Chapter 139 - I Will Bring Peace

"Skel do you mind following in your ship." Zell said over the intercom. "I will ride with this crew here. If I travel with Furg and his men it will be better than if I show up with the man that started the whole war, even if it was only an excuse. The person who lights the match in a room full of explosives is still to blame, even if they did not know the explosives were there."

"I understand." Skel said. "I will follow you at a distance then."

"Very well." Furg said. "You may accompany us on our ship, although it would be better manners if the captain invited you to do such in the future, and not just giving orders."

"You said millions are dying." Zell said coldly. "There is no time for formalities. Take me to the fighting, I will see that it ends."

"Cut transmission." Furg said, ending the transmission with Skel. "Look, I need to know. Have you ever brokered a peace between warring solar systems before? This would be a near impossible task for even the most seasoned of negotiators."

"That's what I do captain." Zell said. "I make the impossible possible. Now put your worries at ease, I shall have this war ended within no time."

"I wish I shared your confidence but getting rid of centuries of hate will not be an easy task." Furg said.

"That is because the gods wish it to be that way." Zell said. "They enjoy watching the plight of mortals as they struggle and die. They enjoy conflict, it is their highest form of entertainment. I have no doubt in my mind that all of this was placed into motion by their doing."

"Gods do not exist in this universe." Furg said. "Every space traveling culture knows this truth. The Tilites have shared that truth with all of us. They are far more advanced than any other civilization and we took that truth without question."

"The gods I speak of are multiversal, not universal." Zell said. "Even if there is no evidence of them within the universe, trust me they exist in the multiverse. They are sick and twisted and only care for themselves, save a couple of them. I am on this mission to stop their toying with mortal lives.

It is high time that mortals of all universes had a say in their own fates. That they could make their own choices. They need to be able to live without an invisible puppet master behind the scenes controlling the action.

If I ignored this conflict, I would be no better than they are. I have the power to end this war and to bring peace, to not use it would be a stain on my honor and everything that I stand for."

"How are you going to solve a conflict on this scale?" Furg said. "Billions of lives are filled with hate towards one another. The arrival of one man will not accomplish anything."

"I will do it by doing what I hate doing most." Zell said. "I will become the center of attention. Tell me what would happen if in a universe that contains no gods, suddenly a god appeared?"

"It would be a life changing event." Furg said.

"What if said god commanded a cease to all combat and an end to war?" Zell said.

"If you could prove your godhood to everyone, I think it would be hard to refute any order you gave." Furg said. "What chance do mortals have against a god?"

"Exactly fear." Zell said. "Not fear of a dictator, but fear of a divine being. Unlike the fear of a dictator, the fear of the divine never wanes. Gods never die and are supposedly all watchful and all knowing. This fear is real and can be a common ground for the two peoples to come together."

"What you are proposing is the start of a religion." Furg said. "A religion with you at the center. It is true that when my planet had religion eons ago it was able to bring warring tribes together, but it also caused wars later over disagreements in how to read the word."

"Sadly, that is the best I can do in such a short time." Zell said. "I do not have the time to sit down with all sides and find common ground. That is something that both of your people should have been doing for years. Peace is the hardest thing to achieve and the easiest to lose. The fear religion inflicts is my only play. It may cause more wars in a thousand years, but hopefully it will not. Even if it does, it gives you a thousand years of peace."

"I understand." Furg said. "We will reach my home world in two galactic units. Please make yourself comfortable until we arrive. Allow me to show you to some quarters."

"Thank you for the hospitality." Zell said as he followed him. This ship was far larger than the ship he was on with Skel. With ceilings twenty feet tall he had plenty of head room and did not feel cramped in the slightest. "I thought this was just a small fighter. It looks so much bigger than just a fighter."

"That is just how this ship appears." Furg laughed. "Remember we are a warring civilization. We have a technology that cloaks our true ship and projects fighters. We can even make it seem like the attacks are coming from those fighters. Then when the enemy attacks the fighters they are only attacking a hologram. It is a wonderous achievement that has won us a great deal of battles."

"What an interesting weapon." Zell said. "That said though this ship is massive."

"Yes, it is one of our dreadnaught class cruisers." Furg said. "This baby has enough firepower to destroy a planet."

"Wait, we ran into you almost as soon as we left that planet." Zell said. "Were you going to destroy that planet?!"

"Only if they did not hand over that horrible man who defiled my daughter." Furg said. "It is a dump anyway, no one would miss that dead planet or the stupid lifeforms that killed their own planet."

"You should have more respect for life." Zell said as his eyes started to glow. He was angered by Furg's complete and total disregard for the value of life. To destroy a whole planet if one man did not surrender, what kind of monster would do that and still smile. "Tell me why your two civilizations started warring?"

"It has been so long, no one really remembers." Furg said. "The most popular theory is that we both tried to settle the same planet and both settlements failed. Both sides blamed the other and it just kind of snowballed from there."

"So that was the event." Zell said. "A mysterious death of two colonies."

"That is what our historian's believe was the catalyst that started the centuries of hate." Furg said. "Now it is more of we just hate them because we have to and because they hate us. Besides, they are blue. Name one good thing that is blue."

"The sky and the sea?" Zell asked. "I know some planets have different colors, but where I am from, they are blue and beautiful."

"Well, no matter." Furg said. "You claim you can stop all of the war, and this I would love to see. Even if you are a god, there is no way you will be able to prove it to all of the people. There will still be doubters and they will continue the cycle of hate."

"I just have to make sure there are no doubts then." Zell said with a smile. "Do you happen to have a way to see that planet I left with Skel?"

"Yeah, they have a subspace broadcast." Furg said. "Just about all civilizations do. The advertising revenue from the Tilites is better than some planetary economies. I will put it on the screen for you."

Furg went over to a console and started pushing buttons. A large screen appeared in their general area. Images of the planet that Zell saved flooded the screen.

"I must have done something wrong." Furg said. "Hold on." He continued to fiddle with the buttons and turned it off and back on again, but the images returned as the screen did. It was a newscast.

"Our planet has been saved by the arrival of a god." The newscaster said. "We long believed that gods were not real, but there is no other explanation for the miracle that has transpired here. Churches are being built all over the planet in honor of our Savior god, who I am told is named Zell. If you are seeing this god Zell, thank you for saving us with your grace. Please accept our humble worship in honor of you."

"It looks like your religion already started." Furg said. "So, you actually did the impossible and saved that planet?"

"As I said." Zell said.. "I make the impossible possible."