The Creation of Man
Title - The Creation of Man
Rating G
The prompt Sapphire & Steel, worldbuilding (British and Obscure comment fest)
My thanks to Sparky for the on-the-spot beta and to Moriwen. Hope you like it
Sapphire stood, stretching her back. Her dress shifted slightly and for a brief moment Steel’s eyes shifted from what he was supposed to be doing to admire the supple form beneath the cloth.
I’m flattered, but aren’t you supposed to be organizing a social structure by which our inhabitants will arrange their moral compass.
It seems like a lot of work for nothing.
“It isn’t nothing, Steel.” Sapphire slipped back into her seat and set her hands on the table. “This is considered an important step in not only our team building skills, but also for better understanding humans.”
“I don’t necessarily want to better understand humans. I understand them quite enough.”
“Someone thinks not or we would be on assignment.” She skimmed her hand over the sphere floating before them. The atmosphere shimmered in response.
“You had the easy task,” Steel muttered.
“Easy? Creating a climate, continents, and geographical features? All you have to do is people it and give them some structure to live by.”
This is a waste of time.
This will help us better understand time. Know thy enemies. “Once upon a time, there was a planet called…” Sapphire looked at Steel and cocked her head to one side in question.
“What?” His brow knitted with annoyance,
“Oh, Steel, what shall we call our world?”
“I don’t care what it is called.”
“Fine, we will call it Silver.”
“Not Silver.” Steel’s eyes flashed and Sapphire laughed. She loved teasing her partner.
“All right… we will call it , I know, Carbon Steel. Carbon because life needs carbon to live.”
“At least this version of life form needs it. We could have choosen silicone.”
“And Steel, for the obvious reasons.” She took a breath. “In the beginning there was a great cloud of particles and one day a passing space pigeon…”
“There’s no such thing as a space pigeon.”
“I’m working on a creation myth and in this version there is a space pigeon.”
“And yet you accuse me of not taking this assignment seriously.”
“In the blink of an eye, life happens.” Sapphire’s eyes began to glow as she sank deeper into her story. “The space pigeon lays an egg and that egg envelopes all the particles, compacts and solidifies and a new plant is born. The eggs hatches and do you know what happened next?”
“The yolk was on them?”
“What is wrong with you?” She passed her hand through the planet and it swirled then vanished. “You are incapable of creating a world. This is hopeless. We cannot worldbuild. Everything I do, you ruin.”
THE ASSIGNMENT IS OVER. They had been watching and They were not pleased. Steel smiled tightly and nodded, as if reprimanded, but the twinkle in his eyes told a different story
What assignment?
Steel held up a long finger and waited for a moment until he was certain they were alone. You were being tested to see if you were better skilled at being an Element or a Specialist, Steel thought to her as he rose and offered her his hand. They like to do that now and again to make sure we haven’t grown out of our roles.
“Then what does this mean?”
“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“I’m stuck…” Oh, I see. You wanted me to fail
I would never presume to encourage failure. But I’m not above discouraging success. He kissed the back of her hand softly, smiled and together they faded from view.
Rating G
The prompt Sapphire & Steel, worldbuilding (British and Obscure comment fest)
My thanks to Sparky for the on-the-spot beta and to Moriwen. Hope you like it
Sapphire stood, stretching her back. Her dress shifted slightly and for a brief moment Steel’s eyes shifted from what he was supposed to be doing to admire the supple form beneath the cloth.
I’m flattered, but aren’t you supposed to be organizing a social structure by which our inhabitants will arrange their moral compass.
It seems like a lot of work for nothing.
“It isn’t nothing, Steel.” Sapphire slipped back into her seat and set her hands on the table. “This is considered an important step in not only our team building skills, but also for better understanding humans.”
“I don’t necessarily want to better understand humans. I understand them quite enough.”
“Someone thinks not or we would be on assignment.” She skimmed her hand over the sphere floating before them. The atmosphere shimmered in response.
“You had the easy task,” Steel muttered.
“Easy? Creating a climate, continents, and geographical features? All you have to do is people it and give them some structure to live by.”
This is a waste of time.
This will help us better understand time. Know thy enemies. “Once upon a time, there was a planet called…” Sapphire looked at Steel and cocked her head to one side in question.
“What?” His brow knitted with annoyance,
“Oh, Steel, what shall we call our world?”
“I don’t care what it is called.”
“Fine, we will call it Silver.”
“Not Silver.” Steel’s eyes flashed and Sapphire laughed. She loved teasing her partner.
“All right… we will call it , I know, Carbon Steel. Carbon because life needs carbon to live.”
“At least this version of life form needs it. We could have choosen silicone.”
“And Steel, for the obvious reasons.” She took a breath. “In the beginning there was a great cloud of particles and one day a passing space pigeon…”
“There’s no such thing as a space pigeon.”
“I’m working on a creation myth and in this version there is a space pigeon.”
“And yet you accuse me of not taking this assignment seriously.”
“In the blink of an eye, life happens.” Sapphire’s eyes began to glow as she sank deeper into her story. “The space pigeon lays an egg and that egg envelopes all the particles, compacts and solidifies and a new plant is born. The eggs hatches and do you know what happened next?”
“The yolk was on them?”
“What is wrong with you?” She passed her hand through the planet and it swirled then vanished. “You are incapable of creating a world. This is hopeless. We cannot worldbuild. Everything I do, you ruin.”
THE ASSIGNMENT IS OVER. They had been watching and They were not pleased. Steel smiled tightly and nodded, as if reprimanded, but the twinkle in his eyes told a different story
What assignment?
Steel held up a long finger and waited for a moment until he was certain they were alone. You were being tested to see if you were better skilled at being an Element or a Specialist, Steel thought to her as he rose and offered her his hand. They like to do that now and again to make sure we haven’t grown out of our roles.
“Then what does this mean?”
“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“I’m stuck…” Oh, I see. You wanted me to fail
I would never presume to encourage failure. But I’m not above discouraging success. He kissed the back of her hand softly, smiled and together they faded from view.