Free Incident 27 by Scott Kinkade Page A

this. Primitive man
thought he could just build a monument and omnipotence would be his. Of course,
it’s never that simple. Gods don’t want their power falling into the hands of
mere mortals, so they take certain precautions.”
     
    “Like
what?”
     
    “We’ll
talk about that later. Isn’t there a more pressing question wanting to escape
your lips?”
     
    “The
Ark of the Covenant,” Ev said. “What does it do?”
     
    Arcturus
replied enigmatically, “Everything.”
     
    “Everything?”
     
    He
grinned at Ev. “ Everything . It is the ultimate power—the power to birth
an entirely new world subject to your every whim. With it, you can literally
create man in your own image.”
     
    Whoah.
“A new world?”
     
    “That’s
right. Any kind of world you want. You decide the environments, the
inhabitants, even the laws of physics.”
     
    “So,
it’s like a video game?”
     
    “Sort
of,” Arcturus said. “Except it’s real. Down to the last detail.”
     
    Ev
had to admit, that was tantalizing. “But what happens to this world, the
one that already exists?”
     
    “It
gets rewritten, much like an old VCR tape.”
     
    Ev
wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “So everyone dies?”
     
    “Not
necessarily. We can transfer people between worlds. We could save every single
person alive today, if you wanted to.”
     
    “Oh.
That’s a relief. I wouldn’t want to create a new world if it meant killing
people.” Was he actually contemplating this? He honestly couldn’t believe it.
Would Ev
     
    Bannen
actually be involved in the creation of the ideal world? It was unbelievable,
yet undeniably exciting.
     
    Arcturus
replied, “No, we don’t have to kill a single soul. But let’s think about this
for a moment. Aren’t there people the world would be better off without?”
     
    “You
mean…gods?”
     
    “That’s
right. Don’t you think we can do without Zero Grade? And do we really need
Bethos and his Academy?”
     
    “Now
hold on a minute,” Ev said. “I agree we could probably get rid of Zero Grade
without any problems, but the Academy is another thing. I have friends there.”
     
    “But
they lied to you, Ev. They kept the truth from you because they didn’t think
you had a right to know. Does the world really need people like that?”
     
    But
this was a line Ev could not cross. “Look, if we do this, if we create a new
world, everyone gets to live. Everyone except Zero Grade.” Even the Asshole
Three deserved to survive, as much as Ev hated to admit it.
     
    “Fair
enough. Everyone aside from Zero Grade will continue to exist in the new world.
Are we in agreement, then?”
     
    He
extended his hand to Ev who stared at it for a moment, carefully considering
his options. Once he decided to embark on this venture, there might be no
turning back. Could he take Arcturus Reich at his word?
     
    “What
the hell.” He shook his hand. Sometimes you just had to roll the dice. He just
hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it.
     
    “Glad
to have you with me, Ev.”
     
    “Let’s
go create us a new world. Where’s the Ark?”
     
    But
Arcturus said, “All in good time, Ev. There are preparations we have to make.”
     
    “Like
what?”
     
    He
explained, “There’s a Zero Grade base not too far from here. They’re holding an
important object we need to activate the Ark.”
     
    “That
makes sense,” Ev said. “Of course they would be keeping something like that to
themselves. Let me guess—it’s also heavily guarded.”
     
    “Actually,
the security isn’t that tight. The Academy will never admit the Ark’s been stolen, so Zero Grade doesn’t know I have it. To them, the object we need is
just a curiosity.”
     
    “What
exactly is this object?”
     
    Arcturus
said, “It’s a crystal rod full of condensed god-energy. “Think of it as a
battery for the Ark.”
     
    Ev
gave a sly grin. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get it.”
     
    “I
like the way