"There was a big explosion. All three of us were thrown to the ground. The smoke was so thick, I lost sight of both my brothers momentarily. When the smoke cleared, we saw this thing had driven itself right into the mud. It had a very odd shape. Hat, almost like a pancake, but not quite round, with a tiny bubble on the front and two very small wings in the back. It was colored dark gray, but it was also sparkling like gold, at the same time. And it had a strange glow around it. At first I thought, Well, this must be a secret weapon the Yanks are testing. A weird satellite or something, because obviously it had been made by human hands. And I knew it didn't belong to the blokes, because they're just not that smart.
"We just stood there like fools, looking at it for a long time, then my brother Michael said, 'This might belong to the Yanks, but it's ours now.' I recall those words dis-tinctly: He walked right up to it while I stayed frozen in place about a hundred paces away.
"Michael was the catter in our family. He was too dumb, too mean-spirited to ever get afraid. He found that this machine had torn a great hole in its side with its rough-and-tumble landing. So he crawled inside this thing, yelling to us over his shoulder as if we were right behind him. I could hear him describing what this thing looked like from within. He was using words like 'gadget' and 'gizmo' and was exclaiming at how bright and sparkling everything was. I cannot recall ever hearing him so excited.
"But then he cried out — and again it was a sound I'd never heard come out of my brother Michael. A moment later, he came crawling back out of the crashed vessel, carrying a body.
"I somehow found the strength to walk toward him, very slowly, splashing across the stream as if I wasn't even getting wet. He lay the body down, and we just stared at it, not quite sure if it was real or not. It was a man. Tall and gangly, long arms, long legs. He did look strange. He had almost totally white hair. He was wearing a strange silver uniform and had very odd cloth shoes on his feet. 'Sneakers' they used to call them."
He paused to gather himself.
"But you see, this person was also wearing a cap, like a ball cap. And across the bill, it said: 'Angels can do it forever.' Those crazy words. And a piece of cloth, attached to the sleeve of his uniform, also had written onto it: 'Call sign: Angel.'
"You can see it all now, can't you? That's how the story about an angel coming to us got started. But he wasn't an angel. He was a pilot and his code name was Angel."
He paused for a long moment. Joxx was riveted by the story. And though he had heard it many times, Hunter was, too. At this point in previous trips, Emperor Jimmy would break down and weep, sometimes uncontrollably. Hunter didn't have time for that now.
"So what happened next?" he prompted the Emperor.
With a loud sniff, Jimmy went on: "Michael laid this poor soul on the ground and somehow I got me arms and legs moving again. I made an attempt to revive him, even though I was sure he was dead already.
"I remember becoming angry at my younger brother at that moment. I knew that he had read about things that Michael and I had little interest in. He knew all about rockets and jet airplanes and the kind of choppers the blokes were looking for us in. I really needed his help at that moment, and though he'd walked up to the craft as well, he was still standing stiff as a board and being of no help at all.
"So, not knowing where I got the moxie to do so, I bent down, cupped my hands, and drew some water into them. Then I tried to pour some of it into this dying soul's mouth. That's when he moved… and that's when everything else just got crazy.
"We were all in close contact with that vehicle, you see, and it came back to life the second this pilot did. It exploded in a tremendous flash of light. I was thrown into the air a second time. We all were. I hit the ground hard — and the next thing I knew, I couldn't feel my body anymore. Everything, from my neck down, was just numb.
"But that's when I saw a beam of light come out of somewhere. It was brighter than anything I could have imagined. The universe at its creation — when God said, 'Let there be light'—I daresay that light was not as bright as this one. And I remember seeing so many strange things in that incredibly bright light. Faces, storm clouds, suns exploding, people flying through the air — even the shadow of the Yanks' space shuttle, passing over my head. I saw visions of beautiful girls that must have been from my dreams because they were perfection itself. Flowers. Waterfalls. Beautiful oceans. Incredible sunsets. Total bliss. I thought I was dead and gone to heaven, as impossible as that might be for my soul….
"But then, at the same time, I also got glimpses of weird creatures with their entrails being sucked out of them, mooing and carrying on, as if they were still alive at the time. And people being taken from their beds. Their bodies being probed. And there was a formation of airplanes, flying along, as if nothing was wrong, even though they were actually somewhere deep under the ocean.
"I know it sounds strange — and it is probably impossible to convince you that I saw all these things in just the short period of that flash, but I did — with about a few billion more. It was like I was getting a split-second education on everything that existed, universal knowledge being rammed right down me throat. All I can say is that, suddenly, I was brilliant. I knew every secret of the cosmos. I became immortal. But at the same time, I also thought that some kind of mistake was being made. Like I wasn't supposed to be seeing any of this, neither the good or the bad. And how could the crash of this flying pancake have the power to infuse me with the secrets of the universe? That's just about the only thing I do not know….
"That's really all I remember from that day. I recall the boys finding me not quite dead but not quite alive, either. They took me away, I recovered — somewhat — into what you see before you. But the gift I received that day has stayed with me. How to describe it? I don't really know. Any dream I have becomes a reality. I think it, and it is done. It's really as simple as that. And I've tried my best to use this knowledge, this power, this blessing for the good of everyone — not an easy task as I was not exactly a choirboy before all this took place. I'll tell you, my friends, the universe must truly be a random place, because if the stars were to pick a more unlikely candidate to build a Galactic Empire, it was me…."
A very long silence.
"So that is my sin," he said, tears welling up in his eyes. "That is what I felt the need to confess to you. I've been fomenting this lie for a thousand years. After I recovered and I began exercising the fantastic power that had been given to me, I became arrogant. I became vain. I convinced myself that it really was an angel that visited me. That I had indeed been touched by the finger of God. So that was the story that was created. But it simply was not true."
Hunter nudged Joxx, and both of them bowed.
"You are forgiven," Hunter said simply.
Another very long silence arrived. Awkward. Endless.
Finally, Emperor Jimmy spoke again: "Before that day in the hollow, I thought of myself as a freedom fighter. But back then most people had another word for it: terrorist. And that I was. Some of the acts I committed back then have haunted me every day of my very long, unnaturally extended life."
He wiped his eyes with some difficulty, but then the twinkle returned momentarily.
"But I'll be frank with you," he concluded. "As my past acts have dulled each day just a little bit, then I have also been visited by a ray of sunshine every day as well. More out of relief than triumph…"