Namuh Visits Earth
a short story,
4,000 words
By Joe DiBuduo
Copyright 2013 Joe DiBuduo
ISBN: 9781310229558
ISBN:
Namuh Visits Earth
The cloud covered sky hung low over the slaughterhouse in the northwest corner of Iowa, and no one saw the light bubble as it touched down and almost immediately vanished. My first ever visit to my Father’s world, and what a beautiful world it was.
I knew the slaughterhouses here in Storm Lake, mirrors what was happening in other heartland towns in the U.S. From the Dakotas through Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, and down through Kansas into northern Texas and the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks. The remainder of the planet wasn’t much different in their methods of killing. I wasn’t here to sightsee, so I ignored the beauty and I read the directional signs at the crossroads where I stood. One pointed straight ahead and the printing on the arrow said, “IBP Slaughterhouse.” I double checked my coordinates and found this was the correct abattoir.
***
“I'm here to apply for a job,” I told the receptionist, as I patted my long curly blue-black hair into place on my head that was twice as big as most others I've seen so far on this world.
Shelia, of personnel looked me over and barked, “Do you speak English? Do you have I.D?”
“Yes,” I said, and I pulled out a handful of identification papers and cards to show her.
“You only need a Social Security Card,” she said.
I handed it to her.
She glanced at it and said, “okay, you're hired, but why do you have the same first and last name Namuh, Namuh?”
“That's what my father named me.”
The mention of my father reminded me, it was entirely his fault that I was here on this barbarous planet. If he wouldn't have created these humans in the first place, I wouldn't be here now. When he first created them, he was so proud, he reversed our family name of Namuh to make a name for these creatures. He thought this was so clever that every planet he created and the life on it from then on he’d name them after one of his body parts spelled in reverse. Childish, I know, but it gave him pleasure. But his creations here on Earth were acting totally opposite of what my father had created them for.
Being the oldest son, I have to rectify the problem, and I'm inclined to deal harshly with these disgusting creations of his. I had to leave my life behind to come here to fix what went wrong.
Last week I appeared in front of the Galactic Security Council located on the small world where all the planetary Gods meet to iron out their differences, called Nori. Of course, my father named it that right after he created it.
A survey ship had recently returned with information on the distant planet that my clever father had named Earth in honor of our home planet. It seemed once he started reversing names he couldn't stop.
The Council only randomly checked the outer worlds, and sometimes it would be 10,000 or more years between checks. When Earth was surveyed, it was found humans were not only eating their cousins as a food supply, but they were treating them in a very unacceptable manner. When this horrendous behavior was described, they called a full meeting of the Galactic Gods Peace commission. I was to be quizzed by the Security Council and then go to the commission meeting soon after.
Once in front of the Security Council they lambasted me with many technical questions about my father's creation.
“You are aware that because your father named that planet, he is responsible for what happens there?” a council member asked, and when he’s unavailable the responsibility falls to the eldest son?”
“Yes sir,” I said.
“Didn't he create humans in his image?” “What went wrong?” “Where does the cruelty come from?”
I didn’t know the answer, but I had to protect my father’s good name, so I said, “My father had instilled nothing but our good qualities into the creations, and they somehow got infected with evil. If the honorable council members recall that when my father created humans it was disputed by ZZZIIPPIT, the god from the outer Nebular Cryostar System, who claimed my father stole his idea, but the council ruled in my father's favor. It's possible he could have sabotaged the humans and turned them into the cruel, uncaring beings that they are.”
They weren't satisfied with my answers, and I knew the Galactic Commission wasn't going to be easily placated either. I went directly to their meeting once the council finished with me, I looked around the great hall where, depending on what form they took today, the Gods from all of the planets sat, laid, perched, or swam. I noticed all the translation machines were silently scrolling the thoughts of the different Gods across large illuminated screens. This was to ensure that none of the Gods could plant false information in another God's mind. But some of the Gods still attempted it occasionally.
Tiers of seats surrounded a large indoor body of water where the Gods who refused to take a mammalian form could comfortably attend the meetings. Members without legs, because it was sometimes hard for them to get to the higher levels, could stay at ground level or poolside as it was often called.
The Gods who wore wings had to go to the highest level, because it was so much easier for them to get there. The four legged members had the second level with ramps leading up to it rather than stairs. Two legged members were seated on the third level. No God was considered above any other on this world and all were equally protected under the constitution of The Galactic Council.
The Gods would never allow the mistreatment of beings created in the image of one of them to be mistreated like the Humans were doing. I knew the planet Earth was finished because my father and most other Gods were lacking in imagination, and the life forms they usually created always looked like one God or another.
The humans were blackening my family's name. Like creator, like creation was a saying the Gods had, and by the humans acting this way, led every God to believe my father had these kinds of qualities buried within.
The information was given to the Gods and the council from the survey ship that had inspected Earth. When the Gods heard how the human’s cousins were being treated, mixed sounds of sorrow and rage emanated from all members of The Galactic Gods Peace commission.
Although the monitors silently read the thoughts of all members, once they heard of the horrors perpetrated on Earth, the member's vocal cords got a workout. This was truly a cacophony of the God's voices.
Anger directed all the inhabitants and it was so strong in all the Gods that a pungent smell of it filled the great hall and some let go with lightning bolts out of frustration. The anger was directed at my father who was presently at the far end of the Galaxy creating another planet.
He was going to name this planet Toof. He already named one of his creations for every other body part and this would complete it. I always wondered if the Humans he created on Sinep, or ssa ever figured out what their planets were named after.
The God’s anger was directed to me, because being the oldest son, I was responsible in his absence for whatever my father had created. I presented what I thought may be the cause of the brutality and a solution to it.
“Your Godliness’s, I have concluded that the process my father used to create the inhabitants of Earth was largely successful, other than the humans. I think that somehow when he created them their nature got turned backwards or inside out and went from love to hate, from kindness to brutality, from compassion to heartlessness. It could have been sabotage from a vengeful God or maybe the experiment wasn't perfect, but the problem can be easily remedied.”
“How do you propose we remedy the
situation?” asked the spokesman.
“I'll go there myself, and see if it is sabotage.”
“What if it isn't and the Humans have somehow naturally become cruel and unfeeling toward their fellow creatures?”
“Then I'll take whatever means necessary to fix the situation.”
I checked my chronograph. I needed to be at the exact latitude and longitude at the precise minute, or I'd miss my transport. I stood waiting and right on time, I could see the light beam forcing its way through the atmosphere like an inverted bubble through the air. It arrived without a sound, and I felt the glowing light close around me in a protective cocoon as it encompassed me. I was lifted from the atmosphere and transported at the speed of light to Earth.
I wasn't a God yet and wouldn't be until my father died, if he ever did. Occasionally Gods got tired of living and passed their Godliness on to their oldest sons,