Agents of the Demiurge by Brian Blose

of Drake, who had assisted Ingrid in burying Hess and
Elza alive during Iteration one forty three and then helped Erik
hunt down Hess in one forty four. San had a standing invitation
from Elza to visit whenever she wanted, which typically meant a
month spent in her company every few Iterations.
    Their conflict expired before anyone
retracted a position, its heat smothered by needle induced
frustration. In a conciliatory gesture, Jerome agreed to inform
them before she contacted any of the others.
    When they completed their infusion, Elza
asked a question. “How did San react when you revealed your
existence?”
    Jerome cleared her throat. “That remains to
be seen.”
    “Does that also remain to be seen with
Drake?”
    “Yes.”
    Elza's lips peeled apart in a snarl. “Then
you must be posing as one of us. I expect a different answer the
next time I ask that question.”
    When Jerome shot a look at him, Hess lifted
one of the nine millimeters he had purchased free of a holster
strapped below his armpit. “If Drake tries to pick things up where
we left off last Iteration, I'm ready. He won't find me confused
this time.”
    Jerome compressed her lips to a fine line.
“They hurt you worse than I realized. Maybe they even deserve your
hatred. But we serve the Creator.”
    “We are the Creator. You told me that.”
    “Hess, we are fragments of the Creator's
consciousness. That makes us special as hell, but it doesn't mean
we are equal to the One we serve. The needs of the Creator
supersede all else.”
    Hess shoved his handgun home in its holster.
“I never believed that. Not even when I thought I was the only
Observer out there. Bringing a world into existence carries moral
obligations. Creating worlds of brutality for our entertainment is
wrong.”
    “Enough with the lectures already,” Jerome
said. “I will never accept that your morality applies to the
Creator.”
     
    The next morning, when they met up for
another session of needle work, Jerome informed them that she had
revealed herself to San and Drake the previous evening over the
phone and proved her identity as the twelfth Observer by revealing
intimate details of their lives.
    Hess endured a poke from visiting Deputies,
then went with Elza to pick up a length of heavy steel pipe and
finalize the lease on a dilapidated garage within the business
district of the city. After, they separated with separate shopping
lists. Explosives and blasting caps topped his list. On Elza's were
all the various tools she would need to machine a length of pipe
into the core of a nuclear device.
     
    When they arrived back home in the afternoon,
pulling in front of his house in their separate vehicles, a stout
middle-aged woman met them in the driveway, dressed in a rumpled
woman's suit and smoking a pungent cigar with such aplomb that she
could only be one person.
    Elza embraced San warmly the moment she
exited her car. “I can't wait to hear what you've done since we
last talked!”
    “Please tell me you've gone male already,”
San said. “The Creator owes you some variety in your sex. And the
rest of us would adore seeing Hess get familiar with a man.”
    Hess waved on his way to the house. “Always a
pleasure, San.”
    Inside, Jerome stood with bony arms crossed
and head tilted. “It seems I am not very popular among my own
kind.”
    “We have no history with you,” Hess said.
     
    “Nor am I likely to have the time to develop
one.”
    Hess glared out the window towards the
reunion. “She voted already?”
    “So far it's three to one in favor of
annihilation.”
    After a moment, Hess nodded towards the
kitchen. “Come help me hide the premium ingredients.”
    “If you are worried about the balsamic
vinegar, you're too late. San emptied the entire bottle glazing odd
items.”
    Hess grunted. “That bottle cost two hundred
dollars. Knowing her, she wasted it on crackers and lemons.”
    “Canned tuna, mixed nuts, tea leaves, and
chocolate chips. She reports it all