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"This was the heart of my case, and I knew it. But again, therecame from God no response or interruption.
" 'I couldn't see this,' I said, 'as anything less than Your greatestaccomplishment, the self-aware human, conceiving of Time, with abrain vast enough already for learning that is coming so fast weWatchers could scarce keep track of all of it. But the suffering, thetorment, the curiosity梚t was a lamentation seemingly made for theears of Angels, and of God, if I may dare to say.
" 'The case I came to make was, Lord, can these souls, either inthe flesh, or in Sheol, not be given some part of our light? Can theynot be given Light as animals are given water when they thirst? Andwill not these souls, once taken into Divine Confidence, be worthyperhaps to take some small place in this Court which is without End?'
"The quiet seemed dreamy and eternal, like the Time beforeTime.
" 'Could it be tried, Lord? For if it is not tried, what is to be thefate of these invisible surviving souls except to grow stronger andmore entangled with the flesh in ways that give rise not to revelationsof the true Nature of things, but corrupted ideas based onfragmentary evidence and instinctive fear?'
"This time, I gave up on the idea of a polite pause and immediatelyforged ahead.
" 'Lord, when I went into the flesh; when I went with the woman,it was because she was fair, yes, and resembled us, and offered aspecies of pleasure in the flesh which to us is unknown. Granted, Lord,that pleasure is immeasurably small compared to your magnificence,but Lord, I tell you, in the moment when I lay with her, and she withme, and we knew that pleasure together, that small flame did roarwith a sound very like the songs of the Most High!
" 'Our hearts stopped together, Lord. We knew in the flesh eternity,the man in me knew that the woman knew it. We knew somethingthat rises above all earthly expectations, something that ispurely Divine.'
"I fell silent. What more could I say? I would be embroidering mycase with examples, for Someone Who knew all things. I folded myarms and looked down, respectfully, musing and listening to the soulsin Sheol, and for one second their faint faraway cries distracted me,drew me right out of the heavenly presence for an instant of realizationthat they were calling on me and reminding me of my promiseand hoping for my return.
" 'Lord God, forgive me,' I said. 'Your wonders have snared me.
And I am wrong if that was not your plan.'
"Once again the silence was thunderous and soft and utterlyempty. It was an emptiness of which those on Earth cannot conceive.
I stood my ground because I could do nothing but what I had done,and I felt in my heart that every word I'd spoken had been true anduntainted by fear. It occurred to me very clearly that if the Lordthrew me out of Heaven, that whatever He did, really, I woulddeserve it. I was His Created Angel, and His to Command. And His todestroy if He wished it. And once again, I heard the cries of Sheol inmy memory, and I wondered, as a human might, if He would send methere soon or do something far more fearful, for in Nature there werecountless examples of excruciating destruction and catastrophe, and Ias an Angel could be made by God to suffer whatever He wanted meto suffer, I knew.
" 'I trust in you, Lord,' I said suddenly, thinking and speakingsimultaneously. 'Or else I would have fallen on my face as have theother Watchers. And that is not to say that they do not trust. But onlyto say that I believe you want me to understand Goodness, that youressence is Goodness, and you will not suffer these souls to cry ingloom and ignorance. You will not suffer the ingenious Humankindto continue without any inkling of the Divine.'
"For the first time, he spoke very softly and offhandedly.
" 'Memnoch, you've given them more than an inkling.'
" 'Yes, Lord, it is so. But Lord, the souls of the dead have giventhem much inspiration, and encouragement, and those souls are outof Nature, as we have beheld it, and growing stronger by the day. Ifthere is a species of energy, Lord, natural and complicated beyondmy understanding, then I am totally taken by surprise. For it seemsthey are made of what we are made of, Lord, the invisible, and each isindividual and has its own will.'
"Silence again. Then the Lord spoke:
" 'Very well. I have heard your case. Now I have for you a question.
For all that you gave Humankind, Memnoch, what precisely didthey give you?'
"I was startled by the question.
" 'And don't speak to me of love now, Memnoch,' He added. 'Oftheir capacity to love one another. On this the Heavenly Court is wellinformed and totally agreed. But what did they give you, Memnoch?
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