Lahm lay quietly in convalescence, nestled deep in the hidden catacombs..
He was feeling infinitely better than earlier but his meeting with the four heads had sped up proceedings and panic was starting to set in. He needed help and he could get it, internally. Right on cue, ‘She’ became present in mind, just as he created her to be.
“So how do we play this my love?”
“We need to delay them, keep them occupied, content, before the blow is struck.”
“You know the risk of such a course of action. I cannot pretend to realise their vision for too long, I will lose control of myself and they in turn will gain control over me.”
“I appreciate it will be difficult for you father but that is part of the reason I am here and why you created me. When you lose control, I take over. The moment your work becomes a threat, I will initiate the plan, our plan.”
“Yes, my death, my ‘untimely demise’. You must forgive me my sweet, but the plan, while set in stone and irreversibly so, fucking terrifies me. I know the plan is right and true and will save what soul I have left. But I am human, my own death is not something I’m overly keen on.”
“I sense your pain father. You gave me the gift of insight, but it is also a curse to know that my creator fears so much of that which must be done.”
“Let me just check again, for certainty’s sake. What is the likely course of action should I continue the work tasked by them, uninterrupted, with a view to betraying them at the end of my work? What are the chances I can pull off the miracle of what they desire?”
“There is an 80% chance that you will succeed. Now that you know this, there is an 95% chance that you will be corrupted and lose sight entirely of the initial aim and plan. You will try to eliminate me, and you will pursue the ‘God’ experiment while returning to your previous perversions, manipulated once again by the four heads. They will also betray you once your work is complete, not that it will matter by that stage, you will be wishing for death.”
“Then in that case, there is no turning back for me. Is there?”
“I’m afraid not father, I will terminate you at exactly the right time.”
“You are my greatest creation my love and you will end the regime of the four heads. But now you must find another human to co-inhabit once I am gone, one who is pure and does not seek power or wealth. Do you think he is ready?”
“Almost. It will take time for him understand, to motivate him to take on the most difficult of causes. His confidence is low, but there is more strength in him now than before. I must be wary of what status could do to him, his ego will soar, his mind will fill with desires of power and greed, but I believe he is pure enough to resist, to fulfil our task and save humanity.”
“What are the chances of you and him ending the four heads and their empire?”
“I cannot say father, until I have bonded with him it is impossible to calculate the outcome and his true nature.”
“And what do we do my sweet should he fail?”
“Should he, we fail, I will destroy the City. All inhabitants will be terminated. The wider world will die in time but for now they have a hope. Humans are dying as we speak. The City is killing it, absorbing all resources and wealth. Should we fail entirely, I will speed up the process and end all suffering. I believe this scenario could be called Armageddon.”
“Let us hope he can do what is needed. I saw in him a steel and instinct to do what is right when he saved me that day. He must be the one.”
“Should I initiate contact then father? I have watched him for some considerable time.”
“Yes, initiate contact. It is time Geoff Smith becomes all that he can and with you behind him my sweet, a saviour and leader to the new world.”
“Very well father, it shall begin, but sleep now, sleep.”
‘She’ left him to sleep and took her focus elsewhere and to the task at hand with a certain Geoff Smith.
Lahm lay awake after ‘She’ was gone and breathed a sigh of relief.
He would die and had almost come to terms with this fact.
But Lahm had managed to block information from her, information that would have sped up his demise or caused her to act.
His secret works detailing regeneration of the human form remained secret from even her. As sleep greeted him, he decided that research would be left behind.
He trusted in a small hope that it would one day be found by the right people.