Copyright Notice: All rights reserved. © Olan L. Smith. First published: 2017. Edited: 2025. No part of this work may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. All characters in The Sword and the Sickle are creations of his imagination. 

Disclaimer: The Sword and the Sickle is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, events, or organizations is purely coincidental. This novel blends elements of religion, science, and speculative fiction, with some chapters containing mature themes and content. Readers should exercise discretion if such material is sensitive or unsuitable in their context.

PREFACE

I am Alinda, and my name comes from Sanskrit and means balcony or support for the gods, for upon me stand all the gods, even Adonai. We created the human race after finding the perfect gem in the Sagittarius arm of this galaxy. The Prime Mover, or original Push, had already seeded the world with its DNA. We, your gods, are merely gardeners or biological engineers who travel from star to star looking for the perfect garden where we can manipulate the DNA to make beings in our image. In your cluster of thirty-six stars, we have planted several gardens. Sowers exist everywhere in the universe, and we are but one group; we plant, we tend, and we reap. Many times, we have planted you only to till the soil and start again, and often we have reseeded you just to till the dirt and start again.

You may ask why we made you, and I will reply. It is our obligation and purpose. You may also wonder what it's all about. Regardless of your level of awareness, everything you see or study is an illusion that was created by the original push that began with a brush stroke. Your scientists amuse us; they seek what is real and tangible, although nothing is tangible. Consider the quantum level; your scientists discovered it, and it confounded them. They scratch their heads together and ask, "How can this be? How can a particle be both a wave and a particle at the same time? How can something be on, off, or neither? Your scientists were very clever, and they put an observer on the other side and said, "Now, we will know if it is a particle or a wave of energy. Well, their observer reported it was a particle, it was a wave, and it was neither; they were more confused.

The scientists are getting closer to the truth.