The Divine Dissimulation [Complete]

Chapter 31 Lucifer Watches Eden from the Top of Mount Sinai.

Later that day Lucifer landed on Mount Sinai, which was a 900-meter high mountain found in the centre of Eden. Mount Sinai was where the ancient people had received their divine laws, and Abraham’s followers would receive their religious laws here as well.

A fitting feature for Mount Sinai was that it was impossible to climb without "Divine Providence" This was because the atmosphere of Eden only stretched 1000 meters up. This meant that the atmospheric pressure dropped by 10 % for every 100 meters elevation from the 100 kPA at ground level to 0 kPA at 1000 meters altitude. At the top of the mountain there was only 10% air pressure, so reaching the summit of Mount Sinai without breathing aids was impossible.

Lucifer looked towards the horizon. In every direction, he could see the blackness of space where Eden ended. At surface level, the atmosphere seemed blue like on Earth but on this altitude the sky was dark like in space. Straight above him, he could see the Divine Control Centre in a fixed position 5 kilometres above Eden.  In the sky, he could see the seven suns that always kept Eden in comfortable daylight. The suns were the real sun, accompanied by six orbiting large space mirrors that reflected light and heat down to Eden. These mirrors could also double up as large orbital lasers that could fire powerful laser beam incinerating anything in seconds. The reason to have several large space mirrors instead of one huge was a failsafe to avoid problems if one of the mirrors got hit by debris from a passing asteroid.

When he looked down on the surface, Lucifer saw a mostly featureless and uniform terrain. Biodiversity was almost non-existent as the focus of the Eden project was to create a liveable world where Abraham could be a god, not to build a realistic replica of Earth.  Lack of biodiversity was an issue that existed on all colonised worlds, as it was lot easier to make a planet liveable for humans than to create proper ecosystems.

Lucifer studied the grid-like pattern of canals and dams that would provide the inhabitants of Eden with water. While they lacked the beauty and of the rivers and lakes on Earth, they were predictable and functional. There was a certain amount of water on the surface of Eden and evaporated water could not escape the atmosphere so it would always come down as rain.

Around the canals, there was farmland with farm animals and ripe produce. The farm animals had was created from fertilised eggs using synthetic wombs, and the plants was planted and kept by gardening robots. They needed to pack all this advanced technology away and store it on the dark side of Eden out of sight from Eden's future inhabitants. After all, signs of advanced technology could break the illusion of a Bronze Age civilisation honouring their supreme god.

Lucifer decided to return to the Divine Command Centre. He needed a good sleep, as there were busy days ahead. In ten days, Eden was due to be colonised by the cryogenically frozen Martian captives, and there was a lot of work to be done!