0I

0I

Bat-El wondered aloud, "Why must the world-dwellers conform to the will of the Elohim to demonstrate their uprightness?"

Elyon replied, "If you cannot discern that we are as high above these creatures on the Chain of Being as they are above the things they cultivate for food, then granting you access to the City of Stars was clearly just a waste of time."

Bat-E said, "I have time to waste. In due time even we Watchers will be surpassed by the world-dwellers I have found."

"In Kemen at least they will not have the time to overtake the Elohim. I will give no warning of the next great deluge and they will all perish."

"Father, seven Adanite ships give testimony that the world dwellers can remain faithful to your decrees."

But Elyon said, "The Adanites remain loyal to me only because I speak to them directly from time to time. Were I to turn away from them for a short span, they would rapidly fall into unbelief and contempt for the Elohim."

Bat-El said, "Your familiarity has led them to see you as a mere chieftain, not a god. I propose a test. Release to me a colonist to raise up a people to me on Earth while I remain aloof."

"That would be a good test, daughter, and I will accept your demand, but have patience! It could be centuries before the Adanites fully recover from the Deluge."

Bat-El named this testing the Second Covenant. She knew there would be no unannounced rocks from the sky until it was done.

She also knew that when the plants and animals of Heaven and Earth multiplied, their offspring were of like kind, but not so alike as to be identical, and this was proper, as conditions on both worlds were always changing, and life must change to meet this. This was built in to the fundamental principles of life.

Bat-El sought to create a living avatar, but the attributes she specified had never been fastened upon by any living thing because such changes, such as the ability to override pain, undermined that organism's ability to compete with others in a shared environment. The possible changes were also constrained by Bat-El's desire to have them manifested by the living activity of the subject, once triggered, and to have the changes breed true in the subject's offspring.