few seconds to find an answer to this question. Everything and everyone. What kept me awake for so long was the question of how."
Samael looked at him and said:
"Saving the Earth is going to be problematic, Alexander."
Which earned him a dirty look from the four gods and Samantha, and he corrected himself very quickly:
"Excuse me, My Lord. Man has doomed the Earth. Climate change will end the existence of mankind. The point of no return has been reached for some time, and not even the gods can change that.
"I know, and that brings me to the next question I asked myself; do I let humanity die out, and if so, what then? Start over? I am half human and although my existence on your Earth has not been pleasant, I am still attached to humanity. Since I am part human, I don't think I have any other choice. I have to at least try to partially save humanity. And not only in my universe but in your universe as well, unless you have already decided to let humanity die out here."
Completely confused, Robert asked:
"Our universe? You want to go and save humanity in both universes. But how? You are in your universe at that time, not in our universe, how can you do that here, Alex? It's just impossible."
Samantha giggled and said:
"Just wait Daddy."
"Simple Lord Robert. Lady Aisha and Lord Franklin can travel instantly between the two universes. Until I find a way for both universes to work together, I can use them to transfer detailed information so that you can simply copy the process. Once I am on the throne in my universe, I can also use my Gabriel to transfer information to your Gabriel. That way you will have the same information that I have. So both civilizations can be saved, or at least partially saved, so that they can have a go-around."
Gabriel asked:
"My Lord, haven't you gone a step too far? We are talking about saving humanity in not one, but two universes. But before you can do that, you must first attain the throne of your universe."
With the following words, Alexander astonished everyone:
"Gaining the throne happened on the day I was born, only Godfry doesn't know it yet."
Now it was Celine who spoke, and Alexander could not help but retaliate for the previous day.
"Come again?"
He leaned forward and looked deep into her eyes with a mischievous smirk on his face and said:
"I would love to darling but I think Samantha would object or at least have to be involved."
Samantha burst out laughing, while Michael, Gabriel, and Fuzzie all had big smiles on their faces. The rest, who had not been there the day before, sat watching the scene uncomprehendingly. Alexander said:
"The throne was taken the day I was born and thrown into this universe. Granted, the start was a bit problematic, as their Gabriel is apparently an idiot and put me in the wrong body. Everything between the moment of my birth and the moment I sit on the throne is a technicality. Paint by number, if you will. Very rudimentary; one, make a flaming sword, two, get those four idiots to build an army there in their Heaven, three, use the flaming sword to destroy their Heavenly Gates, four, remove Godfry from the throne."
Michael sat up and looked at him in disbelief and asked:
"What, four steps and that's it?"
"Yes General, it is a strategy better known as; keep it simple stupid."
Aisha asked:
"Then if it's so simple, why all the fuss about this dimension and time travel?"
"Because while the plan may seem very simple on paper, it takes time to execute, a lot of time, and we don't have time. If I don't have time, I will steal time."
"How?"
Michael asked, confused. Instead of answering, Alexander asked in turn:
"Put yourself in their shoes for a moment, Michael. Your god is completely paranoid, and your only chance is to build an army that must have an overwhelming majority so that your secret weapon, the Nefilim, can do his work. Why an overwhelming majority? Because I have no interest in saving their angels if I have to leave hundreds of dead angels in my wake to accomplish that goal. What is the point of saving them from a tyrant if I have to kill them in a war? I want a bloodless coup, not a war. They suffer enough without me causing more carnage. War is the very last option I want to have to use so that I can at least save some of them. But I want to start with the goal of saving them all! How much time would it take you to assemble this army, knowing that you can't trust anyone, so you have to be extremely careful? You can't recruit the Angels in large groups because Godfry would know immediately and your coup would be over before you even started."
Michael thought for a moment:
"The beginning would be the hardest and would take the most time. You can't approach them outright. You have to wait until you see an obvious sign that they might be willing to be on your side and then slowly, very slowly, bring them in, because you don't know who you can trust and no one knows if you can be trusted. After all, you are the General, so you should be one hundred percent loyal to your God. I don't know how long it would take to put it together that way and have a complete army with an overwhelming majority, but it would take an enormous amount of time. At least the first stages would consume damn much time."
"Again, time we don't have. We know we have four of their Angels willing to cooperate in a coup, Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, and Raphael. At least we know that there were four at the time of my birth. We don't know who started the movement or when so that's another open question that needs to be answered. They are the ones who caused me to end up here. They are the instigators of this problem, so they better cooperate to solve it."
"You're thinking about time travel."
Franklin said:
"The paradox will continue to be a problem."
"It's going to be a bitch to get a time loop out of the way, but I think it's possible."
"How?"
Robert asked.
"By attacking the problem from two sides at once. We need Azrael at least a few times in the present to get as much information as possible. Which of the four is the instigator of the resistance against Godfry? That's my first and utmost important question. I suspect it will be their Michael since he was forced to cast his twin into hell. That kind of thing sows hatred. So we need Michael in the past to help us put a strategy together and get everything in place. We know that Michael has been on Earth from time to time in the past. Azrael can give us the exact locations and times when he was there. I will contact Michael in the past and we will set the baselines and he will not mention a word of my existence to Azrael and the other two until it is clear that they join the movement from their own will. They can under no circumstances be pushed in that direction, it has to come from themselves. So the time-line will not be altered and therefore there will be no time loop."
Everyone was thinking about this when Samantha asked:
"Say this works, then you have Heaven, but you also wanted Earth and Hell, how are you going to do that? Are you going to give humanity the knowledge to stop global warming? As Samael said, the situation is too far advanced, there is no going back. And how can you save Hell? After all, you would be in the past."
"By doing the impossible!"
She got another very big smile and said:
"Oh, please tell me..."
"Simple on Earth I will do very little for the first few thousand years. Observe, place my first pawns on the board, and get to know humanity thoroughly, especially their behavior in groups. So that I can more or less predict that behavior and direct it in small groups without changing history. Once I take the throne, I can more or less predict that mass behavior or at least give it a shot. To tell the truth I do not know if that is even possible but I have time enough to find out if there is a change to do it. Once my first pawns are on the board, I will build a circle of people who will help me accumulate a huge fortune over the centuries because it will be needed for an emergency evacuation to another habitable planet. Or to ensure that Mars can be colonized in record time and then serve as a springboard for further exploration of the universe. We already know that in both universes, Earth will become temporarily uninhabitable due to climate change and humanity's unwillingness to take it seriously. A very expensive emergency evacuation will be necessary. The accumulation of this wealth must be done inconspicuously, a little here, a little there, so as not to affect the economy. Beginning in 1945, a secret circle within this group will be established to help me make the preparations that will be necessary when I begin to make myself known to humanity as God. Yes, this will cause tremendous chaos, but it will allow me to save what I hope will be a few hundred million people and make a turnaround for humanity. Something that Samantha as the new Goddess, when her times comes to take the primary throne here, can copy for your humanity."
He took a sip of coffee and lit a cigarette to save some time, after which he said casually:
"Oh yes, for Hell, I will use the Devil to reform Hell."
At this, the mouths of most of those present fell open. Aisha said:
"Use Lucifer? Impossible, he is so full of hatred towards his Father that he wants nothing to do with Heaven. He hates to be the king of Hell, so he cares bitterly little about what becomes of Hell and its Demons."
"Mom, I told you I would do the impossible."
Alexander realized only in retrospect how he had addressed the Goddess and blushed. Salome had heard the slip very well. Her suspicion as to why he had reacted so emotionally to her touch was confirmed. The boy so desperately needed a mother in his existence and she decided that she was more than willing to become that for him. She also knew that it was so important that the words came out of his mouth first. He heard a joyful voice beside him:
"And when Alex says nothing is impossible, then strange things happen..."
"Yep"
Michael said, now beginning to enjoy it as well:
"How are you going to do the impossible Alex?"
Samantha asked with the joy clearly audible in her voice.
"What Lady Aisha said. Lucifer is so filled with hatred for Godfry that if you want him to do something, you just have to make sure it comes across as an opportunity for him to give his father the middle finger. Hell needs to be reformed, but he's never going to do it on his own because he doesn't give a damn. I will make him care. I am the Antichrist and I need his, my father's, help to give Godfry the ultimate middle finger. Does anyone want to make a bet on how long it will take him to get fully on board? Am I good, or am I good?"
There was laughter around the table and Robert said:
"Son, you are scary good."
Alex had noticed that Samael was analyzing his every word. So he asked:
"Samael, you look at me like you might get a toothache at any moment."
"My lord, my primary duty is the safety of Lady Samantha and what you've blurted out here..."
Alexander cut him off:
"What have I blurted out, Samael? My super-duper top-secret plan on how I plan to stage a coup, described in detail in the presence of the most important people in this universe who can easily nullify my coup before it has even begun? O, and not to forget in a universe where no Angel even has an inkling for a coup."
Alexander leaned forward slightly:
"Samael, I think you have a completely wrong idea of your role in the life of your Princess. She does not need you to ensure her safety. She has Michael as the general of the Heavenly Forces and her father as the King of Hell who controls the forces of Hell. If necessary, both armies will be placed under Michael's command."
Samael snapped:
"And what do you know about that Prince of Thirteen?"
"I, the Prince of Thirteen, apparently see more than the Archangel, who must be billions of years old. Your Princess has two armies to guarantee her safety. What can you add on your own to make her safer? Maybe you forgot, or maybe no one told you, that you were no longer a general when you took on your new role! So stop fucking thinking like a general."
Everyone kept their distance from these fireworks. Lady Salome and Lord Robert let it happen. This was a conversation they knew they would have to have with Samael sooner or later, and if it came out now through Alexander, it might have more of an effect on the stubborn Samael.
"Your task, Samael, is far more important than being an extra puppet in these two armies. If your father or Michael sees fit, your sister will be surrounded by every able-bodied Angel and Demon in no time, Angels and Demons working as one to protect their Princess. But Michael and your father cannot provide your sister with thousands of counselors, thousands of mentors. There will only be a few advisors and only ONE mentor. So do your FUCKING job. Give Samantha all possible information and all possible options so that she can make an educated choice, HER CHOICE, be it the right one or the wrong one. Not your choice, because you are the mentor, she is the future goddess!"
Samael fell silent. He suddenly realized that Alexander was right.