The Mech Touch

Ves entertained the proposal only briefly before he made up his mind.

He usually spent a lot more time and thought on considering important proposals that came with huge implications and consequences, but the situation this time was so clear-cut to him that he declined to entertain the idea further.

"No."

"You… are rejecting our request?"

Ves curtly nodded. "I am not interested in arming the Temple of Falsehood or any of the other so-called temples with my spiritual creations." He told the projection of the temple-commander. "My decision is final."

The strong determination of Ves' tone made it clear that he was not playing hard to get! He truly did not want to indulge in this request!

"May I inquire about the reasons why you are not open to cooperating with the old temples?" Temple-Commander Oson Jackarie spoke in a subdued tone. "There are over 90 institutions that have a demand for your services. That constitutes the vast majority of the Pantheon of Modern Gods. You should be aware of how large and dominant we are, so we can offer you vast concessions. Wealth, soldiers, starships and even entire planets can be yours if you offer to solve our crisis of faith."

The man did not hide his pleading tone, which was a very clear and obvious way to entice Ves into taking advantage of the weak negotiating position of the old temples.

Ves was not fooled.

It appeared that the temple-commander specifically claimed the right to speak with Ves so that he could convey a more personal and self-motivated request. He bet that the new temples that were in the ascendancy did not agree with the man's scheme.

"I am not for sale." Ves stated. "Not on this matter at the very least. I have many reasons to stick to my guns. First, as far as I am concerned, your Pantheon is being subjected to a universal rule called the survival of the fittest. Whenever a major change in environment such as the Great Severing takes place, there will be species that will adapt to the new conditions and thrive. There will also be other species that fail to adapt to their new environments and die out. Your old temples fall in the second category. It is not a misnomer to refer to them as fallen temples in my opinion."

"Survival of the fittest is a natural phenomenon. The strength of the human race and any civilized race is to defy the course of nature and impose our own rules onto our society." Oson Jackarie astutely retorted.

Ves crossed his arms. "That is true, but there are more factors that play against your old temples. First, think about what practical use they will serve in red humanity. All they will do is to channel worshipers into deifying god pilots that belong to a different human polity that we are not in good terms with. In fact, as long as our two human societies remain isolated over the long run, then unification becomes impossible. We have become two separate species and civilizations by that time. Continued worship of god pilots hailing from original humanity is not only a waste of resources, but can also constitute treason. Red humanity is much better off if the worshipers of the old temples cease their useless prayers and begin to make actual contributions to our society by praying to the god pilots who are actually on our side."

The temple-commander at least had the decency to agree. "You make a fair point. I am a member of an old temple, but also a citizen of red humanity. Please understand my desire to reconcile two different positions that used to be in harmony, but have now come into opposition. It is my hope that we can make everything right again with your assistance."

"That will not happen, Jackarie. I don't know those 90 god pilots at all. I have read their biographies and seen all of the cool archival footage of their performances, but that does not give me any familiarity with them. In contrast, I know each of the 8 god pilots of red humanity. I am even on good terms with at least 2 of them. It is in my best interest to allow the new temples to cannibalize the useless and redundant fallen temples. That includes yours."

"We still have much to offer to you and many others. Our research institutions alone have made many accomplishments in their attempts to replicate and reproduce the abilities of all of the god pilots in lesser forms. Much of that research and know-how will become lost or locked in vaults if the new temples take over and try to purge as many reminders of the old god pilots as possible."

Purge was a scary word, but it was very much a necessary process in this case as far as Ves was concerned.

In a medium-energy environment where people's thoughts and emotions could produce tangible changes to reality, Ves found it intolerable for so many ignorant people to worship god pilots that weren't even in the same galaxy cluster!

Praying to a god pilot like the Chosen Human or the Beast King was as wasteful as spilling phasewater into a star. All of that scarce and precious faith energy would either travel a huge distance and end up benefiting original humanity in the old galaxy, or it would just go nowhere and disperse into the environment!

Instead of doing that, the members of the Pantheon of Modern Gods could make actual contributions to red humanity by directing all of their faith energy to the actual god pilots that were fighting to preserve the human race in the Red Ocean. Every mote of faith energy would speed up the progression of at least some god pilots and bring them closer to reaching the speculative rank of god king pilot.

Temple-Commander Oson Jackarie apparently remained clueless to this dynamic. This meant the man was likely not enlightened to the secrets of faith energy.

Ves leaned forward and spread his arms on his desktop. "There is one more reason why I am unwilling to oblige your request. You come from the Temple of Falsehood. You and your fellow compatriots literally worship and revere the False Speaker. Now, it is not my place to criticize a god pilot who has leant his strength to human civilization, but he is hardly my favorite. I don't know how much you and the other members of your old temple have taken after the False Speaker, but knowing your identity, I really can't trust you to be completely sincere in your deal. I also do not want to support or facilitate a temple that treats lying as a virtue and cannot be relied upon to speak truthfully during negotiations."

That caused the old man to look a bit offended for the first time. "You are severely mischaracterizing the good that the False Speaker has done. He has caused many disruptions in our society due to spreading his lies, but it has also made our society more resilient towards weaponized speech. Not every lie is malignant. There are good lies as well. As long as you remain flexible with the truth, you can skillfully use words to produce a net positive outcome. The False Speaker has taught us all that it is not the meaning that matters, but the intent."

While Ves felt oddly supportive of these arguments, that did not change his mind about how it was a bad idea to cooperate with a literal Church of Falsehood!

Whether it was accurate or not, Ves preferred to err on the side of caution on this matter. He did not want to take any chances, and his plans did not hinge on cooperating with this stupid church.

"You came here to convey the news that the Destroyer of Worlds has instructed your Pantheon to back me up in the upcoming meetings related to the Red Collective. Your message has been received. Is there anything else that you wish to convey?"

The temple-commander frowned and rubbed his sparse white beard. The man eventually made a big decision, because he looked as if he had just lifted an enormous burden off his shoulders.

"If I cannot persuade you to save the Church of Falsehood, then may I encourage you to put the nail in its coffin? If you, the mech designer who has the ear of at least two god pilots, believe that the fallen temples must make way, then please assist us by making the ball roll."

Wait, what?

How could the temple-commander of the Church of Falsehood go from begging for Ves to save his temple to encouraging him to stomp it to the ground?!

Perhaps a change of mind may come across as more natural if the man had a few days or weeks to shift his stance and beliefs, but this came way too quickly!

"What do you mean, Jackarie? Do you actually want me to facilitate the downfall of your own temple, thereby ending most forms of worship and fascination of the False Speaker?"

"I do not reject the False Speaker, nor deny his divinity." The temple-commander clarified. "I am merely accepting the inevitable. Without your explicit support or the support of other strong groups or personalities, there is no saving the fallen temples. Rather than resist this inevitable outcome, it is better for me and my fellow faithful to accept this shift and act accordingly. You can kick start this process by facilitating my transfer to the Temple of Destruction. Due to the Destroyer of World's instruction, our Pantheon already regards you as her surrogate. If you recommend me to take a position in the Temple of Destruction, then its administration will sincerely obey your request. This will be interpreted as the will of a god pilot. Once this happens, the foundation of the Temple of Falsehood and the other fallen temples will crumble."

What an ambitious scheme!

Ves was almost certain now that Osen Jackarie was a career opportunist. Perhaps the man was being truthful in his piety towards the False Speaker, but that did not interfere with his desire to obtain greater power and climb the ranks of a powerful organization.

From his perspective, it made a lot of sense for him to abandon the sinking ship that was the Temple of Falsehood and set up a new home in the much more promising Temple of Destruction!

"Is this even allowed?" Ves looked a little puzzled. "Will you even be able to switch from worshiping the False Speaker to revering the Destroyer of Worlds? The two are drastically different god pilots. They have little in common, and they represent entirely different concepts."

The temple-commander dismissively waved his arm. "Our temples are united under a single Pantheon because we do not necessarily reject each other's beliefs. We acknowledge the existence of multiple god pilots, and we agree that each of them deserve our faith. We only worship one god pilot each because we do not want to disrespect them and it is not practical to follow the scriptures of multiple temples at the same time."

Ves looked at the man with a more appraising expression. This conversation had taken a really interesting turn.

"I may be able to do what you have suggested. However, I have not heard any reasons why I should facilitate your career transfer. What do I get out of this deal?"

The old man confidently smiled. "You stand to gain the friendship and cooperation of an insider in the rapidly-expanding Temple of Destruction. I may also be able to improve my status within the greater Pantheon. I can become a much more effective agent and informant to you if that is the case. I will be able to pass on news of important developments and changes. My current rank is already high enough for me to share much of the unclassified news circulating within the Pantheon of Modern Gods. I can supply much more information in time."

"Hmm…"

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