Prell realized that of all the special assignments he had considered, this had to be the strangest. An assembly of religious people sat on high stools facing him. They were in the largest church building on Mars. The leading official explained, “I am Kelko from the world of Europa, a moon of Jupiter. I am also an appointed leader of the religious groups of many worlds. We also have representatives from Earth, Mars, Shiftland, the Pleiades, and many inhabited areas.”

“Glad to help you, Kelko, with all the men and women here. But what can I do for you?” Prell asked.

Kelko smiled. “We have discussed this at great length. Of all the known troubleshooters, you have the best record. There is a person from Tilco, a planet circling the star Sirius, who claims he is none other than God. He wants us to disband churches with our religious beliefs and accept only his words. He demands we pay great sums of money to him and that we send some of our most beautiful women to his planet to be his slaves. He is more like a devil than a god.”

A woman of the council added, “You must disprove his status as a god. We could never give in to his demands. Please accept the assignment. We feel that he plans to take over all the known governments in the Universe…then we would all be slaves.”

“We shall greatly reward you if you can stop this person from his evil plans,” Kelko said. “You can find him somewhere in the Oort Cloud now.”

“No reward is required,” Prell promised. “He must be dealt with as a tyrant. Besides, that's almost in my own back yard.”

“Good!” Kelko replied. They shook hands and Prell turned to leave the room. But he felt nervous and fearful. Could he really deal with someone who called himself God? Once outside the building he shook his head. This would be a great challenge. But he considered his word to be his bond. He went back to his ship in the space parking lot and boarded it. He had all the supplies aboard that he would need.

He put his ship into hyperdrive and streaked away from Mars through the heavens toward the Oort Cloud. He felt familiar with the area, having been there before. His other ship, much larger, had been the home of himself and his wife Lolaginna for years as they had watched for asteroids, comets or other heavenly bodies that might break away from the Oort Cloud to threaten the Earth.

After a long period of travel, he saw the bright Oort Ring ahead. It circled the Sun in a continuous stream of satellites that seemed to hold the entire Solar System intact. The satellites were small and sparse in most areas but large and thick in others. Knowing the terrible risks, he moved his ship slowly into the cloud. The meteors and comets were large and thick in this sector, but he had a reason for entering at this particular point. An evil god could carry out his plans much easier here, not too far from Earth. He could also reach the other planets in other systems even better.

The scientists of Earth had once placed a stint in Prell's brain to assist him with his duties. Like shifting gears, he could go into robot mode to withstand great pain, avoid feelings of monotony, work the ship controls at a leaner, sharper pace, be much stronger and not as frightened when facing great danger. Just as he shifted into robot mode he had to turn his ship quickly sideways to pass between two meteors that almost scraped each other. Luckily he made it through, but had to dodge another meteor on the other side. He saw many ships that had crashed into meteors and comets, showing that many had not made it through alive.

Somewhere ahead lay the city of Galaxy. Then he saw it! The city lay on a sandy plain on the Galaxy asteroid, a huge place by Oort Cloud standards. It gleamed like a bright jewel, lighted by nearby comets. The Sun was small and dim, almost like just another star. Prell knew it as a refuge for desperate criminals hailing from many worlds. There were man-like creatures seven feet tall, from Shiftland, a tenth planet of recent discovery, and men only two or three feet high from the Pleiades, Earthmen, Martians, and many others. They had robbed, murdered, raped victims, and committed nearly every crime under the sun, and had been lucky enough to get here where the Interplanetary Police had seldom dared to follow.

He landed his ship behind a low hill, although he realized they might have spotted him. He knew he must proceed with great caution. But so far there had not been any sign of guards. He put on a holster with laser weapon, then buckled on a scabbard loaded with a sword in case he had to fight at close quarters and could not use his laser gun. Now ready, he disembarked and walked the sandy plain toward the city entrance. A large sign hung over the doorway: Hell's Tavern of Galaxy .

A woman who was only five feet tall came out to greet him. She waved off the guard. She wore long black boots, and a skirt and blouse of thin black metal. Her face was scarred from fighting, but otherwise she seemed quite beautiful. “ Come!” she beamed telepathically. She had a large laser gun pointed at the guard. “I am here to protect you while I lead you to see our Mayor, Helious. We were aware of your coming and Helious wants to welcome you.”

Prell felt startled over this information but decided to go along with her request. He had formerly learned to use telepathy from his wife, Lolaginna. “Lead the way,” he beamed to her.

She nodded and turned in military fashion to go into the city. They entered the bar. Men of all sorts pressed in from both sides, shouting angrily. But the woman would have none of it. “Back off or I'll kill you!” she beamed at them.

The men all reluctantly backed away. Prell had nearly been killed himself in another fight on another occasion. He felt thankful that the woman had come to lead him to the mayor, although there might be danger in that, too. But questions arose in his mind. Why had they been expecting him and why had the woman served as his protector?

She led him into another room at the back end of the bar. He saw an expensively furnished room. There were many stuffed chairs with a handsomely carven wooden desk at the front. Sitting at the desk was an enormous man, about six feet tall, weighing well over six hundred pounds.

“Greetings!” the huge man beamed mentally. “I see my guard delivered you safely. I am Helious. We knew about your coming as a troubleshooter. I did have a spy in that great church conference on Mars that you attended. I know that they assigned you to stop this individual who calls himself God.”

“You apparently know a lot,” Prell admitted. “I came here seeking information about this so-called God! Where does he stay? How can I find him?”

“Take a ninety degree turn from the way your ship fares,” the Mayor beamed back. “Go past ten asteroids. Just beyond this is a little world called Paradise.”

“Sounds like anything but that,” Prell replied.

“It is a terrible place,” Helious admitted. “I must tell you now why you were allowed to enter the city of Galaxy. Your goal of defeating this self-declared God has our backing. This person has demanded that we pay him enormous sums of money, or he will destroy us with beams of hot light. He also wants several of our women as slaves.”

“This is a terrible threat,” Prell beamed. “Can you send men to help me?”

“Sorry,” Helious admitted. “I can't! The people here are all afraid of him and think he is a god. But I do have one way to help. Take this shield! It is metal and shaped like a mirror.”

“How can that help?” Prell objected.

“You shall see!” came the Mayor's reply. He handed the shield over. Prell took it, surprised at its light durability. “There's a back door to this room that leads outside. I think you should take it,” Helious added. “My bodyguard will show you where.”

Prell turned and followed the woman. She pressed a button on the wall and opened the door to let him outside.

I've got to deal with this misbehaving god alone! He thought angrily.

Prell hurried to his ship and boarded it, taking the controls. He made a ninety degree turn on takeoff as Helious had directed, and edged his ship past the asteroids to find the world of Paradise. After passing ten asteroids, he found it. It was larger than most and lighted by small surrounding worlds. Prell took a sample of the atmosphere. It seemed to be quite breathable. The self-declared God had probably stolen an atmospheric machine from Oohdak of the Pleiades before it could be shipped to Prell's son Prell II, who used those machines to create atmospheres on other small worlds.

Prell landed by a large lake near a castle that seemed entirely out of place. He gathered all his weapons, including the shield given to him by Helious, and departed from his ship. Then he felt startled to hear a voice sent to him by telepathy that beamed, “Welcome, Prell! I know about your intentions. That the great church council hired you to dispose of me is no secret. I had my informants! But come! Let's eat dinner before you try to kill me. Only I'm the one who will do the killing.”

“Just who are you?” Prell beamed back telepathically.

“I'm God!” came the answer. “Please do come into the castle.”

He felt like a fly being drawn into a spider's web, but decided to accept the invitation. It was inevitable that he and this god would have to face each other. It might be better if he could actually size him up before the struggle.

He and his opponent walked to the castle. A drawbridge was dropped over a moat. Like an ancient knight he walked over the bridge. The huge metal doors of the castle swung open. Prell entered, feeling uneasy. The self-proclaimed God might try to murder him.

Then he wondered where this god went. He had a creepy feeling of despair because his antagonist had disappeared. He warily crept along a great hallway, staying close to the wall while carrying his laser gun, ready to fire. Then the voice came again. “Turn at the next corner. This will take you to the dining room where we can eat.”

Realizing that he could be hopelessly trapped, he turned at the next corner and entered another room. Before him was a large dining table loaded with food, brought in by women servants, obviously enslaved. A person arose from a chair at the long table.

“Welcome, Prell,” this person beamed. “Come, let us eat.”

The man or god stood almost seven feet tall and had long curls of black hair. By contrast, Prell had short blond hair and stood only six feet. Like the natives of Tilco, a planet circling the star Sirius, this person at the table had features like a demon-fish---round mouth, gill-shaped ears, dark oval eyes, and humped back something like a catfish. Prell advanced cautiously, then seated himself opposite his strange host. The god-man smiled and also sat down.

“I shall pray, then we'll eat,” the host remarked. The prayer that followed told of the great praise he would receive for winning the coming battle over Prell. The message continued at great length. Later, Prell ate the same food that his host did, not caring to be poisoned. “Thanks for the meal,” he beamed.

“Certainly!” the self-proclaimed God answered. “I'll give you five minutes now to leave. After that it can be great sport to chase you down and kill you. Afterwards it will be easy to capture your wife Lolaginna to be my slave.”

This was taunting! But what would happen would depend on the coming struggle. Prell broke and ran for the front door, but not before the God-man raised his ring bracelets and fired. Prell felt horrified. He had dodged but not in time. The rays of light that would have killed him hit only his ray-gun in its holster instead. Prell only received a light burn on his right thigh, but he was now without a laser weapon to fight with. He saw his weapon on the floor, melted just as he darted into the hallway.

Although his opponent had allowed him five minutes to escape, he didn't trust him. He steered himself into corners and dodged from side to side, causing the light-rays to miss his body. Just as he had suspected, the god-man had not waited five minutes but had immediately taken up the chase.

Prell paced across the drawbridge. He shifted to robot mode and whirled around, raising the metal shield that he had almost forgotten about. The light rays that the fish man shot at him lighted up the monsters that swam hungrily below in the moat. Prell caught the light rays on his shield and headed them back. They narrowly missed his opponent. He whispered thanks to Helious of Galaxy City for having given him the weapon. “I'm coming!” he shouted angrily. He rushed back across the drawbridge. The fish man shot wildly, raising his wrist- bands above his head. But Prell used his shield to defend himself from the rays like a savage, uncontrollable machine. He drew the sword, still buckled to his side, and closed in on his opponent.

The self-styled God drew his own sword, unable to bring his wrists down enough to fire at Prell. They fought savagely with clanging swords, moving back and forth across the bridge. Then Prell finally downed the fish man. He pressed the point of his sword against the man's throat. “Come!” he demanded. “You are no God!”

He forced his unsuccessful opponent to walk before him as they went to his ship. Once they were inside, he took his enemy to the pilot room, took off his wrist- bands, and tied him up securely with leather ropes. “Now!” Prell beamed. “If you are God, free yourself and kill me!” As the fish man struggled with the ropes and groaned, Prell laughed at his futile attempts to get free.

“What will you do with me?” the false God beamed in despair.

“I'll take you to Kelko and his group of people from all the planets that belong to the religious order,” Prell answered. “I am certain they will welcome your presence and see that you are punished, either by them or the Interplanetary Police.”

“I'm afraid! Save me from this horror!” the fish man beamed, but Prell just smiled.

It was then that they were both startled. Looking out the front view window, they saw an enormous figure appear in the heavens with the surrounding comets and asteroids forming a crown of glory over his head. Prell felt shocked. He somehow knew that this really was God. He bowed in reverence. God smiled at him, then disappeared.

He felt shaken and no longer was in robot mode. This time he did believe in the one true God and realized---THE TRUTH IS IN THE STARS.

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