(aproximate length, 5 pages)

"God, they said You wanted to see me."
"Yeah Gabriel. Come on in. I've had a great idea."
"The mutants is it again?"
"That's right. Just think, a group of mutant angels. Isn't that great?"
"Well I'm not so sure You should muck about like that."
"Nonesense Gabe, it'll be terrific. Really neat. All I'm going to do is knock out the wings, give them free will and hide the psychic stuff. They'll love it, you'll love it, I'll love it. Just think, a group working for the glory of Me out of free will. Wow." God flicked Its tail and drifted leisurely around the pool. "It'll be great. Absolutely great."
"Yeah well, OK. If You say so."
"They'll have what you lack, Gabe. Imagination."
"And these are the plans here?"
"Ah..., the red file. The other one's something else I've been working on. Take them along to the Prototype mob. Ask them to knock some up. Oh and Gabe."
"Yeah?"
"Keep Me informed. And fling Me a fish or two. Herring, I think."

Whilst God chased the herring, Gabriel sat down quietly on a cirrus and glanced at the contents of the file. The text showed why God was so excited; they did look brilliant. But Gabe still had a nagging feeling. So far, this was all only celestial paper. Even so, it's not the job of a favourite administrator to quibble, but only to administrate. And if God was a two hundred metre long Dolphin today, after all, It had created it. Gabe supposed It must be right. You don't get to be God by being stupid.
Several eondays passed until Gabriel finally returned. It entered what had been the dolphinarium. The room was now dry and full of green stuff, crawling with all sorts of black things. Some were tiny and spent their time eating the green stuff. Some fluttered about and spent their time eating the tiny things. Others were larger and furry, and spent their time just sitting or swinging around. "Neat eh?" said God, a gigantic Eagle perched on a mountain crag, where the pool had been. "The colours need working on though. I'll do that later. Now Gabe, what's up?"
"Those mutatnts. Prototype have done some."
"Great news. Can I see them?"
"Sure. They've put them in D sector."
"Thanks alot, Gabe." With that comment as a farewell, the Eagle stretched It vast wings horizontal and soared from Its perch. It glided from the room, shouting from the exit, "this is something else I'm thinking of. Not sure of the scale yet."

The Eagle swept great circles around the patch of orange sand and studied the scene below. The mutant angels a stared upwards, and God could hear them chattering. "They've thought of language already. Terrific!" It listened to their words.
"What's that?" said one, pointing to the Eagle.
"A fabulous jewel amidst the crown of creation," offered another.
"What?" asked the first.
"Oh, it's something I've thought of. I've called it poetry."
"Po -e -try," echoed God. "Amazing."
"It's nothing really. Just a way of expressing the glories of existance."
"Oh," said the first.
A third then rose and began to beat the ground with his feet and hum rhythmic sounds.
"What're you doing?" asked the first.
"Music and dance. Expressing the glories of existance?"
"A visual and audio expression, I would say," offered a fourth, who had scratched some marks into the soil. "I think we've invented art."
"Oh," said the first, little impressed. "Has anyone thought of food yet?"
"What?" chorused the others.
"Food. I've just invented hunger."
They all laughed and then ate, as God landed and laid a magnificent egg for them. It lifted again and soared out of view.
"God," observed a fifth.

And so it passed and God was pleased. The mutants were sent onto the production lines, and tens of thousands were turned out until soon, they became a common sight throughout selected parts of Heaven. And God was pleased, as Its children learned to dance and to sing, and developed in all manner of ways It had never expected. All was glorious in that first, seemingly eternal summer, and God visited them many times; as an Eagle, or a Tree, or as a Mutant Itself, or just as a Spirit of Loving Parenthood.
The mutants, endowed with imagination, proved to be a great success. As the summer drew to its close, the gates and corridors of all Heaven were opened, after questions formed as to what lay beyond the selected areas. All were entranced by the happiness that spread in the wake of the children's progress. God spent many eonhours in watching Its creation, drink of the sacred rivers of knowledge which flowed from Its wisdom. The knowledge intertwined with the blood of the mutant mind, and they soon began to create conceptions, as to the way of the Way. They formed into groups of various theoritricians, each one possessing a unique vision of unique expressions of existance. The societies flourished and became varied and numerous. Each added to the great and growing body of ideas.
Over the eonages, the societies spread to almost all parts of Heaven. Some to the centre; others, to the nonexistant peripheries of boundlessness. Wherever their life settled, they found everything open to them. Their relative positions became personalized, as many drank less of knowledge and attempted to sift what they had consumed more fully. Further eonages passed, until those farthest from the centre became engrossed in their positions, and ignorant of wider perspectives. God grew more entranced by the ideas nearest to It, and Its visits to externity were absorbed into gathering clouds of scarcity. Later still, God decided to discover how far the mutants had progressed. It decided to read the collective aura of their thoughts and feelings, and found it pleasing. Great diversity shone there, enriching all with its light. God mused of what their minds would make of this aura but, having buried their psychic potentials deep within their souls, they couldn't read its patterns. God saw the diversity of their fragmented knowledge and deduced that together, they held the potential to become all but an equal of It. The ignorance between the groups was a blockage to the final great step; the Oness of the whole mutant mind through their selves. God imagined all their strems flowing into one, all encompassing sea, and the vision filled It with great joy. The total unity of all their streams! And so angels were sent forth to all, and everyone of the children came to a specially arranged seminar in a space of void, to which none had yet reached.

The communities had assembled and occasional, serupticious greetings passed between them. Their eyes viewed in unison, as the void became bathed in an emergent Light, which rose to an intensity of blinding brilliance. Their eyes were protected however, and so they watched mesmorized, as God descended the stairways of light to their midst. It stood as one of them, and jubilation developed amongst all the children, and they were warmed with Its presence. God's hands spread and attentive silence prevailed. It began to speak-
"I've called you here to help Me create a great project. I have spent energy considering a new invention, the universe, and this is now all but complete."
As spectacularly as God's appearance, the void was suddenly adorned with shining sequens, as the stars and planets emerged into being, out of the factories of Heaven. The assembley respnded as one, and the greatest cheer ever known arose, as the decorations of the most fantastic neon sign flicked on. The sound was silenced by God's signal.
"This is the universe. It is, however, not quite complete. It lacks its greatest and most beautiful treasure. This, you will design, as you have imagination. All you need do is to think of the finest jewel, and it will be. Just think."
The wisest and the most simple of them began to think. Creations were formed and dispelled until, after much exertion, the children's minds intertwined and became One for an instant. God was delirious. "Hey, that's it. That's really it. It!"
Thus, the Earth came to be; the most beautiful symbol of creation, and God loved her.
God rose back to Heaven through a train of ecstasy; back to Heaven's centre, and into the great chamber. The room was empty. All its contents had been thought of at the assembley, but even better than God could have hoped. They had added a spectrum of glorious colour, as a tribute to It. God was content for eoncenturies, as It basked in the success of the idea. "Terrific," was Its final utterance during those times.
However, all was not so well. The assembley had celebrated in extreme exuberance and had agreed; the Earth was the greatest glory of God. But they had talked much and discovered each other's diversity. The reactions were souring. Mutual mistrust built barriers, framed by difference. The societies became not just isolated, but insular. Gabriel collected them from the party and drove them back into Heaven, whilst squabbles fermented on the rear seat. The squabbles fast became feuds, and the mutants' imaginations corrupted the creation, with their new tainting concepts of violence. The life no longer devoured and accepted devourance with thanks, but viciousness entered the scheme. The Earth's order became infested with exploitation.
And not only terrestrial systems were disrupted, but ethereal ones as well. Terror grabbed the angels, as the mutants waged war amongst themselves. The troubles became so bad, that the groups were confined back into limited areas, and none could find sanctuary, outside or in. The pressure of confinement worked to accentuate the violence. The children were torn by strife. A new name was coined for them by the Planning Department; 'humans' -they who are nuts! Despite the resolute confinement, troubled periodically spilt over into angelic Heaven. God could not be reached, shrouded in Its joy.
Eventually, It did awake and the ecstasy of God was shattered. Its visions lay like the germs of gut-rot. "Oh hell," said God, upon learning the news.
"Not half," added Gabriel.
"Oh Me, what've I done? I think the total free will was a bit hasty."
"A bit!? It was a right, supranormal cock up!"
"Console yourself Gabe. I'm sure I can do something. I am God, after all."
"I know but... bloody hell!"
"You always were a bit worried about this one. Oh well, looks like you had something, Gabriel."
"What are You going to do, though? How about melting them all down in a fiery furnace and starting on some birds? You've done some really good birds. Nice songs, pretty feathers. Make them into birds. They'll be a damn sight less trouble."
"Could do," replied God, "but it wouldn't be fair, nor practical. There's no guarantee of destroying the free will, you see. Could you imagine flocks of terrifying chickens or nuthatches? No, I don't suppose you could. Anyway, take it from Me, it's not really on. I'm just not sure what to do at the moment."
"Well, one thing's certain. They can't stay here. They're ruining the neighbourhood and annoying my angels. Couldn't You, well, repatriate them or something?"
"It's not so easy. It's a matter off... Hold it! Gabe, I've got it. Destruction's too risky, right? Highly unlikely to clear the free will. They can't stay here. Repatriate you say. If they would simply straighten out, then all would be neat again. Therefore, send them to somewhere really great and they'll discover beauty again. That'll straighten them out, if anything will."
"If it don't?"
"If it don't! They'll be isolated anyway. Great, hey?"
"Yeah but where?"
"The Earth of course. They helped make her. I'll send them to the Earth. I hear they've tainted her too, but that doesn't matter too much, because she's such a knockout place. I'll make them unconcious of Here, so they don't think of coming back until they're decent again, and keep an eye on them as well."
Gabriel whistled appreciatively. "God, do You know what?"
"Yes. It's brilliant. I know virtually everything."

And so it was done. The remaining mutants were stunned to sleep and the whole lot transported to the Earth. Those multitudes who had been killed were also dumped, their bodies being recycled and their bones suggesting four million years of human existance on the planet. To stop death, the childrenm were placed under suspended animation, and were not thawed out until ten thousand years ago. The rest is to be found in the soils of their-story.

And of the most beautiful planet? Will she prove to be the most successful psychanalyst of eternity?
"Well, that's a tough one," said the press spokesman. "She has a rather expensive service, albeit of great value. She does a marvellous line in love therapy. At present though, it seems doubtful. For one thingg, her patient is blind. For another, it is paranoid. It's also violent and has delusions of grandeur. It lives in an extremely unhygenic way and smokes far too much. If it can learn even an inkling of co-operation, it might recover. The success of the treatment really depends upon its own state of mind."

"So I have a personal, simple message to pass on;
there is only one Earth.
It is a tiny, precious stone.
Let us treasure it;
for there is not another one."

Michael Collins
(astronaurt)