Whoops!

God and Saint Peter sat looking down upon the habitat. Both sighed.

“The bacteria’s spreading rapidly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a strain so prolific,” Peter said sadly. “What happened?”

“A mistake in creation and judgement.”

Peter patted God on the shoulder. “Everyone’s entitled to a mistake now and then. But what went wrong? And why did you let it continue?”

God turned to Peter, her eyes troubled. “The temperature in the primordial pool was too hot for one thing. This made my eyes water and a couple of my tears dropped into the mixture.”

“Oh dear,” Peter gasped looking back at the habitat.

“I was more careful with the next batch in the neighboring galaxy and it turned out perfect.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed. Intelligence was at ninety per cent capacity the last time I checked. But what of this place? It was one of your most beautiful settings and showed such promise.”

“I know. This new bacteria was fascinating and showed signs of developing intelligence,” God said clasping her hands in her lap. “And it did develop for a while and seemed to be making progress. And it is a hardy strain. It’s survived when other’s have perished.” She felt compelled to defend her position on this particular creation.

“But survival without intelligence leads to retrogression. And apparently this bacteria has reached this level of development,” Peter persisted. “And don’t discount its virulent nature.”

“I know that they’re not developing as I’d hoped. What little mental capacity they do utilize seems to be clouded by lack of good judgement. Not only is this bacterium pernicious but it multiplies with no conscious thought. The habitat has reached its saturation level and still this life form reproduces at an alarming rate.”

They watched as a storm formed near the equator. “How does this bacteria refer to itself? I forget,” Peter asked watching the white swirling mass below.

“Humans.”

“Hmm. Funny name, no wonder it slipped my mind. So what are you going to do?”

God watched as a huge smoke cloud rose in the east. She knew part of it was from a dust storm and the other was from flames. A silent tear slid down her cheek. She turned to look at Saint Peter. “I’ll wait just a little longer…until tomorrow.”