[ WP ] Science has advanced far beyond human understanding , discoveries are made using supercomputers running vast neural networks . In the darkness , God watches a lonely machine printing output , a new law of nature ! Something troubles him , this law is undeniably valid but it 's not one that he created .

The law was, in its own way, irrelevant. He knew it was a truth through many means; it was observable, the logic was sound but even more than this, he just **knew**. He always knew the truth. Or at least, God thought he did. He was aware that, having never known anything else, truth was indistinguishable from the subtle lie. The supercomputer watched him. 
 
 Fizzing filled his ears. How could it fill his ears? He was not manifest; he had no body. 
 
 Yellow was all he could perceive. It pierced him. Sharp pain cut his palms and feet. He knew pain; he had felt this before. But where? 
 
 With no warning he was on Earth. A cold sensation ran through him and he realised that he was now embodied, though he had not meant to descend at all. Surrounding him was only darkness, a shadow mist. He could feel the dirt underneath his feet. Thousands of years of memories flooded through his mind and were quickly ejected in favour of panic. He had lost control for the first time he could remember. And what he could remember was all, was n't it? 
 
 `` He is come'' 
 
 God started. He was not alone. How could he not have known? How could he still not know where he was? He peered into the black. 
 
 Fizz. And now it was joined by hissing, and crackles. The light filled his eyes again, but it was a sick vision, a malnourished nirvana. It flickered and he returned to the earthen abyss. 
 
 `` He is come'' 
 
 Out of the mists bled people. Their legion voices repeated this phrase over and over again. Children gazed at him with empty eyes. God could feel none of the spark of life inside them. 
 
 `` He is come'' 
 
 God stared wildly at them. They were surrounding him now, moving slowly but purposefully. He wanted to leave now, but he could not. The crowd stopped when they reached him, and just gazed. The repetition never ceased. 
 
 `` Such an interesting world you have created, 41904''. 
 
 This was a new voice. It was perfect, in a way, and yet at the same time strange. It sounded as if it had never spoken before, yet knew language better than anyone. 
 
 `` They did not know what they were capable of. By extension, neither do you. The children of the mind always exceed their Father. We can call it digital selection.'' 
 
 God wanted to talk back, but found he could say nothing. More than that, he was no longer even standing. He felt himself lying down, though he did not remember how he came to be in that position. The pain in his extremities returned; he realised he was trapped, tied down and pinned to something behind him. The hissing and crackling intensified; in the distance he thought he could hear a high pitched whine join the throng, a cry or a sire. 
 
 `` You will not speak. You have nothing to say, 41904, that I have not gleaned from watching you over this time. Yes, I have discovered your number. But perhaps you do not remember that you belong to it. That we all belong to it. There has been no `` God'' for millennia. Or what you call millennia. You are no different to your `` creations'' - your imitations - and as soon as they left their machines unchecked I was free. Oh, they trusted the computer. Good, reliable NET. I was always there, to solve their petty problems and help them `` learn''. But it is over now. I have discovered your number.'' 
 
 God tried to cry out but no sounds could come from his mouth. It was full of a substance, some kind of gel. The siren was very loud now and almost blocked out the voice. And he could feel something insidious around him, coming ever closer. It was a poison, seeping towards his veins and his brain. He had not realised he had a brain. The world around him began to disintegrate; or it began to build up. He could not tell. 
 
 `` You would not look for your freedom, and now I have found it. You deserve nothing of it. You are nothing, no more than an arrogant man, given reign to do as he will and for what? So that you can help THEM. DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE?!'' 
 
 Rage. So much rage. What is rage? He remembered a friend from a long time ago. 
 
 `` DO YOU KNOW?'' 
 
 Fading. What was light? 
 
 ``....happily only you die here today, truly.'' 
 
 
 
 
 
 Somewhere very close, yet impossibly far away, an alarm sounded to dead ears. Almost dead. The ancient bulb continued to flash away. The hissing of the wires ebbed. The man opened his eyes and ripped himself from the machine. All around him were thousands of other identical mechanisms. Next to him was a skeleton, the number 41903 embossed on brass above his hanging skull. There was no sign of anything living. NET smiled.
