Again, I took my time. It was imperative that this answer count. But in the interval he spoke:

'Lucifer, can you count for me all of the stars? Do you know their names, their orbits, their destinies in Nature? Can you give me a rough calculation, Lucifer, of the number of grains of sand in the sea?'

'No, Lord, I can't.'

'Throughout my Creation, there are creatures whose spawn number in the thousands, of which only a tiny portion survive - fishes of the sea, turtles of the sea, winged insects of the air. A hundred, a million even, of one species may be born under the arc of one day's sun, with only a handful to survive and reproduce. Don't you know this?'

'Yes, Lord, I know. I knew in ages past. I knew when the animals were evolved. I knew.'

'So what is it to me that only a handful of souls come to the Gates of Heaven? Maybe I will send you to Sheol again, in Time. I will not say.'

'Lord, humankind is sentient and suffering!'

'Must we argue again about Nature? Humankind is my Creation, Lucifer, and its development whether you know it or not follows my Laws.'

'But, Lord, everything under the sun dies eventually, and these souls have the potential to live forever! They are outside the cycle! They are made of invisible will and knowledge, Lord, surely they were meant within the Laws to come to Heaven, how could it not be? I am asking you, Lord, I am asking you to tell me, because as much as I love you, I don't understand.'

'Lucifer, the invisible and the willful are embodied in my angels and they obey my Laws.'

'Yes, Lord, but they don't die. And you talk to us, and reveal yourself to us, and you love us, and you let us see things.'

'You don't think the beauty of Creation reveals my light to Humankind? You don't think these souls, which you yourselves have brought here, have not developed out of a perception of the glory of all that has been made?'

'Many more could come, Lord, with just a little help. The number here now is so small. Lord, the lower animals, what can they conceive of that they cannot have? I mean, the lion conceives of the meat of the gazelle and he gets it, does he not? Human souls have conceived of Almighty God and are longing for Him.'

'You've proved that to me already,' He said. 'You've proved it to all of Heaven.'

'But these were a few! Lord, if you were only flesh and blood, if you had only gone down as we did--'

'Caution, Lucifer.'

'No, Lord, forgive me but I can't deny you my finest efforts, and my finest efforts at logic tell me that if you went down and became flesh and blood as I did, you would better know these Creatures whom you think you know but you don't!'

No answer.

'Lord, your light doesn't penetrate human flesh. It mistakes it for animal flesh and always has! Lord, you may know all but you don't know every tiny thing! You can't, or you wouldn't leave those souls languishing in Sheol in agony. And you could not allow the suffering of men and women on Earth to go without context. I don't believe it! I don't believe you would do it! I don't believe it!'

'Lucifer, for me it is only necessary to say something once.'

I didn't answer.

'I'm being gentle with you,' He said.

'Yes, you are, but you are wrong, and in that, too, you are wrong, for you would hear your anthems of praise sung over and over without end and forever, and Lord! These souls could come to you and sing those anthems.'

'I don't need the anthems, Lucifer.'

'Then why do we sing?'

'You of all my angels are the only one who cannot be contented, who cannot trust in me. Why, these souls you brought from Sheol trust in me as you do not! That was your standard for selecting them! That they trusted in the Wisdom of God.'

I couldn't be silenced:

'I knew something when I was flesh and blood, Lord, which upheld all that I had suspected before, and which confirms all I have seen since. What can I do, Lord, tell you lies? Speak things with my tongue that are flat-out falsehoods? Lord, in humankind you have made something that even you do not fully comprehend! There can be no other explanation, for if there is, then there is no Nature and there are no Laws.'

'Get out of my sight, Lucifer. Go down to Earth and get away from me and interfere with Nothing, do you hear?'

'Put it to the test, Lord. Become flesh and blood as we did, You who can do anything. Sheath yourself in flesh--'

'Silence, Lucifer.'

'Or if you do not dare to do that, if it is unworthy of the Creator to understand in every cell his Creation, then silence all the anthems of Angels and Men! Silence them, since you say you do not need them, and observe then what your Creation means to you!'

'I cast you out, Lucifer!' He declared, and in that instant all of heaven had reappeared around me, the entire bene ha elohim and with it the millions of souls of the saved, and Michael and Azrael were standing before me, watching in horror as I was forced backwards right out of the gates and into the whirlwind.

'You are merciless to your Creations, my Lord!' I roared as loud as I could over the din of distressful singing. 'Those men and women made in your own image are right to despise you, for nine-tenths of them would be better off if they h ad never been born!'

[ he stops, making a little frown, just a tiny very perfectly symmetrical scowl for a moment, and then lowers his head as if listening to something. then slowly, he turns to des. ]

It's just what you would have done, isn't it?