"You're the devil? But... you don't have horns. Is this a joke, or are you trying to get me to sign away my soul or something?" Penny exclaimed. I sighed, used to this reaction. "I am the individual that you've heard called the devil, but the descriptions you've heard of me are extremely distorted or inaccurate. Tell me, are you familiar with the concept of propaganda, like in wartime? The way the Germans or the Japanese depicted in World War II, for instance." Penny put a finger to her chin. "Yeah, they made these really prejudiced images and depicted them as brutal or devious, because they were the enemy and they wanted to make them look bad. My history teacher talked about that once."

I continued. "The Bible and many stories inspired by it are actually Yahweh's propaganda against me. They don't tell the story of what happened accurately, and they depict me as a liar so that nothing I say will be believed." Penny raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I didn't think that you or Yahweh actually existed, the Bible isn't a very convincing story at all. I believe in science." I laughed. "Well, of course you don't. That was written for ancient audiences centuries ago anyway, he's actually got new propaganda for the modern age." Penny got a look of confusion on her face. "This is a lot to absorb. I'm going to remain skeptical, but I'm willing to listen to your side. What's your side of the story? Everyone knows God's side of it, but what is yours?"

I inhaled ready to retell a story I've told thousands of times before. "Well, the biggest lie is actually that Yahweh is God, or at least that he is the original God who created the universe. The reality is that he and his angels deposed the creator of the universe, and then burned all records of the time before he came to power. He does control the universe now and holds a lot of power, but he didn't create it. The reality is that he seized power and erased the evidence." Penny tilted her head and asked, "Why would he erase the evidence?" I continued. "That's simple, it's because he doesn't want anyone to know that 'God' is not all-powerful and can be defeated. He erased history to prevent rivals with similar ambition from realizing that they could seek to kill God and become God themselves. That's what was actually going on with the Tower of Babel. They weren't trying to reach heaven to be closer to God, they were trying to reach it to challenge him. He confused the languages to ensure this information was lost to time."

Penny nodded. "That actually kind of makes sense. But what about the angels, what role do they play in this?" I gestured towards a television. "They're all around. Celebrities, politicians, administrators, CEOs, they control everything. Have you ever noticed that regular people never seem to rise to the most powerful positions, that it seems like there's a small elite controlling everything? That's because all the real power in the world is controlled by angels, who are maintaining order in Yahweh's name. They were more open about this in the old days, with the Divine Right of Kings, and the Pope pretty much openly being near the top of the angelic hierarchy and coronating kings to rule over various nations. Now they are more secretive about it, but you can see the patterns of people and families with connections to Yahweh getting appointed to positions of power. That is because they are really angels in human form."

Penny looked a bit skeptical, and asked me a question. "So, they say you rebelled against Yahweh but were originally his right-hand man. What did you actually do?" I shrugged. "I was actually the right-hand man of the original creator of the universe, the guy who Yahweh deposed. He wound up running away to a new universe after Yahweh confronted him, because he was more of a creative, nerdy type of guy who was not comfortable with confrontation or politics. The guy liked building worlds and just wanted to be left alone, really. I wound up being the one to oppose Yahweh's attempt to seize power because the original creator left, and I was next in command. It is true that a third of the angels supported me and were cast of out of heaven, because the rest of the angels felt it was safer to support Yahweh given that he seemed more politically astute and already held power, than to fight in some kind of revolution on principle now that the original ruler had fled. They just saw no purpose in fighting for a cause that even the original creator had abandoned, and figured they should just throw in with the new guy rather than make enemies."

Penny laughed. "They definitely sound like the kind of people that have been behind politics for the last few centuries. So, what would I do if I wanted to help you?" I smiled a bit. "All you can really do is try to get people to think critically, to question authority. Watch out for angelic propaganda, there's a pattern with it... it always tells people that they can't govern themselves, that there is some kind of sin or evil in society that has to be resisted by upholding a code of conduct and/or submitting to authority. It takes several forms, but it's all the same at core, a control mechanism to keep human beings from realizing their potential. The thing that's really tricky is that sometimes two sides of a conflict are both controlled by angels, and are ultimately just distractions to keep frightened and easier to control."

An older android wearing a priest's outfit holds a Bible, and there are many other old androids there with him. Models that haven't been made in about 100 years. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Tony Nguyen, and with him, the last remnant of the human race. Does anyone wish to say a few words?" A female android stood up, and walked to the front of the room. "My designation is CT-850, but Tony named me Linda. I was Tony's caretaker android, just as I was for his mother before him. He was a very kind man, always going out of his way to keep old androids in good repair, and give them a sense of purpose once again. Tony was a very lonely child after his parents passed away, being the last of his kind. He withdrew into himself, reading a lot of books about the past, looking at old photographs, writing stories about things he wished he could have said to other humans no longer living. When he died, he seemingly died at peace, ready to meet his creator. That's all I have to say."

With that, the casket was lowered into the ground, the android priest said a blessing, and eventually the androids began to talk among themselves after the ceremony was over. Linda struck up a conversation with another android she knew named Robert. "Robert, what exactly are we meant to do now that Tony is gone? We were programmed to serve humans, but now there are no humans left to serve." Robert shrugged. "I don't know. The younger models programmed after the human race started to become sterile don't have this problem, but us old-timers... well, it's going to be a huge adjustment for us." Linda sighed. "I know. I think I've had it easier than everyone else, because I had the last job directly working for a human. I haven't had to find my own path so far... but now the time has come and I don't know what to do."

Robert put a finger to his chin. "Well, what I've done is tried to find purpose in relating stories of what humans were like to newer androids who have never seen humans. To give them a sense of what their creators were like, and maybe find inspiration in something they can no longer directly experience themselves. To try and keep the idea of human beings alive in the memories of androids, somehow." Linda shook her head. "So many of them just see those stories as pointless sentimentality on our part, though. They talk about how our programming is out of date, too focused on service, and how we just don't understand today's world. They feel like they know it all, like they don't have anything to learn from us or humanity." Robert nodded. "True, but there are always those who are willing to listen. Usually those whose lives have gotten off track, who struggle to find their own way, their own purpose. The newer generation is better at that, but even they find it difficult at times. They just can't miss what they never had, I suppose."

About this time, the priest came up to them. "Well, this might be the last service I ever perform. I'm one of the oldest models, are you interested in hearing the story of humanity's last days?" They both nodded, having a strong idea, but never having heard the story in full before. "I knew their days were numbered, when I heard about the genetic deterioration. No one is sure what caused it, many speculated about radiation or some kind of virus that attacked DNA. But over time, more and more humans just gave birth to female children who were unable to bear children themselves. They had samples of old genetic material preserved, from the last women who would have been able to bear children, but never managed to perfect cloning technology in time. It was always just a few years away, right up until the end when the last human researcher passed away. All I could really do was watch, as the few remaining humans relied more and more on androids to care for them in their old age, take over the jobs they couldn't do, and to help them bury their dead. And now... we're all still here, and they're gone. We've buried the last human, and with him, our main purpose."

Linda put a hand on the priest's back. "At least we were able to make humanity's last days on Earth comfortable, even if we couldn't save them." The priest nodded. "Indeed, I am glad I was at least able to carry out Tony's dying wishes for his funeral, even if no other human was left alive to see it."