[Onboard the Chilxan Ship]

It had been, best as he could tell, 14 days since Ted had demonstrated that he could quite effectively rip their ship apart with nothing but his hands. They had grown far more accommodating to what he asked. Shiv'Ru still came by every day to try and convince him to reveal what he knew. But Ted always stuck to his story.

"I thought you should know that we intend to let you go back to your mission," Shiv'Ru said, joined today by Kal'Tak.

"Not that anyone in your world will be around to help you complete it," Kal'Tak said under his breath, forgetting that the computer would pick it up and translate it.

"Oh, really?" Ted asked and laughed. "Whatever you say, buddy." He scooped the paste they had provided for food into his mouth.

"We will leave you on this planet and leave to return in a month with an invasion force. We will subjugate your planet and strip it of its resources." Kal'Tak said.

"Okay, bud, whatever you wanna dream about, you can; I think you will be surprised in the most horrible way possible," Ted said and then resigned himself to ignoring Kal'Tak for the duration of his stay. Instead, he looked Shiv'Ru over, looking for anything he could compliment her on to piss off the commander. He noticed she was wearing a slightly different colored sigil of her God than she normally did on her scant clothing.

"Oh, Shiv'Ru, I see you have a different color for your sigil today; it goes well with your eyes," Ted said, getting the reaction he had hoped for. He had noticed that if he were overly flirtatious with the woman, her carapace-like skin would glow a slightly darker color around her four violet eyes. He also got a look of sheer rage from Kal'Tak.

Caught off guard, Shiv'Ru did indeed blush and responded without thinking. "Thank you, I simply cleaned the one I was…."

Kal'Tak cut her off, "What do you think we are discussing here?!" He stepped in front of Ted, who casually shoved him aside with enough force to send him sprawling.

"Please finish what you were saying. You cleaned what?" Ted said without ever breaking eye contact with Shiv'Ru.

"I cleaned the one I have been wearing every time we met." She said, looking confused, as she had never seen this side of Ted; normally, he was not dismissive to any; on the contrary, he usually inspected every person who entered the containment room with such intense scrutiny that it was startling.

"Well, that is good. Tell me, when are you planning to put me back on Mars?" Ted asked.

"Later today," Shiv'Ru said

"Cool, well, guess this is it. You all mind giving me back my suit?" Ted asked, and a Chilxan came in with his suit and equipment.

"We took the liberty of patching your suit," Shiv'Ru said, and Kal'Tak finally pulled himself from the floor.

"Now you listen here, you unholy non-believer," Kal'Tak said, stepping up to Ted again, "You will never leave this ship if I have anything to do with it, not until you tell us what we want to know. The orders of the church be damned." He shoved aside Shiv'Ru and made as if to strike Ted, and suddenly several soldiers came in with weapons of a variety that Ted had not seen pointed at him.

Ted moved before they had even finished entering the room. He grabbed Kal'Tak by the throat. "Answer me this Kal'Tak, are you made in your god's image?" Ted asked, his tone growing dark and malevolent; Kal'Tok nodded as he felt the carapace that protected his throat begin to fracture, "Good, good. So then, assuming that this is generally true for all races. Shiv'Ru, is that accurate?"

"Yes, Ted, it is." She watched Ted casually impose himself, holding Kal'Tak from the floor by his throat.

"Good. So then Kal'Tak, if you are made in your God's image, what kind of God would make something like me? You say we have no God, but what if you are wrong? Do you want to risk returning to your holy representative's word here?" He asked and gestured to Shiv'Ru.

Suddenly a black mist coalesced next to Ted. "That is an excellent question, Ted; I am sorry I left you to languish so long with these creatures," Cthulhu said, his voice deep enough that Ted could feel vibrations in the plastic-like floor. "Now, Ted, please put our host down."

Ted could feel his mind start to panic; Cthulhu had arrived in a smaller, more condensed version of his normal form; Ted decided that any ally in a hard spot was worth the benefit of the doubt. And Nodded, using sheer willpower to stop himself from screaming at the very sight of the being.

"Good. Now, you," Cthulhu gestured to Shiv'Ru, "you are the representative of the deplorable being called Dem'Noq?"

Shiv'Ru knew deep down that they had made a mistake; this being was not divine; it was something else, something far older than the Gods and Goddesses of the current age. She bowed her head, looking to the floor so she would not have to look upon the terrible sight before her. "Yes, I am the religious leader of this ship."

"Good; I take it you are his authority on this ship?" Cthulhu asked, and Shiv'Ru nodded. "I would recommend that you take back control of your ship then. This one," he gestured at Kal'Tak, "is mine now. And tell your God that I said hello."

"Yours?!" Kal'Tak demanded and then looked at Cthulhu; every instinct in him screamed at him to run, to call upon his God for strength.

"Yes, mine." Without warning, a tendril of darkness shot out from Cthulhu and pierced Kal'Tak through the chest. The Tendril dragged him forward, Kal'Tak screaming the whole way into the gaping maw that was Cthulhu's mouth. 

"Now, Ted," Chtulhu said, wiping his lips with various tentacles and then shifting into his more human-like form, "you can return to Mars, or I can take you back to Earth. I hate to inform you, but many of the limitations that sparked the need for a landing pad and much of your work have been overcome. If you want to return home, I will happily take you there."

Ted was very confused, but home sounded good. "I think Earth is probably the best bet then."

"Agreed," Cthulhu said and waved his hand; a large circular portal of inky blackness formed on the wall; it seemed to consume light. "Come through whenever you are ready."

"I will, but tell me, who are you?" Ted said he had a sneaking suspicion from a childhood spent reading horror stories.

"I am humanities, Second God; I am Cthulhu," Chtulhu said with an unsettling grin and stepped through the portal.

"Thank you for talking with me Shiv'Ru; I hope your people will see the light and not attack Earth," Ted said to Shiv'Ru, who nodded as he stepped through the dark portal.

[Church of the Faith Headquarters - Earth]

Victoria had been playing host to Cthulhu for the entire time since His revelation of Himself. She found it strangely comforting to have the eldritch horror that was her God around her. A few moments ago, she looked up from her datapad's screen and saw that he had shifted back to his natural form.

"I will be back in a few moments; it is time for him to come home." That was all that Cthulhu said before vanishing. Victoria was stunned, she would never mistake him for a human, but it was incredibly easy to forget that he was a God. This sudden display of power renewed that in her mind.

Victoria sat, trying to make sense of what Cthulhu had said, and only a few minutes later, a black portal welled up from the floor and outstepped Cthulhu back into his human form. A moment later, a face that every human knew stepped out of the dark portal. It was Ted Kenton, the first man to go to Mars.

"Victoria, thank you for your patience; this is Ted Kenton," Cthulhu said, then turned to Ted. "Ted, this is Victoria Lansdow, Leader of the Faith."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kenton," Victoria said, looking at the man and extending a hand.

"Um, the pleasure is all mine. Victoria, was it?" Ted's confusion and awe that he was back on Earth overwhelmed him and was obvious in his voice. 

"Please call me Ted." He looked around and then from Victoria to Cthulhu and back to Victoria. "Can someone explain what the fuck is going on?" He asked and then sat down in one of the two chairs, seeming to breathe very hard.

"Are you alright?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine; being back in normal gravity is weird. But seriously, what's going on?" Ted explained and asked once again for information.

"I think that I will let you explain, Victoria. I will be making my way to the President." Cthulhu said.

"Very well, please hurry back as we have that meeting you wanted," Victoria said, and Cthulhu smiled and vanished again. Victoria turned to Ted. "So let me get you up to speed." She began by telling him what had happened to cause Cthulhu to reveal himself.

[Oval Office, White House]

The President was not a good man; he knew that, and most of his staff knew that, and his wife knew it as well. So when Cthulhu stepped out from thin air into the Oval Office to find the President with a young woman in a compromising position, he was not surprised.

"Good evening Mr. President," Cthulhu said in his natural tone.

"What the hell!" The President said, his head snapping up from where it had been resting on his chair. The sound of someone's head hitting the wooden underside and a squeal of pain could be heard from under his desk. "Cthulhu, what the hell are you doing here."

"Why don't we talk after you let that young woman out from under your desk, pay her and let her leave," Cthulhu said. He didn't like the President. But he loved humanity, so it presented an interesting set of emotions to Cthulhu.

The young woman, young enough to be the President's daughter, maybe even granddaughter, crawled out wearing clothing that left little to the imagination. She took one look at Cthulhu and screamed and fainted, collapsing back onto the floor.

"Well, that works. Why don't you have a couple of your secret service boys take her home." Cthulhu said in a tone that made it clear it was not a request. The President complied and helped the two men, who looked incredibly embarrassed, dress the young lady. When they had left, Cthulhu summoned a black chair across from the President as he did up his shirt.

"What the hell do you want." The President was not happy.

"Two things; firstly, I wanted to tell you that Ted Kenton is safely back on Earth and is currently being caught up on what has been happening here on Earth by Miss Lansdow. The second is to tell you that you need to stop trying to remove the information that I provided to you and the rest of the world from the Internet." Cthulhu said, and this got the President's attention.

"How did you… I mean," The President fumbled for words, "it's been deemed classified information; all attempts to remove it are perfectly legal."

"Let me rephrase that," Cthulhu said, looking directly into the President's eyes, making him squirm uncomfortably before he looked away. "No matter what you do, I will ensure this gets out. You will not shuffle this away. Stop fighting me on this, or I will show you what a proper fight looks like."

The President looked as if he was going to throw another tantrum but took a breath and, through gritted teeth, said, "Fine. What about Ted? We need to debrief him."

"As I told you, the Chilxan intend to invade Earth and strip its resources. I do hope that you are taking me seriously." Cthulhu stood and looked down at the President. "I will inform Mr. Kenton that you wish to see him, though I will not force him to meet with you."

Cthulhu ignored whatever response the man made and vanished once more.

[Church of the Faith Headquarters]

"So Cthulhu is humanity's God, and because the Chilxan abducted me, he was able to meet with the Divine Council. The council decided to refuse his rights as a God, so now he can do damn well what he pleases, and the start of what he is going to do has been to release insanely advanced technologies and their designs to the public. Does that about sum it up?" Ted said, looking at Victoria.

"Yes, that is about it," Victoria said, smiling at him.

Ted smiled back; he had to admit that this kind of debriefing was far more in line with what he would have chosen every time after a mission if he could have. A beautiful woman who liked to wear lowcut tops and was what Ted would call his type. Yes, please! He found his eyes wandering her body and snapped them back up to her face. "I am sorry about that; I have been alone on Mars and in an Alien spaceship for six months now." Ted felt his cheeks glow with embarrassment.

"It's fine," Victoria said, laughing lightly, "I can imagine that you are, shall we say, pent up?" She giggled lightly at the blush that rose even further up his face. She had to admit that she would not mind helping him pop that proverbial cork.

Just then, Cthulhu stepped out of thin air once again. Victoria and Ted looked around the room, anywhere they would not have to look at each other. Cthulhu saw them and understood what was going on immediately. He chuckled to himself.

"Victoria, I think that our guests have probably arrived. Why don't you show them in and then take Mr. Kenton to a nice dinner? He should celebrate being back on Earth, don't you think?" Chtulhu said, and it was Victoria's turn to blush.

"I'm sure that Ted has a family or girlfriend to get back to," Victoria said, trying to hide the fact that she was embarrassed that Cthulhu had grasped what both of them had been thinking so quickly.

"I'm single." Ted blurted out and then slapped his palm to his forehead. "I meant that I don't; I would love to have dinner."

"It's settled," Cthulhu said with a chuckle, "show them in, then you kids go have fun!"

Ted shook his head at how strange the God's personality was, and then his eyes widened—into the room strolled three men. All of them were wearing religious garb. Victoria made introductions between the four others in the room. "Cthulhu, this is Charles; he is the Pope's representative. This is Arman, the representative of the Imam, and lastly, David representing the Rabbi. Gentlemen, this is Cthulhu."

Victoria stepped away and grabbed Ted's hand, and led him from the room. Once they were gone, Cthulhu smiled and saw shivers run down the spines of all three men. "Gentlemen, I think we should talk, and you do too. Otherwise, you never would have agreed to be here." Cthulhu sat on a Dark throne and waved his hand, summoning three equally dark chairs for the men to sit in. "So, let us talk."

The three men looked at each other and nodded. They took their seats. And Cthulhu smiled internally; the discussions had been Victoria's idea. He hoped that she would get what she had been fantasizing about with Ted in thanks for making this happen. "To begin," Cthulhu said, "Tell me what it is you wanted to ask."

[In'Quinar Homeworld - Temple of the Goddess]

Ivarna was anxious; the delegation had left four days ago and should be arriving any moment. She hoped with all her heart that her people would be successful. But she would not know until Lettara, currently hiding away in a lower room with her mate, brought news of a message confirming their arrival.

Ivarna strolled through her private gardens, watering the plants that lived there. As she finished up her rounds, she heard a commotion at the door; her aide Lettara burst in, almost completely nude, her body flushed from what must have been a very passionate bout of mating. "Goddess, forgive my appearance; you wanted to know when they arrived, no matter what."

Ivarna nodded, smiling at her aide; sometimes, the girl took her duties a little too seriously. Surely the message could have waited until she had finished. "Yes, it is not a problem; please tell me what they said."

Lettara nodded and spoke. "They arrived safely and are twelve hours out from making contact. They will first attempt to find a religious representative of the one called Cthulhu, barring that they will make contact via wide range comms broadcast."

"Good," Ivarna said, taking a simple sheet used to cover the ground when Ivarna repotted a plant and draped it around the naked young woman. "Now, why don't you go back to whoever has made your legs so unsteady and ask them to finish the job." The Goddess smiled and watched the blushing woman run back down the hall with a surprising eagerness.

"Well," Ivarna said to herself, "I am glad someone will be worry-free this night." She resigned to caring for her plants and waiting to hear if Cthulhu would be open to negotiations. "Stay safe, my children." She said quietly and started repotting a passion flower that had outgrown its current pot.