“But, but...” For the first time in his life Benson was lost for words. “But how can you fight God? I mean, he’s God! He's all powerful, all knowing...”

     “He is neither of those things,” said Paul. “If you read the Bible there are many occasions where He doesn't know something or can’t do something, starting right back at Genesis. After eating the apple, Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. God had to go looking for them. Then when Cain kills Abel, God asked Cain where Abel is. Why would He need to ask if He knows everything?”

     “Maybe God knew and was just playing with Cain. Making him squirm.”

     “Maybe, but there are plenty of other examples. The story of Job. It starts with God asking Lucifer what he's been up to lately. Lucifer said something like ‘Here and there, doing this and that’. He didn't say ‘You know fully well what I've been doing because You know everything’. Then there's Numbers 22,9. Balaam and some Moabite officials spent a night waiting for God, who duly popped down for a visit. God had to ask Balaam who the people with him are. Genesis 32, 22 to 30. Jacob wrestled with God in human form and wins. God had to ask him who he was. That’s God being neither all knowing nor all powerful.”

     “Wait a minute,” said Benson. “Jacob wrestled with an angel.”

     “That's what it says in modern versions of the bible,” agreed Paul, “but if you look in earlier versions it says that he fought God Himself.”

     “He’s right,” said Gloom. “I have several old Bibles. I'll show you when we get back.”

     “There's plenty of other examples of God not knowing things,” said Paul. “I can give you a complete list if you like. We've made quite a study of it. And there are plenty of examples of His power being limited as well. God made Adam from dust, for example, but He needed one of Adam's ribs to make Eve. Why not make her from dust too? Then the flood. He had to get Noah to save some animals to repopulate the world. Why not just create more animals the way He did the first time? While we're on the subject of the flood, the fact that He felt it was necessary to wipe out most of mankind tells us that mankind hadn't turned out the way He intended. That tells us that He can't foresee the future. He doesn't know what's going to happen.”

     “But there are plenty of places in the Bible where it does say that God is all knowing, all powerful.”

     “Yes, and the fact that the Bible contradicts itself is also very telling. A perfect God could produce a perfect Bible, don’t you think? The important thing is to focus on the facts, not the propaganda.”

     “But even if He isn't literally all powerful, He's still very, very powerful,” Benson maintained. “I mean, He created the whole world! The world’s twelve thousand miles across. If you include Heaven, Hell, the spheres within which the sun and planets revolve and all the rest, the entire universe is thought to be twenty thousand miles across! How can we fight someone capable of creating all that?”

     “He created the world once, but we don't think He could do it again. If He could, He would have done so when mankind went astray. He would have wiped the slate clean and started all over again from scratch. Instead, He told Noah to build an ark and save the animals. He went to great lengths to avoid having to create another world, to save the one He had. We don't think He's anywhere near all powerful. In fact, compared with the power He had at the beginning of time, it may be that He’s nearly spent.”

     “Lucifer and his legions couldn't defeat God," the manservant pointed out. "And they presumably had the advantage of surprise. God's expecting him to try again. He's on his guard now.”

     “Lucifer was the very first thing God created,” said Paul. “They were alone in the universe for untold aeons before God created anything else. It stands to reason that Lucifer knows God better than anyone else in creation, and he thought he had a decent chance of success. He wouldn't have tried if he hadn't. If we're right, God is much less powerful now than He was then, and now Lucifer has us to help him...”

     “Wait a minute!” interrupted Benson. “He has us to help him? You have allied yourselves with the devil?”

     “You never asked who originally founded our organisation,” pointed out Paul. “You never asked who our leader is. Now you know”

     “The devil? You would replace God with the devil?”

     “Maybe all we have to do is drive God to the negotiating table. We would have no objection to His remaining in control of the universe if we could persuade Him to judge people fairly. I would happily join the priests in praising Him if He judged people according to their character rather than their beliefs.”

     “Has it occurred to you that Satan may simply be using you to help him overthrow God, and that once he is sitting on the Throne of Heaven he will prove to be a worse tyrant than God ever was?”

     “God burns good people for ever. Please tell me what Lucifer could possibly do that’s worse than that.”

     “God allows some people to enjoy eternal bliss in Heaven. The devil might burn everyone.”

     “He might, but the one thing we know for certain is that Lucifer is less powerful than God. If we can overthrow God, we should be able to overthrow Lucifer if he turns out to be worse than God.”

     Benson fell silent, but Gloom could see that his manservant was deeply disturbed by this revelation. “I think we need time to think about all the things you've told us,” he told Paul. “My desire to join your organisation remains as strong as ever, but if Benson is having second thoughts...”

     “No, I'm not having second thoughts,” said the manservant, though. “Everything you've said about God is right, He needs to be made answerable for His actions. No man of conscience can possibly believe otherwise. And you're right, it may not be necessary to depose Him. But the thought of collaborating with the Father of Lies...”

     “That title was given to him by his enemies,” Paul reminded them. “We need to ask ourselves what we really know about him. Disregard everything that is said about him by those with a vested interest in blackening his name. What is he known to have done?”

     “He tempts people,” said Gloom. “He tries to lead people away from God.”

     “I would say that he tries to encourage critical thinking. He encourages us not to follow God blindly.” He turned to Benson. “During your army days, what would you have done if your superior officer had ordered you to murder a prisoner?”

     “I would have told him to go to hell.”

     “Yes, and the Empire encourages that kind of attitude. Questioning your orders is seen as the highest form of patriotism and has led the British Empire to be almost completely free of corruption. The first Empire in human history to be able to make that boast. Compare that to God, though. He demands complete, unquestioning obedience, to the point of expecting us to murder our own children if He tells us to. You know the story of Abraham and Isaac.”

     “God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac,” pointed out Benson.

     “Yes, but Abraham was willing to kill his own son, because God told him to. That's the kind of people God wants us to be. Imagine if an army officer demanded that kind of unquestioning obedience from his men. What would you think of a man like that?” The look of disgust on the manservant’s face was all the answer he needed.

     “The original sin of Adam and Eve was to eat the Apple, which led to them knowing the difference between good and evil,” he continued. “Making sure that our children know the difference between good and evil is one of the most important duties of a parent, but that is the one thing that God didn't want us to know. A man who doesn’t know the difference between good and evil can commit any atrocity without a twinge of conscience. I wonder sometimes what His original plan for mankind was, and it makes me think that Lucifer making Adam and Eve eat the Apple was the single best thing that’s ever happened to us. Maybe even better than our creation.”

     “I have trouble believing that he didn’t have some interior motive,” said Benson, though. “I doubt he did it just out of concern for our wellbeing. I mean this is the devil we're talking about, right? Sebastian and I have dealt with several cases of demonic possession over the years and I can tell you from personal experience that they're not nice creatures. They're sadistic and merciless. They take joy in causing misery and suffering. Their reputation is well earned.”

     “Nobody's denying that there are demons like that,” agreed Paul, “but angels, fallen and otherwise, are all different, just like people. When Lucifer was gathering recruits for his rebellion he couldn't afford to be choosy. He just made offers to anyone he thought might be persuaded to fight against God.”

     “I assume he offered them something in return for their support,” said Gloom.

     “He promised them power and authority in the new regime.” When Gloom and Benson both began to protest he held up his hands placatingly. “Yes, I know, but what else was he supposed to do? What else did he have to offer them?”

     “And does that offer still stand, if we succeed in overthrowing God?”

     “Yes, I believe it does, but it would be as the rulers of Hell. There will still be genuinely bad people whose souls need to be confined, and these demons would become their wardens and prison guards.”

     “Pretty much the same job they do now, then,” said Benson. “I can imagine that conversation. ‘Come join me and you can keep the awful job you have now.’”

     “The conversation took place before Hell and Earth were created,” said Paul. “When they were still members of the Heavenly Host.”

     “And what if they're not content with being prison guards?” asked Gloom. “This is an aspect of the situation that I hadn’t considered. What if Lucifer is not able to keep them all under control without the power of God to back him up? We could be looking at anarchy, with the whole world laid waste as demons battle for supremacy.”

     “You are not the first to have these concerns,” replied Paul. “This has been discussed many times over the centuries, and we have decided again and again that anything would be an improvement over the present situation. The world is going to be laid waste anyway, according to the Book of Revelations. One third of the seas boiling away, one third of the forests destroyed by fire and so on. We have to give thought to what happens afterwards.”

     “Yes, Revelations makes frightening reading,” agreed Gloom, “And I have reason for thinking that the events it describes are very close now. No more than a few decades away, if that. It may be that the mortal world is destined for destruction no matter what we do. Even so, though, I find myself leaning towards a desire to, how did you put it? Drive Him to the negotiating table, rather than deposing him. I think we'll need His power to prevent all of creation from falling into anarchy.”

     “The only way to make Him deal with us is if we have the power to depose Him,” pointed out Paul. “We need to have that power before deciding whether or not to use it. If God is willing to see reason, though, Lucifer has made it known to us that he is willing to allow Him to keep the Throne.”

     “You have spoken to Lucifer in person?” said Gloom, his eyes wide with surprise.

     “Not me, but he has spoken to members of our organisation. High ranking members, in centuries past. We have records of the conversations that we can lend you, although you must take great care not to let anyone know of their existence.”

     “I look forward to reading them,” said Gloom.

     “I also,” added Benson.

     “I'll see that you receive them, then. In the meantime, I expect you have a great deal to think about, and discuss between yourselves.” He hesitated before speaking again. “You would not be the first people to reconsider your application once you knew the full extent of what you were getting into. At the moment you know nothing that can endanger us. If you reconsider, we can simply part company and you can go on with your lives as if you had never heard of us. You do not yet know any of our identities, and we’ve gotten pretty good at being untraceable. You can confess everything to your priest, ask and receive forgiveness and still find a place in paradise.”

     “I don't know how anyone can enjoy paradise, knowing that, elsewhere, there are good people being tortured forever for the ‘crime’ of not being Christian,” said Gloom, though. “The occupants of Heaven must, one and all, be cold blooded, self centred, narcissistic sociopaths. For me, to have to spend all eternity in the company of such people would be worse than Hell.”

     “You speak for me also,” added Benson. “Please forgive my earlier doubts. We will indeed discuss this further between ourselves, but I don't think either of us is going to change our minds.”

     “Very well then,” said Paul. “I think I've seen and heard enough.” He turned to the masked gentlemen standing behind him. “Are you satisfied?” One by one they nodded, then turned and walked away into the gloom of the basement. Gloom knew there were other entrances and exits and presumed they we’re making their individual ways back to street level, where they had discrete transport waiting for them.

     “Those gentlemen and myself will be meeting again sometime soon to discuss your membership,” Paul then said. “I mean no disrespect, but the church has attempted to place agents among us in the past. Your actions in recovering Philip Cranston’s Solomon Bottle means that we can be almost certain of your innocence, but our survival as an organisation is the result of our taking certain precautions for which there are no exceptions.”

     “Of course,” said Gloom, nodding.

     “If your membership is accepted, and I am almost certain that it will be, then you, Sebastian Gloom, will be invited to meet us again, and the identities of these men will be revealed to you. In the meantime, thank you for coming.”

     They shook hands, and Gloom and Benson returned to the lift to begin their ascent back up to ground level. They rode the cabinet in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, until it came to a stop and the manservant opened the railing. ”So...” began the manservant as he pushed the wheelchair out.

     Gloom waved him to silence, though.. “There is one other thing that Paul might have said,” he said in a low voice. “Something that he may have thought so obvious that it didn't need saying. We have to take the utmost care not to speak any careless words when we are in a place where we may be overheard.” He nodded his head off to the left, where one of the cleaners was sweeping up litter that had been dropped by the day's visitors. She waved cheerfully at them and Gloom waved back.

     “You're right,” said Benson, feeling rather chastened. “The impact of what we just heard has dulled my thinking. I'll remember, I promise.”

     “In the meantime, we have a new task before us,” the investigator continued. “We must find out how it was learned that Philip Cranston was a member of this organisation. You have spoken to this family and its household. Do you have a theory?”

     “My first thought concerns Doris Kettle, the cook’s assistant,” replied the manservant. “The young lady who led me to Gideon. She told him where it was. It may have been she who told someone in the priesthood that it existed in the first place. Maybe she overheard other members of the family talking about it. She may not have known what it was. She could simply have told a priest, in passing, about this funny looking bottle she saw while the safe was open. The priest recognised the description and knew immediately what it was.”

     “And the man the church hired to steal it just happened to be related to this young lady? No, I think she was planted in the household to learn its hiding place, that they learned of its existence some other way. You told me that she had only recently gained employment in that house.”

     “We don't know she was related to Gideon. We just assumed that.”

     “Didn't you tell me she was related to him?”

     Benson tried to remember the conversation. “If I did, I misspoke. I just assumed she was related to him because of the familiar way they had with each other. I apologise if I gave the impression that I knew for certain.”

     “It's just as likely that I misheard you. Let’s give it some thought on the way home. Sleep on it, and see what we think in the morning. Some of my best ideas come to me while I’m on the edge of sleep.”