God decided to make the earth while bored.  

Teenagers are full of energy and action most of the time, but these periods of chaos are often interrupted with stretches of boredom.  God is fifteen.  A teenager.  A girl named Bertha.  Boredom is harder for girls, especially when your name is Bertha.  What was her parents thinking to pick such a name!

Her parents are often away, leaving her alone, free to do as she please, with one exception.  She is not allowed in her parents workshop.

Her parents are world builders.  A hobby made possible by their considerable resources in this world of plenty they happen to be part of.

Some of the worlds they made are filled with complex processes. Processes that enable evolution that eventually facilitate life.  They carefully control and direct this process based on how they feel or what they happen to be curious about.  They are hands on kinda gods that employ controlled evolution.

Other worlds are blank canvases, desolate placeholders for future projects, sometimes forgotten for millennia, sometimes longer.

There are some strange multidimensional places where the life that appeared makes your head hurt when you look at it.  These places are beyond understanding, continually changing and growing, responding to the turning of dials and changing of parameters when her parents tinker.

Creating worlds is a planned, procedural and pragmatic thing.  The resulting creations however can be chaotic, ever changing and often violent places if not kept in check.

Boredom often leads to ideas, some fantastic, others fanciful and some absolutely brilliant.  

Bertha had a brilliant idea.  She will make a world.  A simple world with as few dimensions as she can manage.  This world will be filled with life.  It will be pretty, it will be blue! It will be protected from celestial debris by being close to its sun, and surrounded by larger bodies that will catch any flying planet killers.  It will not be controlled like the creations of her parents.

Bertha gets to work.  She has the rest of the week, a full 6 days to build this world.  Her parents will be upset, but when they see the beauty of it, the simplicity they will love it!  This she is absolutely sure of.

She selected a half made solar system on the outskirts of a small galaxy in her parent’s universe.  The first day was spent on the sun, deciding its size, calculating the amount of fisible material needed to keep it going long enough for her planned blue world to orbit it millions of times.  Finally the sun was done and started up.  There was light and heat.

Day two she turned her attention to the third rock from the sun.  It was too big, requiring a piece to be removed, shaped into a ball and installed as its only moon.  This allowed her to position the world’s orbit in the perfect place for it to be comfortable.  The new moon turned out just big enough to completely eclipse the sun at times!  What a happy coincidence.

Over the next few days Bertha shaped the continents and the oceans.  This world needed a specific amount of water to enable clouds and weather.  She gave the world spin so there could be night and day, and the moon got just enough spin so that it always show the same face as it orbits the world.  A nice touch that makes her little world special!

Since the world has a circular orbit around it’s beautiful sun the climate will be constant, not a good thing for the life she plans to install.  Bertha gave the globe a slight tilt on its axis, resulting in distinct seasons for places further away from the equator.

The moon also had an influence on the oceans, causing tides.  Beautiful! This was coming together nicely.  The land and oceans were seeded with plant life, the plants eventually producing the perfect atmosphere to catch the heat of the sun, kick starting the weather that draws water from the oceans to nourish the plants to produce more gasses until finally, equilibrium!

The planet was alive!  Bertha removed the temporary sun and other gadgets needed before equilibrium got established and the system became self sustaining.

It was not yet perfect.  There has to be something to keep the plants in check.  Bertha installed animals, birds, fish and insects.  She relied on the world building software and machinery to calculate the exact ratio of prey and predator, prohibiting one species from destroying another, threatening the beautiful balance.

For one whole day she sat in silent awe, observing the beauty of her creation, appreciating the tenuous but necessary balance she was able to establish! 

On the last day before her parents returned home, she removed all prohibitions and sped up time for this young solar system.  This is not standard practice.  Worlds are always left to evolve in their own time with controls in place, but Bertha wanted to show it off to her parents fully evolved without interference.  She never approved of her parents strict controls on their worlds and wanted to see if her disapproval is warranted.  And she wanted to rub their faces in it if it turns out spectacular.

On the new planet, in the sped up solar system, evolution had a ball.  From one species of primate a new bipedal being formed.  This being had a big brain, a big healthy brain that enabled it to create and use tools.  These tools enhanced its ability to hunt and rule over other living things.  As time sped by the tools got better, the knowledge increased and the new beings achieved new levels of technology that doubled with each completed orbit of the young planet around its young sun.  These beings fought each other over the limited resources offered by their planet.  Fighting each other accelerated their progress, the necessity to be first to build the next better bomb a great motivator.  Eventually they exhausted the natural resources of their world.  Eventually they turned their gaze to the stars.

Mom and dad’s workshop exploded hours after they arrived home.  Bertha’s surprise project turned out to be an even bigger surprise than she ever could have imagined.  

The newly evolved dominant species on her little blue planet the cause for the destruction of a complete universe.  These humans, as they called themselves, turned their considerable attention to the stars, and developed interstellar travel in ships bristling with the cannons and lasers and other terrible weapons they perfected on each other before they eventually destroyed their home.

This universe was not ready for them.  They conquered and spread over many worlds.  The universe was not big enough for them.  They eventually turned their gaze back to themselves when they reached its boundaries.  Concerned about the limited resources available they set on each other with improved weapons and equipment, destroying everything and themselves.

While considering an appropriate punishment for her disobedience, Bertha’s parents watched the recording made of Bertha’s effort.  They were impressed.  They loved the simplicity of design, the initial harmony of the young world before the evolutionary controls were removed, resulting in the total destruction of their carefully manicured and controlled universe.

They realized that evolution must be boundless, that Bertha’s creation is proof that when allowed life will find ways to extend beyond its confines. Bertha was not punished, but made part of the team.

They drew up plans for their next workshop, a reinforced structure wrapped in a time dilated capsule to contain anything that might escape.  Their curiosity and desire burning to take Bertha’s ideas to the next level, to push it to the limit, just to see what will happen.

Such is the nature of gods.