19

The RFID chip rolled a semi-circle on the hard wood surface of a work bench in the garage.

“Do it now, son,” Marsh said.

Adam watched it roll back, then forth again, finally coming to a dead stop. He looked up, anticipating excitement on the faces of his friends and filmmakers but instead finding only passive interest. The excitement, he knew, would be in the footage, not in the moment. His life had become a film, and his environment a film set. Behind the camera were slightly bored people wanting to get on with it and wrap up for the day.

Marsh nodded encouragingly.

He brought the hammer up, one-handed, well over his head … and down, dead center! The chip remained perfectly intact save for a white smudge on its glassy half.

He brought up the hammer, and slammed it back down again, this time leaving only a mangy white and red powder and a mangled and flattened circuit.

***

Asleep again, are you? Dreaming, yes? A warm and comfortable private world to crawl into when you close your eyes. But what if the world of your dreams was not so private, hm? Would it still be as cozy for you? Would you still fly and rape willing female dream puffs or would you watch yourself? Disguise your inner desires?

More to the point, would you eventually give way to moral decency and recognize the rights of others if you couldn’t wake up? Would you live a rational existence in a dream reality or would you plunge into an id soaked horror of depravity?

Would you wake up and become your fantasy, knowing there was an easy escape into a private world when you close your eyes? Few have gone so far, I know.

But you could.

You could do it all because God does not recognize you as one of his own.

You could preside over a heaven of your own. Or a hell. It’s your choice, clearly.

You will not go to God’s heaven, and you will not go to God’s hell. You must create your own kingdom of heaven, here on earth. Or a kingdom of hell. You have the power.

The world is waiting, but it grows impatient.

***

Leah was already awake, lying on her side, looking at him.

He blinked his eyes open and said, “there is no God. We must love them, now, while we still can. Love our neighbors.”