The Rise of Endymion

"'Alright,' I said, 'but if you were the messiah, what would your message to humanity be?'

...'When I was a kid... I was always wondering what message I was going to give humankind.  Beyond the things I knew I'd have to teach, I mean.  Something profound.  Sort of a Sermon in the Mount.'

I looked around.  There was no ice or snow at this terrible altitude.  The clear, white steps rose through shelves of steep, black rock.  'Well,' I said, 'here's your mount.'

'Yeah,' said Aenea, and I could here the fatigue once again.

'So what message did you come up with?' I said, more to keep her talking and distracted than to hear the answer.  It had been a while since we had just talked.

I could see her smile. 'I kept working on it,' she said at last, 'trying to get it as short and important as the Sermon on the Mount.  Then I realized that was no good - Like Uncle Martin in his manic-poet period trying to outright Shakespeare - so I decided that my message would just be shorter.'

'How short?'

'I got my message down to thirty five words.  Too long.  Then down to twenty seven.  Still too long.  After a few years I had it down to ten.  Still too long.  Eventually I boiled it down to two words.'

'Two words?'  I said.  'Which two?'

...

'Choose again,' said Aenea."   The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons