"Great Traveler!" , the old man with the most ornate staff bellowed , "what you are discussing is UNCONSCIENCABLE! These are our GODS, O Great One, not just some pithy story characters for your amusement!"

The Space Marine sighed a sigh they had sighed many times before , and dropped down to one knee . "Look," they said tentatively , flicking a switch on the side of their tower shield . A screen on the inside of the shield thrymmed to life .

"Sorcery!"
"Witchcraft!"
"Devilry!" ,
the shocked audience gasped .

"It s just a hologram," the Space Marine stated in a smooth, low voice . "It cant hurt you."

"This...machine spirit, its name...is Holo Graham?"

"The type of machine spirit is called a hologram." The Space Marine tapped a few buttons in the air above the interface , bringing up a text editor . "Here, I ll tell you what, I ll start listing done common calls that we get, and you can tell me if it matches the myths."

"EXCUSE ME, Great Traveler," another spouted , "but you cannot possibly hope to contend with thousands of years of tribal history with your cheap little glowing shield!"

"• A Group of Five Gods Descends From the Heavens in Bright Flares of Light."

The crowd looked at each other pensively . "Well, there are five of them..."

"• Those Who Came From the Sky ask to be taken to the Great Ruins."

"Honestly, that could be any story!"

"• They answer evasively, giving responses such as "And if I were, what is that to you?" or "Does it not seem to be so?" , while scanning the ruin walls with devices that emit light."

They look at the enormous stone walls , of the massive reliefs of many generations of animal people doing exactly that .

"• The leader of them decrees that they have seen enough, and they take off into the sky on their vimana."

"Well, yes, that is what the clay tablets describe..."

"• Three(3) generations later, the Sky People return with a great army of machine soldiers, take over the local production, and vandalize any local landmarks with their own faces."

The Sphynx , still bearing Khufu s visage .

"• Whereupon they mechanize the local population into slave castes and put them to work building more of whatever structures were already in place."

"THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!" , one of them bellowed . "This is heresy! This is villany!" , threatening to stir up a mob .

The Space Marine could tell there was a risk . "Look. If I come from the same sky as your gods, I should have access to divine knowledge, right? You, Elder. Are there any ruins around here that are different from the others? Bare walls instead of adornment, functioning plumbing, blocks even bigger than the tombs?"

"The Osirion!" , a youth verbalized .

"Moishe...!" , another protested , ribbing the one who had spoken .

"I know that you dont have any reason to trust me, and it sounds like you ve been cheated before. I d like to show you what I have. To see if it helps make some sense of things."

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