**This is a very short story from Andy Weir, author of The Martian, about a man dying and having a conversation with "God". A brief, yet thought-provoking read. Always loved this one! **

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife

"The ambassador of the human civilisation will speak now."

On the call of these words a human walked up to the speakers podium in the Hall of Representatives. A thousand eyes - or whatever biological equivalent the many different species had - were on him from other ambassadors on the seats that arched upwards in many rows. Representative Harknethos was among them. The civilisation he spoke for was a late member and he was only the third one after the ambassador that had handled the initiation into the Commonwealth. So he knew exactly how this would play out. And he also knew that hundreds of billions of beings were watching the live transmission from thousands of planets across the Commonwealth for it was the very first official appearance of this new species. The aged human looked tired and disheveled, seemingly badly prepared for the tasked of speaking on behalf of his people. The only thing not making him appear disrespectful was that he actually had an ambassadors cloth draped ov