The Gods play Marbles
The Tyrannosaurus Rex opened his tennis ball sized eyes and got to his feet. He surveyed his surroundings warily, and then yawned, revealing a mouth that would give any orthodontist a fit. He was a gaunt specimen, with his ribs showing through his skin. He was the dinosaur equivalent of the homeless guy muttering to himself at the dollar store, but in 65 million years, he would become a celebrated fossil, the symbol of his reptilian race. He sniffed the air, turned and stomped through the prehistoric swamp with a deadly purpose.
The gods turned to study the stranger as he entered. There was nothing particularly unusual about him. A casual glance around the room would reveal deities with odd numbers of arms, animal heads, tentacles and all sorts of ungodly bodies, so a red dude with horns on his head and a pitchfork hanging out of his arse was hardly unusual. “What do you play?” asked the newcomer. Odin hurriedly cleared his throat. “Marbles”, he said,” and who might you be?”. “I am many things. The light of a million dying stars the feeling of a rip in space-time, the sound of a guitar with no strings. I am the void. ”, the red man said, smiling. “We’ll call you Dave, then” replied Odin, rolling his eyes. All these young new-fangled deities had an overinflated sense of drama. “Can I play? I’ve got my own marble” replied the red man. He pulled out a dusty brown sphere and held it up to the light. “Sure,” barked Anubis, “but I gotta warn ya, Zeus always wins.” Zeus smiled, “It’s all in the wrist. Think you can take me on? Place your marble.” The red man surveyed the playing field. It was pitch black, and littered with spheres of bright yellow, marine blue, deep green, scarlet, azure and a million other shades for which names were yet to be invented. He selected a corner, and placed the brown sphere on the board.
The T-Rex traipsed through muddy, flea infested puddles, following his nose. He hadn’t eaten in 5 days, but hunger did not make him weak, only more vicious and determined. All around him, prehistoric plants thrived in the humid atmosphere. Insects buzzed, and by his feet, a small possum like mammal timidly emerged from its burrow. They say the meek will inherit the earth. If the creature knew that this entailed 65 billion years of evolution, it probably wouldn’t have bothered. The T-Rex approached a hillock. The scent was coming from around it. As it silently began to climb, the evening sky caught its eye. The beauty of creation lay before it, a thousand million burning balls of hydrogen, like pin pricks in the sky, making this single reptile clinging to the face of a rock seem like a miniscule footnote in the great tome that is the universe. But T-Rexes aren’t familiar with great meaningful philosophical questions, so it ignored the sight. Besides, it was a Sunday, and it was hungry.
The red man took careful aim and flicked again, hitting a large red swirly marble. “Well, there goes Betelgeuse,” hissed Quetzalcoatl grumpily. “And a real pity too. I was making a constellation out of it.” Most of the gods were crowding around the board now. The newcomer was proving to be a talented player, and the game promised to be interesting. It was not like any usual game of marbles. The orbs on the board were in constant motion, circling each other and occasionally colliding and smashing each other to bits. The thunder god lined up his electric green marble, and flicked his thumb. The marble sped forward, swinging slightly to the left, and smashed into a small white sphere that had been trundling along an elliptical trajectory. Zeus straightened, satisfied. The red man stepped forward for his turn. He examined the board, then hunched over it, lining up his marble with his intended target. A hush fell over the audience as they realized that he was aiming for a small blue and green cat’s-eye marble, third in a series of nine spheres arranged around a central sphere of glistening amber. The gods held their breaths as one as he flicked, with an almost nonchalant air.
The T-Rex charged down the slope catching the protoceratops by surprise. She turned, and faced him her deadly crown of spikes, jabbing him under the ribs with the horn at the end of her snout. The T-Rex backed away, wounded, but then attacked her side with renewed vigor. His deadly jagged teeth slashed through her thick green hide, fatally wounding her. Yet, with one final burst of energy, the protoceratops charged, driving her horn into his neck. As the dinosaurs lay there struggling, a giant dusty rock was hurtling towards them. They both stopped struggling, and turned their heads to the sky as some paracosmic base instinct kicked in, and observed silently as the rock entered the atmosphere, and began building up layers of flame, like some giant celestial onion. As it impacted on the earth, it let out a wave of pure heat and light that turned the dinosaur’s bones transparent, before frying them to a crisp. The T-Rex’s last thought was “You bastard, you stole my dinner” before he was incinerated. As creatures around the world fell silent, the sound of a million tons of rock screaming under intense heat and pressure reverberated through the solar system.
Tick.
The gods nodded appreciatively as the red man hit his target. “Very well, you win this game” said Zeus grudgingly. “What will you do with your winnings?” “We shall play another game,” said the red man, “upon this planet of blues and green.” “Oh yes? And what game may this be?” inquired the gods. “It’s called Evolution.”
