Dilemma by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Something is not right

After getting his own head on straight, Darrel is doing his normal blending in with this world’s population. He spends time just looking around the villages. Reads the local papers. If there is a public post board, he will spend time reading.

On most boards, he sees something that bothers him. “People are visiting, watch yourselves.”

He would have thought nothing of it but he remembers postings of similar warning wording on the destroyed world. Darrel notes it and continues his wanderings.

People are seen being cordial when greeting strangers. His nerves are starting to get on ends. he feels a sense of déjà vu. Finally he cannot ignore that feeling because he was getting the same greetings that he received in the destroyed world’s capitals.

He calls the gods of all to take him to a white room alone.

The dual gods of all and Darrel now sit alone in that room. It takes a few moments to gather the appropriate words. Finally he feels that is can only be said bluntly.

“They know that the gods have sent someone to investigate them. I have read and seen the exact words posted and treatment as on that other world. Someone has alerted them as to your interests.”

Both of the gods of all are stunned to silence. I use the silence to continue.

“Of course, the both of you knew of the assignment. Neither of you should be suspects. I say should. You need to have your systems checked out for bugs. Also please look into my systems.”

I swallow. I hate what I have to say but say it I must.

“April is the only one that knows because of our relations. Does she have any other person that she frequents? I do not think that she would deliberately tell anyone outside of you gods. The others need to be investigated. For whatever reason, someone is alerting these worlds.”

Now that I have said my piece I just go silent. The male god of all now talks.

“We know of your relation with the Watcher. We will interview April but first both of those leaders are going to be brought here now. Your presence is required. You will present your suspicions to us again in front of them.”

The female god tells me that the interviews of the gods will be without me there.

“That is for their privacy and for your own emotional stability. We will tell you all that we find out. I will tell you that if it is something that you feel that you cannot continue with your job, we will open the door to the final life for you. Know this, the Supreme God is now involved and has already determined that you are exonerated of any guilt. He will be monitoring these proceedings for truth or deceit.”

With that, I am back in my realm. No contact will be allowed with anyone connected with the god realm. I decide to go back to visit Jerry. That world is very relaxing and all know me. I tell the gods of all that I will stay here until I am done with my part.

Each of the rulers were brought to the god’s realm. They are told that they will be held here until they tell the truth. I go over my observations. Both deny any outside contact, even when they were shown pictures of the other gods. They said that their regents showed them my picture.

Now I am excused. “Since your picture was shown to each, you cannot be present for the further examinations. You have been cleared by the Supreme.”

I tell them that I will be spending all my off time on the world Jerry is on. “I feel that I am at home with them.”

They open a door for me and I am now having to jump out of the way of a wildly driven pickup truck. The driver goblin did swerve at the last minute. The gas pedal one did not let up. They were laughing. I am laughing also. That broke my mood.

I walk to the porch and Jerry is also laughing. “You really need to look out the door before coming through.”

“You did warn me about the pickup. They look like they are having fun.”

We sit on the porch and drink a cold beer and just watch the path of the truck. I comment that they are actually being careful. “I notice that they are making sure not to tear up the ground.”

Jerry does tell me that they do respect this world. “They even have converted it to use the air components for fuel. So what brings you back here so soon?”

“I really cannot disclose anything but I am off for a while. I feel so comfortable here, so welcome.”

“Well, you came here at the right time. We are preparing for a marriage. My two have welcomed a harpy and a felid to the harem. I welcome them but I have no say on who is added to the harem. Additions are only the wives’ purview. You’re invited to the ceremony but I will have to ask you to wander after the ceremony. The wedding night is on the lawn and private.”

I understand and want to visit those goblins. “I may want to drive that truck. It looks fun. I also want to pay my respects to the harpies. They were so warm to me the last time. Know this, I will not leave until I am called. Also please tell any of the gods, with the exception of the gods of all, that want to talk to me, they cannot. Especially the Watcher.”

That tells Jerry that this is not just a vacation. It is something very important to the god realm.

He tells me that he will relay that.

We see April appear and she tries to say something but it looks as if she is physically yanked back.

All Jerry says is, “So it is that important.” I nod.

I tell Jerry that I have decided. “I am going to beg your pardon but I feel that I will be a distraction to the celebration. I need to first visit that goblin base and take a ride. Then I will just wander. With what just happened, any of the others will know that I am now here and may try to open a door to where I am. Probably with the same results.”

He knows that I am right. Joy has come out with a back pack for me. I thank her and start off towards the base. I just know exactly where it is and know why I know. Anyways I love this world and take my time to walk.

There are plenty of cool streams and hot springs along the way. I stop and just enjoy a very leisurely soak in the hot spring. When I feel like I have cooked long enough in the warm water, I get out and jump into the river. I am alive.

The gods are in a turmoil. The word of the investigation is made known as well as none of them are to contact Darrel. This makes April extremely anxious about his condition. She senses him on that free world they first visited.

She opens a door and goes through. She sees a healthy and safe Darrel. Before she can say anything, the gods of all yank her back to their realm.

“Just what part of the order about not contacting him didn’t you understand?”

She is in trouble and knows it. They figure that they will start with her.

“Someone has been leaking information to worlds that we send the investigator to. He has reported that on this new world he was looking at the same signs that he observed on that destroyed world were present on this new one. Only we gods know of the assignments. Running to him casts suspicion on you. Why did you defy the order?”

April tells them that she was worried about him and needed to talk with him.

“What did you need to talk with him about?”

She realized that she let something slip that she should not have. She looks to the floor and tries to deflect the subject.

“I just worried about him and wanted to be with him.”

They all hear just one word in a booming voice. “FALSE”

“You need to know that the Supreme is listening to all of this and will tell us if you are not telling the truth. Have you told anyone of the worlds that he has been assigned to?”

April answers that she has not.

“FALSE!”

Now they look at her and she is shaking. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

“FALSE”

Now the Supreme God appears, looks her in the eyes and askes her a question that she knows that he knows the answer.

He asks, “Besides Darrel, who else are you sleeping with?!”

In horror, she knows that they know. She had realized what she did when she heard about the investigation of the leaks.

“There is another man that I have been casual with. He is always interested in hearing about my days. I have been telling him about what I have been up to.”

“You told him about Darrel, didn’t you.”

Before she could answer, he puts his hands on her head and walks in her memories. Then he pulls out and lets go of her head.

“You broke the biggest rule. The one about what is happening in the god realm.” He looks at the gods of all. “The one that she is bedding down with is the deposed investigator. He was deposed for taking advantage of his position for personal gain. That was before the current gods were ascended.”

The Supreme goes on to say that they did not think that they needed to send him to oblivion. He was placed on one of the old Watcher’s worlds. Being an ethereal before his exile, the knowledge of how things work was not erased by the old god of mercy. He found a way to escape by literally steeling a little of the new Watcher’s powers at a time. He finally was able to escape and, since he had some of her, she felt comfortable with him.

“April, you did not watch yourself. There is no rule about casual relations but the word casual needed to be adhered to. On more than one world, there is a saying ‘Loose lips sink ships.’ I will bring that one here for the gods of all to judge. You are now going to be sent to the final life. You will have all your memory erased of your time as the Watcher. You will go back to being Monica.”

She is crying as she disappears.

The Supreme brings that man here and he tries to deny it but the gods of all send him to oblivion.

The Supreme now establishes that affairs will be restricted to mortals only. It is now restricted to a worlds pleasure zones and not to be frequent visits to the same person. Each visit will have that person subject to though scans for this type of situation.

Now, what to do with Darrel?

It has been almost a month in the world that Darrel is walking in. It has been very pleasurable, very relaxing but wondering what is happening is getting to him. He wants to reach out to April. For some reason though, he now feels that it is futile. Whether intentional or unintentional, he knows that it has to be her.

Neither of them is exclusive to each other. Since he has come back from the edge, they haven’t had sextual relations. His only question is, what will happen to her.

The wait is over. Darrel receives a mental message that he is going to be brought to the god home. When he gets there, it is only the gods of all. With what they look like, I say, “April is gone, isn’t she?”

“The one you know is. She has been replaced and was sent to the final life with her memory altered. She no longer knows of her time as the Watcher and demigod of fools.” They go into the details of her being fooled by the last investigator. He is told that, after he drained enough power from April, he was able to escape that world and then was able to change his appearance. He milked her for information then sold it to those worlds. He was sent to oblivion for the millions of lives he murdered on that destroyed world.”

I’m broken up at the fact that she is the one but I also know that you do not let god information be known without the express permission. The only good thing is that she was sent to the final life.

They asked me what I felt. I knew that they were really asking if I wanted to continue or go to the final life. I have had the month to figure out just this situation and what I wanted.

“I want to go out on a new assignment. I need to see if I will not carry the suspicion with me or can I be my objective self. If I cannot be objective, I am not suited for this position and will ask to be sent to the final life. If I can, I will live up to what I agreed to.”

I have not and will not ask about April knowing me in that life. I do not want to know. I have a job to do.

“What is happening with that compromised world?”

“That is your new assignment. Unlike the destroyed world, the Supreme was able to roll it back to the time we got the alert. Only you, the Supreme and we know of what happened. The other gods are restricted. Under no circumstances, including, we the god of all, are not to have any contact until you report. This is a good test. Knowing what had happened, can you be objective?”

I agree and now I am back on that world. I must repeat that investigation. Reading papers, watching how everyone acts and how I am greeted. The population is greeting others nicely, but now there is a little formality to the greeting. It is what you would expect with strangers meeting.

The posts are normal but there are royal mandates that you can see the people getting disgusted with. The orders were oppressive. I can tell that the rulers are the major problems but the noble ranks are adding to the load.

I now have enough information and I sit with the gods of all but the Supreme is here also. I go through what I have seen and how people are interacting. Then I sum my investigation up.

“The biggest problem is the oppressive regime. Pompas rulers and pad their pockets nobles. I recommend a sage home arrive unannounced and they will know the drill. I can see that one or both rulers will need to go but they will need to watch the nobles trying to take control. The population is savable if given the proper guidance.”

I sit and wait.

“Your report is precise and we know exactly what to do. We agree on the sage home but we will be sending the most experienced one in royal reform or disposal. As long as you want to continue you can.” The Supreme tells me. “But know this, when you have had enough, I will open the door for you personally. I will not hold you to that max you stated. You can go anytime earlier. I will send you when you reach your max whether you want to stay or not. “

He vanishes.

I now have the other gods here including the new Watcher. I shake her hand and tell her that I look forward to working with her. “Please do not feel that you need to make up for the last Watcher. You don’t have to. Just be you.”

I look at the remainder and tell them the same.

The gods of all tell them of the new rule. That there only can be casual relations with mortals but no repeat visits to the same one. Only in the pleasure zones.

“You will not disclose that you are a god. You will not discuss anything, even in vailed terms, what is happening in the god realm. Violate these rules and you will be subject to banishment to the final life with your memories of being a god erased, just like Monica.”

No one needed to ask who that was.