“Far beyond immortality, Zachary. We’re talking about everlasting, unimaginable fulfillment. But there is one problem: sharing requires a receiver. And so this vast all-consuming conscious energy created another consciousness to receive its energy. Let’s think of this second consciousness, this creation, as a vessel. With the creation of the vessel, the conscious infinite energy could experience its own fulfillment by sharing, and the vessel could receive fulfillment by receiving. And everything worked, until—”

“Until what?”

“Until the receiver wanted to experience what the energy, its creator, felt. It wanted to feel the desire to share. You see, even though it was created to receive energy, the vessel was made from the energy’s essence, endowing it with a like desire to share. But unlike the energy, the vessel hadn’t earned its fulfillment. Imagine, Zachary, that you were given every accolade as both an academic and an athlete, and yet you had never earned those honors. Remove the trials and tribulations that lead to success and you are left with emptiness. That’s how the vessel felt.

“Seeking to earn its fulfillment, the vessel did the only thing it was capable of doing—it shunted its creator’s flow of energy. And in doing so, it shrank to a singular point of existence.

“The creator energy understood what its creation desired. Because the energy loved the vessel unconditionally, it gave its creation the opportunity to earn its fulfillment. The vessel reopened, and energy rushed in until the vessel burst.”

The entity appearing as Joe Tkalec stopped rocking and opened its eyes. “Zachary, tell me again how the physical universe came into being?”

“The Big Bang.”

“Describe the event.”

My scalp tingled as I suddenly comprehended what I was being told. “The Big Bang was the sudden expansion of a singularity of inconceivable energy containing protons, neutrons, electrons—all ejected into the vacuum of space.”

Alien Joe nodded. “And now you know cause and effect. The event that shattered the vessel and expanded the physical universe also gave order to the upper dimensions so that the flow of energy might be veiled.”

“Why veil it?”

“Think of the upper dimensions as everlasting fulfillment and the physical universe as the arena where that fulfillment had to be earned. This is what the vessel desired.”

My mind was reeling. “Okay, so if the conscious energy is what we collectively refer to as God, what was the vessel?”

“The collective immortal soul in its unified state prior to the Big Bang.”

I closed my eyes, attempting to absorb everything I had just heard. “Well, then, organized religion sure screwed that creation story up. Chalk that one up to quantum physics.”

“The primer of existence is communicated to every physical species, including yours. Humans were given the information 3,409 Earth years ago.”

“Really? I’d love to see it. Is it buried somewhere?”