SW10/HCC: The Day of the Rapture
Scott Eiler
seiler at eilertech.com
Mon May 30 14:14:59 PDT 2011
We Hoped for a Better World... From the Testimony of Scott Stiles, the
Super-Savior!
See Our Previous Story: Lateran Speaks!
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/lateran.txt
---
You know I'm the super-powered ex-basketball player usually called the
"Super-Savior". I founded the Church of the Super-Savior because I wanted
to give credit to *something* beyond me for my powers. We've saved the
Earth once. (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/journal_hear.htm) Now
we had to save it again.
At the Church of the Super-Savior, I talked with the staff. "Let's review
the plans. We're doing this, why?"
"When the Earth's orbit changed, it had nearly seven billion people. Of
those, a few hundred million have either died, gone into suspended animation
with the Trillions, or entered alternative ecologies. There's a zombie
culture emerging in the Midwest... Anyway, the estimates say Earth can
support at best five billion people now. So the tribulations have just
begun."
"Okay. So we have to save people. Are you still sure the transfer is going
to work? I don't want to be one of those people who announce The Rapture
and then nothing happens."
"You know The Rapture actually worked once. Ellipsis announced one in 2004.
He took scientists. We're doing it the same way, but we're taking our own."
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/politics.htm)
"Ellipsis had a place he was sure of on the other end. Are we that sure?"
"We're as sure as we can be without actually putting 144,000 people and all
their personal belongings through an inter-dimensional portal."
"Why just that many?"
"We have our limits. And there's Biblical significance to that number. In
the Book of Revelations, it's the number of saints that God has saved."
"What about everyone else who contributed to the Rapture Fund?"
"They knew the rules. Only that many get saved. You *insisted* on
publicizing that."
"How can this portal get us all without us all being in the same place?"
"We've got beacons implanted in each of the faithful, plus all their
baggage."
"Where are we going?"
"To an alternate universe. We've found another Earth which has a climate
better than ours. Almost all of them do now. But we can only get to this
one now."
"Why?"
"There's some sort of interference. If you think of all the possible Earths
like they're balls in a pool, we're in a pipe with one Earth on either side.
On one side, there's a very strong barrier. We have to go the other way."
"And this other Earth won't just laugh at us and make us their slaves?"
"Not with our resources. Their tech level hasn't made it to our World War 2
yet. And their leading world power is Turkey."
"Any superhumans?"
"None. And we'd know. Superhumans *always* make the news somehow."
"Then between our security forces, me, the New Sentinel, and, um, Brother
Lateran, we should be able to prevail. Let's do it."
"All right. Still on schedule for 12 noon U.S. Eastern time."
"11 am for me... I trust you on this one. So I'm still at home. So I've
got half an hour to get one last corn dog from home. With cheese sauce.
See you at noon."
---
I didn't have a lot of baggage - just a backpack. I took it with me to the
hot dog shop. At 11 am I disappeared from there.
But somehow I got stuck! It was like being in some tight tube, with lights
passing and bouncing back!
Then I heard the New Sentinel's voice. "No! We have to make it!"
Then I popped through.
---
I collapsed onto a field. Others were there, fallen on the ground like me.
I looked up. We'd planned to arrive out West, so we could get organized.
But instead we were looking at Manhattan! It still had Twin Tower
skyscrapers - but these were crowned with prayer towers with balconies!
Minarets! How powerful *was* Turkey here?
I still had my backpack. But the others who'd arrived there were looking
around for their piles of stuff. Those weren't anywhere nearby.
Then the New Sentinal landed next to me. He said, "I did it. I got us
here." Then he went unconscious!
Then a loudspeaker spoke from behind us. "You are welcome to the domain of
the Sultan Hope Springs the Seventh. Prepare to obey."
I turned. There were grandstands behind us! We'd landed right where they
could expect us! There was one stand there, with what looked like royalty
there. And an army all around.
A bunch of us were supposed to have guns, but I couldn't see any. I also
couldn't see Lateran around. But his power was just for support anyway. It
was all up to me.
I jumped up to the royalty stand. Before I landed there, I got five arrows
through me! Arrows?!
This *didn't* kill me, because I have the super gift of the *real*
Super-Savior, whatever that may be. And the arrows couldn't change where I
landed: on the most royal-looking guy there, like I'd aimed. But I really
couldn't do much when I did.
He shoved me off him, onto the floor. His guards held swords at me, one at
my throat. Swords?! Ceremonial guards, I supposed. But they still had me.
Another guy in the royalty was Western. He said, "O Sultan. Spare this
one. But find two others. One is where this one jumped from."
The Sultan (if that's what he was) said, "We have him already."
"Then find one other. He may hide. I can describe him..."
But Lateran called out from the arena. "Great Man of God! I can see your
power and your righteousness. I pledge allegiance!"
I croaked, "Lateran! He's defected!"
The Western royalty said, "What do you bloody expect."
The Sultan said, "Shall we do as we planned with them?"
"Yes, I'd still recommend that. The best shall be your newest Janissary
slave division. Though I wouldn't expect much from this lot... The rest
shall breed your next slaves for you, when you treat them right. New Bosnia
in these suburbs should do for resettlement."
"I thank you, Chancellor Ferguson." The Sultan bowed.
"I thank *you*, Sultan Hope." The Chancellor bowed. "I'll admit, I used
some technology to redirect the packages these invaders would have used to
attack your world. But without your own action here today as I asked, these
invaders could still not have been contained. Thank you for trusting me."
I looked up at this Chancellor. "You! You've betrayed your fellow
Americans! Christians! Westerners!"
"Oh? You're trying to find the right tag for *me*? Good luck. If *I* ever
find one, I'll *give* you that tag. And I guess I'll have the chance some
day, because we've spared your lives. Oh, joy."
... So here we are, in our new world. But I don't think we'll like it very
much.
---
Author's Notes:
I am starting to abandon the "World Journal Monthly" model of journalism,
wherein the story comes from someone watching within the Superhuman World.
*This* story obviously comes from some other source, which is assembling its
own records. *cough* Chancellor *cough*
I would have loved to have this faction led by an unrepentant villain. But
no. Scott Stiles, the "Super-Savior", is a pre-existing character already
leading the Church of the Super-Savior!
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/journal_hear.htm) He has come to be
a leader of villainous Christians who want to ignore their world and seek
something better. His own motives are intentionally ambiguous. I kind of
like him... If I were half an hour away from the Rapture, I might want a
good Chicago corn dog too. I think enough of the motives came in to make
this story eligible for the "Behind Blue Eyes" High Concept Challenge. That
makes two entries for me. As far as I know, there's no rule against that.
I think we can rule out militant Christians in the Superhuman World 2011
from now on. Over one hundred thousand of them have signed up for the
Rapture! They and all their resources are gone now. Superhuman World 2011
now has fewer villains. But there's now a place in the multiverse which has
*more* villains...
The Earth where Turkey predominates, and its relationship to the Superhuman
World, is an old plot element from
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/after.htm#turks .
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