Tuesday, August 25, 2019
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” John said to me.
It took me a second to understand what he was saying.
“Clarke’s Law, Van.” As in Arthur C. Clarke, the Space Odyssey guy, I looked it up. John’s skepticism was shaken, but unbowed I think.
“You’re saying that the Angels are aliens? Space aliens?” I asked. Everybody in the place was listening to us. There weren’t many customers, only about half a dozen. I think everybody else was home glued to their LCD’s or busy finding a church – where they were probably watching TV between prayers and baptisms.
“You’d rather believe that those things are really angels? Biblical angels? Come on, people. Look at what we know. That big blue light in the sky. Gravity waves. Radiation – that’s their ship, man! Didn’t you people have science in high school? Why would angels need a space ship?”
One of the customers started to agree, but everybody else shouted him down.
“Yeah, but how come we can't see a ship? It would have to be huge!”
“Stealth, Van,” John said. “The Air Force can disappear an entire bomber squadron off a radar screen. Any creatures that can travel between the stars would sure as hell have a shitload better stealth technology.”
“Like the Romulans from Star Trek, right?” Somebody said (One of our regulars, a little tubby, bearded 60-something fellow, who I’ll call Geeky Dude). “They can make a whole warbird invisible!”
“Uh, sure, OK.” John looked at me as if to say – Hey, look! Crazies!
Geeky Dude pointed at the TV where MSNBC had a picture of the Mexico City Angel running in continuous loop. We’d turned the sound down; the Angel hadn’t moved in hours, it might as well have been a statue. “Look, clothes - robes anyway - that horn thing, and it’s wearing some kind of crown or something on its head. And the light! White light. It’s an energy field, some kind of environmental suit or a protective force field or something. People say that they can feel heat radiating from it. Technology, Man! What? They got Wal-Marts in Heaven?”
Newly Born Again Guy took offense at that. “God makes the robes! And everything else the Angels need. It glows with the Word of God! Seraphim are the Voice of God, that’s their job, you’ll see. Soon. And then it’ll be too late!”
“Oh come on, does God run a heavenly laundromat too? To keep the clothes clean?”
I almost laughed, but more because I was scared clean through. Still am.
“Don’t be stupid!” Born Again was getting pretty shrill at this point and John told him to settle down, so the guy started in on John. “How can you not see it? You think they came in a spaceship? What spaceship? Every telescope in the world has been looking for two weeks. There’s nothing up there. Nothing!”
“OK,” John said, still trying to be reasonable. “Then what is it?”
“What we’re seeing is the door to Heaven opening.” Born Again was totally convinced of what he was saying.
Geeky Guy wasn’t though, “Look! Look at it, at its face.” He pointed at the TV.
No kidding, right? As if we’d been looking at anything else all morning.
“No, Man, really look at it. Look at the eyes, the shape of the head. And those wings, fucking six wings, Man, and those sure as hell aren’t fucking bird wings. Look at them, they look like a cross between dragonfly wings and an energy field. That ain’t human. It looks more like an insect, the hive queen or something. It’s a fucking termite. Look at it standing there. It hasn’t moved in hours! Like a spider waiting for a fly. I wish it would move. I bet it moves just like an insect.”
I thought for a minute Born Again was going to hit Geeky Dude, but he didn’t. He wanted to reason with us. “How’d it get there? Huh? Where’s its space shuttle? It just appeared! Bang! Right in the middle of the city. In front of the Columna de la Independencia! The Angel of the
Geeky Guy made a sound like he was in pain. “It’s a big fucking open space in the middle of the city, you dolt! You can see it from orbit! Where the hell else would they land! But, if you're right, how come the damned thing didn’t appear in front of the
“God doesn’t answer to me!” Born Again was completely pissed now. “And he sure doesn’t answer to you! His Messengers go where He sends them, according to His plan, not yours!”
Things were getting pretty tense and it was getting on my nerves. But John just laughed, “Well, I’ll tell you all one thing – Angels or aliens, whatever, they’d better have their papers in order if they try to cross from
Everybody laughed, even Born Again Guy, but I don’t think we’ll be laughing for long. That creature is here for a reason.
Posted by VanDerDecken at 2:23 PM
1 comment:
I don't want to disrespect your friend, Van, but I don't think these creatures are aliens. I've been in contact with someone I served with in MSF, who is currently serving in Tehran, and he's seen one personally. He's convinced it's a supernational being, and he's not a religious man.
I suppose a supernational being could be an alien (if they're sufficiently advanced), but the resemblence to Biblical description is uncanny. That's the part I can't get over.
I don't think I'll be turning into "Newly Born Again Gal" anytime soon, but I'm starting to wonder!
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