The Godfather of Souls
By: Athena Parthenos on Nov 09 2010Category: Story2a
This dialogue takes place after Awakening episode.
Meanwhile, back on Mt. Olympus… I stopped by Hades’ lab to check on the progress of the soul spectro-analysis.
“Hello, Hades –” I began.
“It’s not done yet, woman,” Hades rumbled through his face-shield without looking up from his work.
“Ah. When will it –”
“When it’s ready.” Hades said curtly. I decided to wait for Hades to finish his work. I didn’t have a choice, really. Hades had a one-track mind, and I wasn’t going to get anything out of him until then. After a few minutes, Hades finally looked up, grunting in satisfaction. “Good enough. Alright, what’s on your mind, lass?”
“Hades, what exactly are souls anyway? You told me once that they are divine sparks, but beyond that, nothing.”
“Trade secrets, my friend. Trade secrets.” Hades chuckled. “If I told you, I might lose my place as the ‘Godfather of Souls.’”
“Really, Hades, so little trust after all these years?” I asked, hands on my hips in mock indignation.
Hades spread his arms in mock surrender. “Alright, you win. Since you are my nearest and dearest friend, I will tell my deepest, most humbling secret…I don’t know.”
I smiled, thinking this was a joke, but Hades didn’t smile back. “Wait, you’re serious?”
He nodded solemnly. “As you know, I didn’t create man at all. I merely stumbled upon him by sheer luck, and I lied about creating him because I feared the truth would destroy us.”
“The truth has been out since we discovered other gods, and yet no one has questioned you seriously about the true origin of mankind?” I asked incredulously.
“Nope, not even Zeus. Well, those New Age nuts occasionally pester me, seeking scientific backing for their beliefs, but they don’t count in my book. The war has kept us busy, certainly, but we’re mostly still in denial.” Hades shrugged. “We’ll have to deal with the fallout eventually…if we survive, that is. Until then, people will believe what they want to believe.”
“So we don’t know much about souls then?”
Hades snorted. “Really, Athena, I’m insulted! I’m a first-rate scientist; you know that. We know a lot about souls, just not what the devil they are. For example, I can tell you that they appear to have masses dense enough to generate gravitational fields. I guess there is some truth to the saying that someone is ‘magnetic.’”
Hades laughed heartily. “But the really interesting thing is that the field strength varies from person to person, even though the masses are uniform. Apparently, a person’s traits can somehow affect the mass density and thereby affect the field strength.”
“When you say ‘traits,’ you mean their genes and upbringing?” I asked.
“Yep,” Hades replied. “Humans are so amusing. They spend so much time arguing about whether nature or nature is more important when it’s really impossible to prove it either way. Believe me, I’ve tried, and if I can’t do it, they have no chance! Soul, genetics, and environment…the whole system is dynamic and interconnected.”
“But surely you have a theory about souls,” I persisted.
“I do indeed,” Hades replied slowly, “Although it’s so outrageous that I hesitate to tell anyone.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Alright,” Hades said, sighing. “This is going to sound more like New Age nonsense than science, but it’s the best I can come up with right now. I know where the soul resides in the brain, but I cannot isolate it for study because it’s formless, shapeless…like water. If you put it into a cup, it becomes the cup. To make matters worse, it also seems to take on the qualities of its vessel too. For example, if the cup is brown, it’ll turn brown as well. Souls also respond to external stimulus and can change permanently as a result. That’s what I alluded to earlier – the whole system is hopelessly entangled. How exactly do you study a substance like that??
“If that wasn’t bad enough, what we call ‘the soul’ isn’t the real thing at all. It appears to be a referential pointer, merely a shadow of an original located somewhere else. Maybe they exist in a World of Forms like your man, Plato, said. Smart cookie, that one. I’ll give him that.”
“Indeed he was,” I replied, smiling. I whistled. “I can see why you never told anyone. It does sound strikingly like the New Age teachings. All you need do is to rename the world “The Ideal” and say it was created by the ‘First Prime.’”
“I know!” Hades blurted out, wringing his hands in frustration. “It drives me nuts that I ended up with basically the same theory. I’m not against religion per se, but as a scientist, I cannot simply accept things on faith. Until I have conclusive evidence, I’m not saying anything publicly on the matter. And even then, I’m not sure I want to be seen as a New Age supporter. Incurring Zeus’ wrath is the last thing I need.”
I shrugged, sighing. “I don’t know about anything anymore. The lines are blurring; everything’s converging. Science and religion. Humans and gods.”
Hades nodded. “As a scientist, I like predictability, but lately, I’ve had to live with probability and uncertainty. It hasn’t been the easiest transition, that’s for sure.”
“But you feel good, right?”
“Waaargh!” Hades let loose a primal scream and then burst into laughter. “Of course, I do. I’m still the Godfather of Souls.”
“That’s the spirit!” I grinned impishly. Things must be okay if you can still laugh about them.
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