The Holy Church of Isaac Newton

Kepler's Ring - A place of tall towers.  Each tower made with a mix of titanium and unbreakable glass.  And when the Ring aligned just right with the sun, you could see sparkles of light shine across each building and roads.  Mechanical horses and carriages, powered by plasma cores, raced each way down the streets.  But the temple was a different sort of place all together.  A large gothic like structure that was surrounded by a garden of roses, tulips, daffodils, daisies, begonias, and probably ten other kinds of flowers I wasn't able to recognize without closer inspection.  Some of them, according to lore, didn't even exist on Earth any more.  But the holy church was something else to behold entirely.  A building made out of stone, with it high towers that spiked into the heavens.  Beautiful stained glass windows with pictures of all the saints: Saint Merry, Saint Jesus, Saint Yahweh, Saint Muhammad, Saint Allah, Saint Buddha, Saint Darwin, and many more.

Going inside revealed a long corridor with pews on each side.  At the end, an altar with a stained glass window of our living God, Isaac Newton.  The sun shining in shined at the statue underneath.  Isaac Newton, with spread out wings, and a golden laurel wreath on his head. 

The holy priest was wrapping up the ceremony for the day.  Everyone stood up.  Einstein was next to me.  He had insisted on attending the next congregation together.  Personally, I didn't find much meaning in these ceremonies.  I was a practical man.  I had never seen Isaac Newton, despite being a High Lord.  Actually, only three members of the council have claimed to go up the heaven to meet him in person.  Isaac Newton was said to have enjoyed his solace alone, not taking many visitors.  Passing new laws when necessary. 

Isaac Newton,
Who art in heaven,   
Hallowed be thy name;  
Thy wisdom come;    
Thy science is done;  
On Kepler as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily task.
And charge us with our righteous research,  
As we work hand in hand with our fellow colleagues.  
Lead us into a prosperous future;  
For science is forever.  

"Now come and eat the bread that represents the body of Newton:  all his work and research passed onto you.  And drink the wine that represents the blood of Newton: for you should have thirst to learn all that you can."

[On Kepler as it is in heaven.  To think I have my very own name in the Lord's prayer.  Surely a sign of things to come, if I have my way.]

"Lord Kepler, if I may have a word with you."

As I was standing in line, an old priest with a dark gray robe tugged on my sleeve.

Einstein gave me a knowing wink and nudged me to go along with the old man.

"Whatever you do, I'll keep a secret."

Now, what in the world was Einstein talking about?  I didn't have time to really give it much thought.  The old man in the gray robe was already walking away, giving me an eye to follow him.

[Right, follow the old priest into an unknown room.  Not anything bad ever happened from that.]

Soon, I found myself in a barren room with a long duty brown table and two chairs that didn't like they would support anyone's weight.  The priest sat down on one of them.  There was a creaking as if the chair protested what was happening to it.  The priest motioned to the other seat.  I dreaded sitting down and breaking the chair, but what choice did I really have?

To my surprise, the chair didn't protest when I sat down.  In a way, I thought it was the most comfortable chair I had ever sat down on.

[Right to ask why I spend so much time talking about those chairs.  Let's get on with it.]

The man  took off his hood.  A weird gray moustache that was much too long attached itself to the most pail white face I had ever seen.  A sickly sight, to be sure.  The man had a bald head with a dark brown splotch on the top right.  It was difficult not to stare.  It was even harder not to be repulsed by the sight of this man.  I suddenly felt very cold and very alone.  Like life itself was being sucked out of my teets.

Come on, Einstein, buddy...  Save me from this predicament.

But nothing happened.  The old man made a raspy sound as he moved his jaw to speak.

"Lord Kepler, I'm sorry to have dragged you out as I did.  But a dire matter has come to my attention about the Athenites."

"The Athenites....?"

"I was told all the High Lords knew of their existence..."

"Oh, sorry.  I was just caught off guard."  Yes, I know what you're talking about.

 "Recently, they have become more bold with their tactics, my lord.  And well....  I would like the High Lords to do something about it."

I thought for a second.  Were the Athenites really a big issue?  But thinking more, I understood where the priest was coming from.  I wasn't really that drawn into religion, which made me not really care about the intricacies for those who took it very seriously.  Yes, the Athenites would be a problem for a church that worshipped Isaac Newton as the living God.

 [But let's back up a bit here.  I see you might be confused.  The Athenites were a small group of cultists who believed that Athena Parthenos was the true God.  The cult took off about fifty years ago when a group of researchers went down to Earth and discovered a statue of the Goddess.  The church had never mentioned another God or saint in its writing to match her description.  Theories went wild after that.  What was the church covering up?  Back then, the group was rather small, and they were careful about who they invited into their ranks.  The authorities had tried to find them, but the group kept well hidden....  Well, that's until recently.  It seemed through time they had secretly built up their ranks.  And it was said that even one of the High Lords supported them.  In just the last few months, you could find people preaching about how all wisdom came from Athena and that Isaac Newton was a false God.  These people were eventually arrested, but as quickly as they were put in prison, they miraculously escaped the next day.  Quite a predicament for a society that up to now only worshipped one God.  What to do about them was a serious question for the church.  But how much did I really care....]

"Why not ask High Lord Einstein?  He is a very devote follower of your order."

"I'm afraid he gets to emotional about these sorts of things.  I was hoping that  a more rational mind could find a way to deal with this problem discretely."

"You mean without going to the council."

Yes, that would easier be for him.  The council was ever so slow on passing new laws and taking actions.  Research was the only thing that they cared about.  Instead of taking all that time, it would be easier to dispose of this problem quietly.

Did I really have enough power and resources to do that?  An interesting quandary.  But the idea of this rebellious group did seed inside me a curiosity.  Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.  It didn't matter if she was real or fake.  The cult-like behavior of the people was an interesting topic in itself.  Perhaps I could even write a paper on it.

But what to do in this immediate circumstance?  I couldn't just nudge off this disgusting looking priest.

"I'll look into the matter personally, but I can't promise anything.  Depending on how large and well hidden the group is....  I might need some help from some other council members."

The priest didn't say anything.  He just nodded his head and left.  Now I was alone.  With two chairs, I really didn't like the look of.