Prometheus

“You have been told it was man’s prayers that brought the Rain. I wish it were so,” the mouths said. “The reality is the Rain walked straight to us from a black hole. Have you ever heard the inside of a black hole? It sounds like a god screaming. We at NASA—” The mouths chuckled like they’d said a joke that only they could find funny. “You don’t even know what NASA is. It was a space station before the Rain. I used to work for them. We were observing the movements of black holes—creation, destruction, and the irresistible pull they had on all matter and nonmatter. Nothing can escape a black hole. Even light itself is sucked inside it.

“Something ran out of it. The thing’s movements reminded me and others of a deer. Not because of its legs. It had three legs instead of four. Nor was its fur deerlike. Its fur was made of a colorful, spongy light-blue-and-orange fungus that all blended together like rainbows caused by a mix of water and oil. It was reminiscent of a deer because it ran like it was being chased.

“We used to say the expression ‘a deer in the headlights’ if something stood still, but that’s only accurate if they’re paralyzed by fear. Otherwise, if you try to hunt one and it sees you, it bounds across the forest. That’s what this thing did for about three steps with its three legs, two humanoid ones and another from where its belly button would be. Three steps, then it stood and looked around. With the most powerful force in the galaxy commanding it to come back, it stood. A black hole, the one thing in nature that nothing can escape.

“We witnessed it swallow a star, and the thing stood there, taking in its surroundings like a grizzly in a house. Meteors whirled around it, obeying their natural call to go to the black hole, and still the creature stood. Like cows celebrating the arrival of a butcher, we gathered everybody in the communications room to see the satellite feed and high-fived one another for our discovery.” The somberness of the mouths’ voices put the cell in a grave mood. “Do you understand the pure size of the creature to escape a black hole? It was as large as the sun. After a few dumb moments, a solemnity gripped the group.

“It looked at us, directly at the satellite camera. She nodded, and we all knew it was not just a she but the She. And She walked across light-years in the direction of Earth.

“Whenever one satellite was losing a clear image of Her, She waved Her hand, and another had Her on the screen. It was an ominous miracle. She wanted to be seen.

“Horrified but still scientists, several of us noted everything we could about Her. Her ability to traverse the very galaxy in steps like She was walking on a bridge we could not see. Her two humanoid legs moved in steps so small and useless they could be considered decoration or a fashion statement. The third leg lurched forward with each step and really was what propelled Her.

“She had three eyes. The sclera—the white part of our eyes—was black, and Her pupils—the black part of our eyes—were pure white. That’s not what still bothers me about Her eyes today. On the right side of Her head was one eye, and two were on the left. Prey, not predators, evolve to have eyes on the sides of their heads to better see what could be chasing them.” The mouths grew furious and spat as they talked, drenching me in their warm, rancid saliva from every angle. “No one dared bring up the most important question! What could be chasing Her?

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“Not every colleague of mine focused on research that could be their doom. No, no, no.” The mouths sputtered. “Dumb, stupid, and desperate to be happy… Frank Haymond popped champagne bottles. Myrtle Myr, the smartest of us, found the wall in the corner to stare at and asked to be alerted when it was over.

“We focused on other properties the creature had. Namely, Her skin and Her sweat. The closer I looked at the skin, the more it repelled me. It was so spongy, wet, and puttylike. I imagined touching it and having my fingers sucked away.

“That day, Her blue-and-orange skin didn’t suck but discharged. Thick, honey-like orange viscous drops came from Her skin. Some turned their heads. Others gagged, and one person, in particular, vomited in a trash can. Frank dropped his champagne bottle. I couldn’t stop watching. These beads of sweat floated behind Her, and when She entered Earth’s atmosphere, they stayed in space.

“She came to Earth and did Her will for three days.

“A boy wore a red shirt on his first day of school. He was nervous, obviously. She crawled out from his pillow and transformed him into a giant four times the height of the school and made his tongue immovable. He left to haunt the mountains in the east, the sole place where he felt small.

“A couple met at a coffee shop for a first date. She yanked them from the date, made a house for them, and gave them quintuplets. They lived happily ever after in that house. I believe their great-great-grandkids inhabit it now.

“In the cover of darkness and without making a sound, She went into the room of a failed artist and judged his art while he slept. After judging, She grabbed him by his throat, shook him awake, and forbade him from making any more art except with the tools She gave him. She gave him the paintbrush of Basil Hallward, the man who drew the portrait of Dorian Gray. Yes, the book was fiction. It’s real now. That happens sometimes.

“A girl sat on her therapist’s couch, confessing her sins and seeking counsel for them. She took over the therapist’s body and mocked the girl relentlessly. Then, from the therapist’s body, She said, ‘Grab a pen, and write every word I say.’ The girl wrote three copies of The Necromancian and The Book of Kaleínlanthasménos.”

The mouths started crying then and said, “Then the sweat! The awful sweat from Her pores crashed down on this world for twenty-seven days and nine nights! You think it was a famine that destroyed the world’s population? You think it was the climate? You think it was a nuclear war? You think it was aliens? You think it was technology? The world was fine before She got here! The Gifts and Curses people have received because of the Rain were flukes! Most of the world exploded in horrible deaths because of the Rain. We were at nine billion people on this planet. Now, we sit at less than one million!

“I was turned into what you see before you—many mouths that must speak, that must tell you about Her. And I’m Cursed to observe. I saw what really happened when the Rain fell. I must tell you the truth of the world. There are powers you cannot hope to comprehend that choose if you live or die. They can hurt you and will hurt you neither for pleasure nor for revenge but for reasons you will never comprehend.

“There is no heaven and hell. There is no karma. There is no justice. Only Her.”