When Bruce, the alien, and Pinn, the Earthling, reminisce about a Friday from long ago.

Bruce rarely spoke so frankly and almost always avoided long term detail. But during this particular conversation he was uncharacteristically enlightening.

He and Pinn were at the usual table by the pool. One had coffee, one had tea, one smoked and no one swam. The morning was a cool twenty-four degrees Celsius.

“Tell me again why you want to save us,” said Pinn?

“I didn’t say I wanted to save you,” said Bruce, “I said I wanted to save the planet.”

“Arguable,” said Pinn. “In your Shamash story, you also mentioned the Tree of Life. What’s the Tree of Life got to do with anything? I thought I signed on to captain a ship to a settlement in a new world, not join a quest to find the Tree of Life.”

“You did and you didn’t. But it’s not lost. The Tree of Life,” said Bruce. “And therein lies the opportunity.”

“For you or for me?”

“For us both.”

Bruce stood and walked to a mesh fence that stopped one from falling into the desert. Its top rail was high enough for him to rest his clasped arms upon. He looked out onto the vastness. Pinn swiveled his seat to face him.

Taking an unfamiliar tone Bruce talked through the early years of his life, the joy of boyhood, the anxiety of youth, the relationship with his younger brother, and the anger he felt when he learned his younger brother held seniority by the law of the seed.

To Bruce, it seemed his father didn’t like him. He sent him off as a cadet to Ea when he was young. Ten thousand years later he was recalled by his father and instructed to survey planet Earth for anatomic gold. He was given a small team.

Without his brother or his father, Bruce became lord of the Earth. He found significant deposits of the mineral his father sought but needed miners to extract it. He reported there was a species of hominid on the planet, but their development was thousands of years behind what was desirable. Their needs were basic and their means of fulfilling them were simple. They were erect, had opposable thumbs, and were easily subjugated.

Bruce’s brother, his entourage, and two thousand working hands turned up a short time later. The two brothers found they could not work together. Their father was called. He divided the world into three segments. To Bruce, he allotted the underworld, the southern hemisphere, where the gold was mined, and half the workers. To his brother he allotted the upper world, the northern hemisphere where a sustainable city or two should be built, and to himself, to watch over all, he allotted the skies above, the heavens.

The big guy drew a big sigh then phrased it before choosing words and continuing.

“Many years had gone by since Ninhursag and I began engineering the hominid. The time came when we had to trust the being we had created and plug it into the power. The allegory with the apple is cute but the actual journey to that point was tough.

“People have pondered the Garden of Eden story for thousands of years - Adam, Eve, the talking snake, the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge, the apple. Some may have even asked why the Tree of Life was a non-player back then but has been all the rage ever since.

“I was there, I was the so-called, snake,” said Bruce. “Let me tell you, briefly, how the day unfolded.

“Possibly the most relatable description of Adam and Eve as they were portrayed in Eden, was as hippies living a naked and care free life in a paradise with no responsibilities. Not even to each other. But nothing could have been further from the truth. They were created to be an encumbered race, which I fostered, and my brother embraced.

“At creation, it was deemed that Adam and Eve would be affected by time, not sin as popularly understood.

“It meant Adam and Eve would transition through certain levels of growth, procreate, age, and then perish.

“Perish was the word that saved me at council.

“It was a Friday morning. I found Adam by the brook, sitting naked on a rock. His feet were in the water, and he leaned forward to clasp his hands around his knees. He rocked on the rock slightly as he tried to vocalize a tune. He looked about eighteen.

“The language we spoke back then was somewhat different to that which we speak now, but translated and condensed, my encounters went as follows.

“I stepped up the pressure. I had suggested to Adam some months back that maybe there was something better in life than eating melons, playing with his navel, and thinking with his dick.

“We can change the first two,” I told him. “You can be taught better ways to spend your time. But we cannot change the third.”

“That would have been all right with Adam except Adam was a creature of habit. He could not do without his melons and berries with a squeeze of honey in the morning, and it didn’t matter to him that he would not learn how to cultivate, hunt, build, explore, covet, question, confront, abuse, smoke, understand, drink, invent, conquer, or fish. He was happy enough in Eden where everything was laid on for him. All he wanted was to introduce himself to the cute gazelle who timidly appeared at the water’s edge opposite during my visit.

“Later I came across Eve in the midst of the garden, twirling, head thrown back, arms outstretched, giggling. Shortly, giddiness overcame her and she collapsed onto a lush bed of soft moss by a scarlet bush with silver buds.

“I offered her my hand to help her up. Eve was happy to see me and gladly accepted. As she reached her feet she saw desire in my eyes and pulled my hand to her breast.

“I am not known for my fidelity but did not proceed on this occasion. The words of Nintu rang in my head – evness unnui de fai sin trizt san u tzir. I removed my hand.

“We were mere meters from the Tree of Knowledge. I led the slightly grubby and naked Eve toward it.

“It was much easier to impress Eve with promises of learning what the gods know and inheriting that power on Earth than it was to interest Adam. It was around lunchtime. Eve was hungry and the fruit of the tree looked plump, pink, and delicious.

“I told her that wondrousness’s would never cease and that she would become the mother of all if she were to show Adam what to do with the fruit of the tree.“

“It’s forbidden,” she said.

“It is,” I responded.

“To our left bloomed the Tree of Life.

“Adam approached; I went behind a bush.

“Adam had come to tell Eve about the cheeky gazelle he had met by the creek earlier. Eve was not interested. She asked Adam if he was hungry. He told her he was hungry enough to eat two melons. Eve told Adam as she reached up with both hands that they did not have melons, but they had these…. She plucked a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. It’s forbidden, said Adam. Yes, twinkled Eve, taking a bite of the fruit, then holding it toward Adam so he could too.

“The instant Adam took a bite of the fruit, a flaming sword appeared before the Tree of Life, and I was summoned to council.

“Between you and I," said Bruce, "on that day, I was the proudest dad on Earth.”

“Might be why you have the reputation of a devil.”