**GOD BY PROXY**
by Curtis L Alcutt
Two hundred and Forty-five million light years from Earth, an alien space ship, eight hundred feet in diameter, hung silently in space. The two occupants of the craft studied a ten-foot-long by five-foot-wide screen, which featured a three dimensional map of the universe. “Mocknin, are you sure that pebble-sized planet is the one you’ve been telling me about?” Chatznin asked.
Mocknin let his slim, asphalt-black hands rest on the arms of his huge seat. His tall, lean muscular frame was wrapped in a black and gold robe that exposed his chiseled chest. His bare feet protruded from the bottom of his baggy, black and gold pants. He telepathically moved the six-inch triangle-shaped cursor on the screen. Only male Hafrian’s had telepathic power. He looked at his co-pilot. Mocknin’s multicolored, slightly slanted eyes glowed like burning diamonds. “I am most certain. I call it that, ‘pebble’, ‘Earth.’”
Chatznin turned to the screen and watched as the cursor stopped on a pinkish-blue blinking light. “That portal has been banned for use for over twenty thousand years.”
Mocknin zoomed in on the picture of the portal. They viewed a huge circle with a pitch-black center surrounded by a bluish-pink aura. “That is precisely why I use it, there’s less of a chance of my visits being discovered by the Council.”
Chatznin sat back in her seat and crossed her long slender legs. She was a bald, beautiful, tall, and formidable Hafrian female. “I pray to the ‘Great Light’ that you know what you’re doing, dear brother.”
With a simple thought, Mocknin made the screen and the interior of the vessel go black. He glanced over at Chatznin. “I can’t tell you how anxious I am to see how my experiment is going!”
Her oval-shaped glowing eyes illuminated the darkness. “I hope this time it doesn’t end the same way your last attempt at altering life did two years ago.”
Mocknin looked at the dark wall in front of them as he pressed a button on the arm of his chair. Seconds later, a fifteen-by-ten-foot section of the wall slid to the side revealing a huge observation window. “I’ve learned quite a bit since then.”
Chatznin gazed out the window at their huge green and brown home planet. It was a thousand times larger Earth. She adjusted the collar of her red and gold form-fitting outfit. Like Mocknin, her feet were bare. “I surely hope so. The Grand Council was very disturbed to hear how you took it upon yourself to wipe out all the life on Olos 6. I’m surprised they didn’t remove you from the Board of Science. I’m even more surprised they believed you when you told them you would give up on your experiment.”
Mocknin waved his hand over the three-foot high white pillar that stood between their seats. Instantly, the top of the pillar glowed deep blue then a pair of three-dimensional hologram screens materialized and hovered in front of them. He telepathically slid one of the holographic levers forward and the ship slowly rotated, giving them a view of the outlying galaxies.
He sighed as a large viewing screen on the dark wall in front of them illuminated. It flashed images of Woolly Mammoths, Tyrannosaurus Rexes, Allosaurus, Dimtrodons and other dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. “Yes…I had hoped they would of evolved faster… become a much more intelligent species.”
Chatznin chuckled at her brother. “You have to remember you are not a God…A brilliant scientist yes, but not a God.”
Mocknin ignored her ribbing and stared at the images of frozen earthscapes that played before them. He then spoke more to himself than to her. “My Cryogenic Plasma Beam worked perfectly…it dropped the temperature of the entire planet to five hundred below zero in less than thirty Earth seconds. They died so fast it was virtually painless.”
Chatznin stared at a zoomed in picture of a frost-covered Woolly Mammoth. It had been frozen so quickly, it still had undigested green grass in its mouth. “Those don’t look like the beasts you created on Olos 6… the foliage is even all wrong. Where is this place?”
“Earth…I needed a new location where I could continue my work in private, Mocknin replied as he calculated the course to the portal. “It’s the perfect place for some of my more radical experiments. It’s also in a section of the universe not protected by the Universal Planet Alliance.”
Chatznin pressed a sequence of the holographic buttons on her screen. “What do you mean, ‘radical’?”
Mocknin smirked as he pressed a button on his screen. The dinosaur images faded into pictures of a frozen, snow and ice-covered wasteland. “It had the most suitable conditions for me to perform a new experiment.”
Chatznin swiveled her seat and stared at her brother. “Is that why you begged me to accompany you on this so called, ‘mission of mercy?’”
“Well, you are the best navigator on Hafria—and my favorite sister.”
Chatznin glanced at him with her lidless, fiery eyes and then turned back to her screen. “You know as well as I that this ship doesn’t require a navigator. It can be programmed to cross the known universe on its own.” She absently flicked the gold ring that pierced the bridge of her nose. “I still do not understand why you fly this antiquated ship. It doesn’t even have inter-dimensional travel capabilities.”
He scanned the star charts on his screen. “Nor does it leave a traceable Ion signature, like your time-traveling vessel does when it creates wormholes in the fabric of time.”
Although she was very proud of her brother’s intelligence, this time she refused to acknowledge his brilliant reasoning. “You still haven’t told me why you’re taking such a risk by going back to that planet. According to my calculations, there are billions of planets in our own galaxy suitable for you biological fantasies.” Her gaze at him intensified. “I have to question not only your judgment but also your sanity. From the looks of it, your last visit was a complete failure.”
Mocknin stroked his broad, cleft chin. “That is where you’re wrong, sister.”
She pointed at the frozen world on the screen. “What do you call that? You have yet again taken it upon yourself to slay an entire planet full of life!”
His eyes changed to bright reddish-orange as they always did when he was excited. “Just like our father, you pass judgment too swiftly.”
* * *
They sat in silence, watching the spectacular streaks of color as the ship hurled them through space and time. Even at their unimaginable speed, Mocknin had designed the ship so well, that neither of the occupants felt even the slightest movement. Mocknin pressed a button on the arm of his chair and closed the observation window. He then waved his hand over the pillar between them and the holographic screens materialized.
The frozen landscape of Earth reappeared. “As you know, sister, these are the last pictures of Earth I reported to the Council before they banned my evolution acceleration experiments.”
Chatznin folded her arms over her breasts as she looked at the screen. “We’ve already been over this.”
“This is how it looked on my next visit, a month later.”
Chatznin sat up in her seat as pictures of trees, lush vegetation and insects filled the screen. “That’s impossible! How could the planet possibly thaw out and spawn life in only one month?”
He flashed her a smile full of squared off teeth. Hafrian’s had also evolved out of the need for ripping and slashing teeth. “I have discovered that one month on Hafria is equal to roughly ten thousand years on Earth.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. The planet teemed with new life. “How long have you been tracking Earths progress?”
“I have been visiting about once a week since I discovered this new burst of life.” He turned to get her reaction to the next picture. “I recorded this scene on my last visit.”
Chatznin jumped from her seat, pointed at the screen and yelled, “By the Great Light!” She cast her excited, crimson-colored eyes on Mocknin. “Those creatures…the bi-peds…they look almost like ancient Hafrians!”
On the continent of Africa—the Earth beings pronunciation of the word Hafria—images of early long-robed humans, in a desert-like landscape, danced across the screen. “Yes, there is a reason they resemble our people; I used a small portion of my own DNA when I created these beings. I wanted to give them a better chance of surviving the early stages of my evolution acceleration experiments.”
Chatznin shook her head slowly. “Brother...you have gone too far...”
He sat back in his seat, exhaled loudly and said, “I don't blame you for thinking that, but I have to admit; I have come to love these beings... I care so much for them, I created for them a guardian and teacher. His mission is to show them how to live happily. I engineered his DNA with the finest qualities of us Hafrians. His compassion, humanity and fairness know no bounds. He will live many lifetimes. I believe they call him 'Jesus'.”