Might they be as gods?

Excerpts from History of the Argottean Federation

Chapter 3, continued

1 Hurl 4—On Board ’xrsc Star-Cruiser 3.9 in orbit over Hurlshome. An unexpected consequence of existence in recondite dimensions is the possible interaction with gods and other trans-dimensional beings that live on the astral planes. The ’xrsc, probably because of their nonexistence in physical reality, became apparent to two dark sub-angels in Evil’s camp.

Grelinth and Cobbin never have been what anyone would call overachievers. Brought into existence solely to offer hints of doubt, they earn their keep in the number of first-time winners they convince to be one-time winners.

They encountered the ’xrsc who were, at that time, struggling with a consequence of existing in recondite dimensions, the difficulty in defining the original “now” in relation to a current “now.” If it hadn’t been a timely infusion of future knowledge from ’xrsc existing in ver. 9.7A, the ’xrsc in ver. 3.9 may have fallen to Grelinth’s and Cobbin’s whispers of doubt.

Using the future knowledge, the ’xrsc contacted the gods living on Hurlshome. At first the gods were suspicious of the ’xrsc intent, but Spud, god of potato farmers, obnoxious beer drinkers, and amateur aerialists, offered a convincing argument.

“Since we, the Gods of Argotte, were given control of Argotte by the Four Players,” Spud said at an informal gathering in the garden room at Famine and Pestilence’s palatial collection of virtual mud huts on a barren plain of methane ice, “it is in our best interest to offer our assistance to this strange computer language that has achieved true-life.”

With foreknowledge, the ’xrsc knew they would accept the Gods’ offer and enter an orbit around Hurlshome. A condition of the Gods was that the ’xrsc adopt a non-involvement agreement when dealing with localized Argottean conflicts. This suited the ’xrsc since this freed them from having to deal with humans in their excruciatingly slow day to day affairs.


Editor's Notes: Since the ’xrsc are perceived to exist in six dimensions and humans can only perceive three, the ’xrsc had to adopt a means of dealing with humans that would maintain their inherent superiority. But, since they are recondite, they exist today and much as they exist at the end of time. They could be on a ship nearing the Milky Way Galaxy at the same time they were offering an Argottean lentil farmer quick delivery on forty tons of ammonium sulfate.

The ’xrsc developed the human interface kiosk to deal with humans on a regular basis. Although the unit is constructed in six dimensions, it appears to humans as a three dimensional object. On Belenda, the ’xrsc developed a fully-networked robot that could appear to move on its twelve rubberized wheels. It is somewhat disturbing that the Belendans never looked close enough to notice that the paired wheels were pointed in six different directions.

’xrsc star cruisers that ferried humans around the Argottean Federation and to other ’xrsc resource planets in the Home Galaxy were constructed so that the human quarters appeared to be three dimensional while the rest of the ship was six dimensional. Also, since star cruisers always traveled in the recondite dimension, they had the ability to arrive at their destination before they departed, but the ’xrsc never knowingly performed this trick of reality while transporting humans short distances.

For the most part, a trip on a star cruiser was mostly show. Vibration generators created the sensation of roaring engines and visual monitors displayed scenes of Argotte and other planets of the Argottean Federation. The humans ate, drank, slept, studied, partied for however long the ’xrsc thought necessary and then they arrived at their destination, oblivious to the fact they had been, in all likelihood, in far orbit around their destination for most of their trip.