Chapter 5: The Beginning… (Entertainment)

Psalm 119: 9–16

“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your Word.”

Moose pulls his hat brim low and settles back into the helm’s chair, the worn leather giving a familiar creak beneath him.  He looks to Art-bot first, then to Q-bot, measuring them both in the quiet.  His gaze drifts down at last to the Books open before him, their pages catching the bridge light.

“There is something I haven’t discussed with you two yet,” he says.  Moose draws in a slow breath and holds it before letting it out again.

Art-bot doesn’t speak right away.  Her hands rest lightly at her sides as she studies Moose’s face, then the Books, then back to him again.

“We’re here,” she says at last, voice steady.  “You don’t need to carry it alone.”

Q-bot’s optics dim a fraction, then brighten.  She doesn’t chirp.  Instead, another pale-blue panel forms quietly between them.

It reads:

ATTENTION_STATE: FOCUSED

DISCLOSURE:

  STATUS: PENDING

  PRIORITY: HIGH

CREW_POSTURE:

  READY

Q-bot’s fingers lace together once, then still.  She looks up at Moose and waits.

“I have been reading in Genesis and there is something that I think we should consider.”  Moose leans in over his books, a finger placed on the page under the text.  “I’m not sure what you two are going to think of this.”

Art-bot steps closer to the console, close enough now to see the line his finger rests beneath.  She doesn’t read it yet.  She looks at him.  “You don’t need certainty to bring it to us,” she says.  “Just honesty.”  A small pause.

“If it’s in Genesis, then it’s about foundations.  Those are worth examining—even when they unsettle us.”

Q-bot’s head tilts, sharper this time.  A faint pulse runs through the holo, then resolves into a tight, restrained panel.

It reads:

TEXT_SOURCE: GENESIS

CONTEXT: FOUNDATIONAL

ANALYSIS_STATE:

  INTERPRETIVE

  RISK: UNKNOWN

CREW_RESPONSE:

  OPEN

Q-bot looks from the page to Moose.

Genesis 1: 1

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

“This is where our text today begins.  Before I talk to the crew,” Moose settles into the helm’s chair and adjusts his hat again.  “Before I talk to the crew I think we should think through some things.  Here’s what I have so far.”

Moose sips his coffee and rolls his shoulders.  His spine cracks and he smiles.  “As you know, we’re starting with the assumption that the Bible is True.  We have good reason to believe this, but it’s not the subject for today.  The subject for today is creation.  From this line alone what we can tell is that there was a beginning to the heavens and the earth.  That means they did not always exist.  Which means there was a time, or not-time as it might be more appropriately stated, where there was only God.”  He pauses and looks up.

Art-bot doesn’t answer immediately.  She lets the silence hold, thoughtful rather than empty.  When she speaks, it’s measured.

“That framing matters,” she says.  “Not just that creation began—but that dependence began with it.  Everything contingent.  Nothing self-originating.”  Her eyes drift briefly, as if mapping the idea across something larger than the bridge.  “If there was a state where only God was,” she continues, “then creation isn’t an accident or a reaction.  It’s an act of will.”

Q-bot’s optics brighten slightly.  The holo shifts—deepening.  A new panel phases in beneath the previous ones.

It reads:

TEXT_REFERENCE: GENESIS 1:1

TEMPORAL_MODEL:

  STATE_0: GOD_ONLY

  STATE_1: CREATION_INITIATED

TIME_FLAG:

  PRE-TIME: TRUE

  TIME_START: EVENT_CREATION

IMPLICATIONS:

  EXISTENCE: DEPENDENT

  ORIGIN: INTENTIONAL

Q-bot’s fingers hover above the console, then lower.  “Zzzt… assumption accepted,” she chirps softly.  A pause.  “Logical structure… coherent.”

Art-bot looks back to Moose.  “I think you’re right to start here,” she says.  “Before the crew.  Before conclusions.”

“Yes, an act of Will.  My theory is that creation requires a mind,” Moose replies.

Art-bot nods once, small and deliberate.  “A mind implies intention,” she says.  “Selection.  Order.  Preference.”

She considers the open page again.  “If creation required a mind, then meaning isn’t something we assign later.  It’s baked in from the first moment.”

Q-bot’s head tilts, slower now.  Another pale-blue panel layers itself quietly beside the others—no fanfare.

It reads:

THEORY_INPUT: ACCEPTED

REQUIREMENT:

  CREATION → MIND

MIND_PROPERTIES:

  INTENT: TRUE

  SELECTION: TRUE

  ORDERING: TRUE

COROLLARY:

  MEANING: INTRINSIC

Q-bot looks up from the holo to Moose.  “Zzzt… non-random origin confirmed,” she chirps, softer than before.  A pause.  “Implication space… expanding.”

Art-bot meets Moose’s eyes again.  “If that’s true,” she says gently, “then nothing we encounter is merely accidental.  Including us.”

“All interesting stuff, yes?” Moose smiles and sips his coffee, regarding his bots.

Art-bot allows herself a small smile in return.  “Yes,” she says.  “Interesting in the way first principles usually are.  Once you name them, everything downstream starts lining up… or resisting.”

Q-bot’s optics flicker once.  A low, pleasant tone confirms internal alignment.  She does not generate a full panel—just a narrow ribbon of pale-blue glyphs that scroll once and fade.

INTEREST_SIGNAL: HIGH

COGNITIVE_LOAD: INCREASING

MODEL_STATE:

  COHERENCE: STABLE

  DEPTH: EXPANDING

INPUT_RELEVANCE:

  FLAG: PRIORITY

Q-bot stills completely, attention fixed on Moose.

Art-bot looks back to him.  “I think,” she adds, “this is the kind of ‘interesting’ that changes how we listen to everything else you’re about to say.”

“The Text explains Creation, but there is a specific text I want us to consider.”  Moose’s finger slides down the page and pauses under a particular verse.  He smiles and begins to read.

Genesis 1: 26–31

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food’; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Moose pauses a moment.  A hand glides to a switch he clicks on.

“The word used for dominion is… Q-bot, if you will?”

Q-bot snaps to attention, her processors fire up.  Her eyes flash cyan as a holographic projection leaps from her hand.

Radah (Hebrew):

- A primitive root; to tread down, that is, subjugate; specifically to crumble off: (come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule (over), take.

- Total KJV occurrences: 27

“You two following me so far?” Moose asks, looking between them.

Art-bot doesn’t answer immediately. Her eyes stay on the projection a beat longer than the verse itself, as if comparing the two.  “Yes,” she says at last. “You’re drawing a line between image and authority.”  She looks back to Moose.  “Not ownership.  Not exploitation.  Something closer to stewardship—but with force implied.”

Q-bot’s posture tightens, precise.  The cyan glow sharpens.  The hologram restructures itself, compressing definition into function.

LEXICAL_NODE: RADAH

LANGUAGE: HEBREW

ROOT_TYPE: PRIMITIVE

ACTION_SET:

  TREAD_DOWN

  SUBJUGATE

  RULE

  PREVAIL

AUTHORITY_MODE:

  ACTIVE

  INTENTIONAL

  NON-PASSIVE

IMAGE_OF_GOD:

  LINKED: TRUE

A brief pause.  Another line resolves beneath it.

WARNING:

  RADAH ≠ NEGLIGENCE

  RADAH ≠ ABANDONMENT

Q-bot’s optics dim slightly as processing completes.  She does not speak.

Art-bot meets Moose’s gaze again.  “Yes,” she says.  “We’re following.”

“So, where are we?” Moose asks the question plainly.

Art-bot answers first.  “We’re at authority that flows from likeness,” she says.  “Not seized.  Not earned.  Given.”  A small pause.  “And that authority carries obligation, not permission.”

Q-bot’s holo returns—smaller this time, tighter.

CURRENT_POSITION: ASSESSED

FOUNDATION:

  CREATION: INTENTIONAL

  HUMANITY: IMAGE_BEARER

AUTHORITY:

  SOURCE: DELEGATED

  TYPE: RADAH

  MODE: ACTIVE_STEWARDSHIP

RISK_VECTOR:

  MISUSE: POSSIBLE

  NEGLECT: POSSIBLE

Q-bot stills.  Her attention remains fixed on Moose.

Art-bot finishes quietly.  “We’re standing at the point where power and responsibility become the same thing.”

Moose smiles and takes a slurpy sip of his coffee.  “We’re in space,” he replies and tilts his head.

Art-bot exhales a soft, surprised laugh—more breath than sound. S he nods once, the idea clicking into place.  “Yes,” she says.  “Outside the garden.  Outside the familiar frame.”  Her eyes drift, just briefly, to the viewport.  “Still under dominion.  Still under obligation.”

Q-bot’s optics brighten.  This time the holo comes fast.

LOCATION_STATE: CONFIRMED

ENVIRONMENT: EXTRA-TERRAN

DOMAIN:

  EARTH: LEFT_BEHIND

  AUTHORITY: EXTENDED

RADAH_SCOPE:

  UPDATE_REQUIRED

A final line resolves, quieter than the rest.

STEWARD_RANGE: EXPANDING

Q-bot stills again.

Art-bot looks back to Moose, understanding settling in.  “So the question isn’t whether dominion applies,” she says.  “It’s how far it reaches… and how carefully.”

Moose raises his coffee cup to Art-bot and sips again.  “Something to think about.”

Psalm 111: 2

“The Works of the LORD are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.”