Chapter 10

in vitro//On Virtue

It’s been a month since the bombs fell. There was a part of me that was worried the event would cause the world’s faith to falter, but our work was efficacious.
“The girl is still missing, which delays our plans, what say you, V?” The Glutton has dribble on his chin as he speaks to me.
“She’s young and now represents the tragedy of the century, do you blame her? She’ll come around soon enough.”
“And if not?”
“Then we proceed as planned, before she came into the picture.”
The Glutton grunts in response.
“Well then,” This time Consumption speaks up, though she prefers we stick to calling her Liv to separate her from Gluttony, “what’s next? I’m impatient waiting for her.”
“You’re always impatient.” As am I for this endless conversation, which we’ve had several times this week already. “I suppose we’ve waited long enough, we may as well begin the next steps, her existence doesn’t change anything whether or not she decides to join us.
“I’ve already begun planting ideas of an upcoming rapture to our pope, and I believe Frau Tessa has done the same for the other world leaders, we simply need to follow through. Liv, have you come up with anything yet?”
She sighs, “Actually, I have to give credit to Gluttony for this one, but the communion wine and wafers, we were thinking-”
I lift a hand to cut her off, knowing full well where she’s going with this. “Yes, I believe that will be perfect. The Lord provides, does he not?”
They both smile in agreement.
I clap my hands together, “Now, sticking to the Easter plan, we have several months to continue getting the world on board, we need more control over the media. Frau Tessa can only do so much for us with the world leaders. Liv, I believe this is in your realm?”
She nods, “I suppose so. Artificial intelligence has mostly taken over the media, but it’s easy enough to mess with from my end, so I’ll get to it. There’s still a large percentage of the world, however, that doesn’t seem to be on board with AI, so we’ll need someone a bit more personable to handle the human side of media. I could name a few journalists with a good following, but they all tend to lean away from these things…” She drifts off in thought.
“We’re not gonna win ‘em all.” Gluttony adds his thoughts between handfuls of french fries that I’d rather not know where he pulled them from. “And frankly we don’t want to, remember? Jayesh specifically said so.”
“Yeah well he makes a lot of orders for never being around to actually help with his own damn plans.”
I clear my throat to interrupt the conversation before it digresses any further. “I think that’s enough for today and please, for several days, we don’t need to be meeting so frequently. If anyone hears from the girl, Tragedy, or any other interesting developments, we will be in touch.”
I take my leave from the cozy study in which we meet and take my time in finding the exit to this large library. I stroll through the long hallways, watching as students, locals, and tourists alike peruse the shelves and work diligently. It takes several minutes for me to make it downstairs and out the door onto the streets of Florence, where the sun bakes the people as they commute across the city, muttering prayers to gods they don’t even realize are listening. I go unnoticed as I join the masses.
On every street corner, homeless people and children sit, begging for anything, begging for everyone else to show some morality. Those that hand over the small amounts of cash walk away, internally giving themselves a pat on the back as if they hadn’t withheld a fortune that they’re headed off to spend on the newest fashion statement. Their piety is astounding. I shove 50 euro banknotes into each outstretched hand that I pass and bask in the sunlight that shines from them every time. Every god has a miracle to work in order to maintain faith.
Virtue is taught in every place of worship, in every primary school, passed from parent to child, and grown in a test tube. The fruit may look ripe, but any mockery made by man is without sweetness. God died several decades ago, but he didn’t die like a sun, with a cosmic flash, he died out like a light bulb, flickering away until swallowed by darkness. His replacement? Myself and the multitude of other gods continuing to pop up around the world, in every dark place in need of a false light. Man took fire and contained it inside glass so that it would no longer burn them. So here I am, self-proclaimed false virtue, because nobody seems to know what true virtue is anymore.
I turn a corner and continue my stroll to the Basilica. It’s almost difficult to traverse the old church, what with the hundreds of people holding faith inside. If only they knew.