Great Christian Men Park Part 2
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The automated SUVs followed the rail to the main hub of the park. Grant and Malcolm were excitedly talking about all the different figures from history that they might see. Lois then piped up with a question, "Uncle Franklin, why is it Great Christian Men Park?" Grant and Malcolm's came to a screeching halt. "That...is...an...excellent...question, Lois," Malcolm remarked. Grant was a bit puzzled too. "Yeah, what do the women that you have cloned think about that. Why not just Great Christian Park?"
Hammond hemmed and hawed. "Well, we don't actually have any women." Lois was surprised, "What? Why not?" Hammond became defensive, "For a lot of good reasons actually. We didn't want the them to breed..." "Breed, Mr. Hammond?" Grant asked with an arched eyebrow, "They're people, not animals." "You know what I mean. Besides we didn't want the women to distract the men..." "But Uncle Franklin, there have been tons of great Christian women whose insight would be..." "It just wasn't on our agenda, Lois. Okay?"
Malcolm began to chuckle. "What do you find so funny, Mr. Malcolm?" "Oh nothing, it's just every time I see you on the news, you're going on and on about the dangerous scourge of the gay agenda..." Malcolm began laughing again. "And?" an unamused Hammond asked. "And you just opened a tropical paradise filled with nothing but dudes!" Malcolm sputtered out another laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The irony just got to me," Malcolm then composed himself, "but Lois is right. There are scores of great Christian women whose voices will be sorely missed here." Hammond crossed his arms and stared out the window.
It's opening day. Throngs of excited crowds bustle through the state of the art park. In addition to seeing some of the most well-known Christian men of history, there are thrill rides, interactive playgrounds, and top-notch restaurants. Hammond, Grant, Malcolm, Lois, and Jim are standing in the park's control center with Sam Fury. Hammond beams as things seem to be going off without a hitch.
"Even beyond standing on very shaky ground ethically-speaking," Malcolm states, "I don't think this is going to do what you desire." Grant had mixed feelings. He was excited to meet so many of his heroes, but there was an uncertainty. Malcolm continues, "Christianity is too diverse, these men are too human. You're so confident that these guys are going to line up perfectly under your umbrella of Western Evangelicalism, but that's just not possible."
Hammond seethed but kept his cool. "Mr. Malcolm, the only thing that is getting me through your incessant prattling is the knowledge that you are going to witness just how wrong you are." At that moment an alarm goes off. "Mr. Fury, what is that?" "Trouble all over the park, sir." And there on the monitors, they witness chaos breaking loose.
There was Martin Luther telling a famous megachurch pastor: "What you say is a blasphemy worthy of a thousand deaths." On another monitor, Francis of Assisi was destroying the petting zoo pens to release all of the animals. They overheard two people eating lunch: "Did Spurgeon seem kind of liberal to you?" On another, Thomas Jefferson was explaining that while he admired many of the ethics in the Bible, he actually considered himself more a Deist.
"You cloned Jefferson?" Grant asked. "But Uncle Franklin," Jim piped up, "wasn't he the one that cut all of the miracles out of the gospels?" "I thought that was all liberal propaganda and he would tell everyone America should be a Christian nation!" Hammond stammered.
Then on another monitor, a person asked C.S. Lewis what he thought about the afterlife. Lewis started, "Well if you've read my book The Great Divorce..." "Shut it down, Mr. Fury!" Hammond yelled. "Shut all the power down!" "Alright. Hold onto your butts." And the entire park is plunged into darkness.
Everything is darkness. Evacuation crews have gotten the vast majority of park guests off the island. But with the security systems down, all of the clones were now scattered all over the island. Hammond begged Grant and Malcolm to help the rest of the staff find them. Unfortunately, another storm is moving in.
Grant lights a flare. "Lewis! Calvin! Edwards! Wesley! Anyone?!" "So what do you think their game plan is after this," Malcolm asked. "I don't know," Grant murmured. "There's no doubt these guys would be able to contribute a lot to society," Malcolm wondered aloud, "even the ones that think I'm totally off my rocker." "But it's not what Hammond envisioned." "Ha! Ain't that the truth."
They hear a SNAP! They whirl around and see a dark figure slowly emerging from the jungle foliage. It was Lewis. "I'm not a fan of Mr. Hammond. He means well, but I don't think he makes the best decisions. For starters, he doesn't know how to properly stock a pub." "He didn't want any alcohol on the island," Grant responded. Lewis furrowed his brow, "Hmmm."
"What are you going to do?" Malcolm asked. Lewis smiled, "I wouldn't mind writing some, but I can't think of anything better than to live out my days here." "And raise a family?" A woman emerged from the jungle. Grant and Malcolm glanced at each other. "Who's this?" "This is Joy, my wife. Female clones may not have been on Hammond's agenda, but I was able to persuade one of the geneticists..." "Did you say raise a family?" Grant interrupted. "Yes," Joy smiled. "I'm pregnant." Malcolm smiles, "Life...uh...life finds a way."
The helicopter is shown lifting off from the island. Grant is shaking his head. "I don't think it's right to leave all of the clones on the island." "Uncle Franklin said they took a vote," Lois remarked, "and they didn't think it was right to re-enter society." "At least he agreed to fully support the island with power, food, and medical staff for as long as they were alive," Jim chimed in. Malcolm and Grand grin at each other. "That might be longer than he thinks."
"But how are they going to stop people from trying to find this place? What about all of those guests?" Malcolm asked. "Uncle Franklin is going to announce in a press conference that they lied about cloning and they were all actually lifelike animatronics with their own artificial intelligence," Lois said. "He's going to say that they went rogue and the park had to be closed."
Grant was frustrated that Hammond would get away with this. Sure, he would lose money, but he had tons of donors on whom he could fall back. He stared out the helicopter window. "Hammond was naive to think that they would all unite under his vision of what he thought Christianity should be," Malcolm said. "That's true. Deep down I knew that would be the case." "I wonder how they'll do with all of their differences. I was on the same page as some of those guys and then there were others who thought I was a heretic." Grant nodded his head as he looked at the island shrinking in the distance. "Same here. Yet they were all Christians. Fancy that."
Roll credits
