Who are you?

Stop. Don’t do this; not again-

Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do? You who have been gone for my life; who have missed more birthdays than you dare to count.

I didn’t have a choice…

There’s always a choice! Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you see what you’ve done? How dare you stand before a man of God and label him inferior! How dare you have the audacity to approach a mirror; to grin at your sins?!

Sins! Sins you call them! I’m a scientist, not a damn child!

But you are a child! You are! You stand before your elder and kick dirt on his words…

Elder?! I’m your father for C**ist’s sake!

Don’t you use the savior’s name in vain!

SAVIOR?! How can you blindly entrust this, this supernatural embodiment of deception? This self-created image after all the work I’ve done? After I have transcended the very lines of that damn book!

It is not a BOOK…you, father, abandoned me but the Bible was always there; the Lord never left my side. This ‘book’ taught me more than you ever will.

Ha! THE BIBLE! The very embodiment of man’s morality; the epitome of deception in-

Deception! How dare you speak of deception! You who stand before me as a child before the altar; you who labels devilry as ‘science’!

Devilry…

Yes devilry! 70 years have gone by! 70 years since I’ve gazed upon my father’s face! And now look at the contradiction! I stand here, beard gripping my withered knees and a bible clinging to my hands! The lord’s very faith in my eyes and redemption in my soul- and you, you return to me after 70 years and you haven’t changed! Not a single wrinkle in your skin and don’t think that’s a coincidence. No wrinkles of wisdom- of experience and forgiveness. Glowing skin without a single blemish; wrinkles you sacrificed to practice black magic with your satanic friends! You bring the lord’s work upon your shoulders; shoot the very angels from the sky and you call it ‘transcendence’!

Forgive me son. Forgive me if I was not there to hold your hand while you stumbled over your own two feet. Forgive me if I was absent when you grew up in a self-deprecating society of arrogance and shame all those years ago. Forgive me if I disappointed you as a father, but be damn careful before dismissing me as a man! We built a ship, son-

I don’t want to hear about-

We built a ship!....We took the metals, the very marrows of earth and fused them into one gleaming representation of scientific capability; of human potential and creativity. And we took that ship, and we sent it into space. We placed it next to the stars and then, then we lit up the dark. And before we shot that thing through space and time they asked me, me to be the captain. And I wasn’t about to turn that down because my boy needed his damn pacifier.

How can you say that-

So I put both my feet on that hunk of metal and then we pushed down the accelerator until we were neck and neck with light particles; ‘til we flirted with destruction and nearly, just nearly bowed to the ill-conceived theories of what couldn’t be done, of what would happen if we went even faster. We soared through space until I craned my neck and saw the grins of delirious satisfaction stretch and contort with the beautiful hue of the universe’s building blocks, and then we went faster. Oh did we go faster. We outran that damn Bible and then we blew the hinges off heaven’s gate!

You can never outrun the Lord-

Oh but we did. And we returned just as quickly as we left. But while I was riding the angels’ wings, you were on this damn planet soaking up the tragic woes of mortality- lunging at the mirages of fabricated hope.

But you were gone 70 years!

Maybe 70 years to you; maybe 70 years to this immovable planet- but to me it was but a blink of an eye.
Yes and in that blink you lost everything.

Lost everything?! You damn fool I gained everything! The history books will look upon this day- upon this man before you as the immortal who surpassed both time and limitation. Son…I beat the light particles…I beat them…and this, this is my reward. I have aged but a fraction of a second; outworked the very pistons of the universe and you preach sin to the man who lit your own deception aflame- who lifted blindness from your eyes and-

Do you see what science has brought you? Look past your blinding sins you ignorant child.

Son what are you doing with that?! Put down the gun you fool! Put it do-

In my hand I hold 7 bullets; each engraved with the crucifix you dare to spit upon. The first bullet is for allowing vanity to replace the lord; *BANG* the second for mimicking His grace; *BANG* the third for trying to out-run Him; *BANG* the fourth for bowing to the dusts of temptation; *BANG* the fifth for turning your back on our family; *BANG* the sixth for refusing to repent; *BANG* and the seventh for making me call you ‘father;’ *BANG*