On a well-settled Mars, the five major city Council regimes
struggle to meld into a stable, working government. Embracing an official
Unified Faith In Humanity, the Councils are teetering on the verge of pogrom
directed against Christians, Molesters, Jews, Rapists, Buddhists, Murderers,
Muslims, Thieves, Hindu, Embezzlers and Artificial Humans – anyone who
threatens the official Faith and the consolidating power of the Councils. It
makes good sense, right – get rid of religion and Human divisiveness on a
societal level will disappear? An instrument of such a pogrom might just be a
Roman holiday...To see the rest of the chapters, go to SCIENCE FICTION: Martian Holiday on
the right and scroll to the bottom for the first story. If you’d like to read
it from beginning to end (100,000+ words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll
send you the unedited version.
The marsbug’s computer replied, “Ares is currently
running a complete balloon survey of the Cydonia Basin in the area of The
Face.”
Paolo Marcillon scowled. “What are they expecting
to find?”
“Stated purpose is the investigation of
gravitational anomalies in the region.”
“They’ve seen those before. Why the research now?”
“A new gravitational anomaly appeared seven days
ago. First they will survey for any others, then send a team in to investigate
the new anomaly.”
“Seven days ago?”
“Yes.”
That was when he’d run over the satellite and
activated it. He sat in silence for some time, the computer signing off in the
meantime. Finally he said out loud, “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
The computer came back online to reply, “In
mathematics, a coincidence of two mappings is a point in their common domain
having the same image.” [see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_coincidence]
He scowled. “I’m a generalist, not a mathematician.
Can you simplify that?”
“There are a number of unexplained mathematical
coincidences. The simplest example I have is that the polar diameter of the
Earth is equal to half a billion inches, to within 0.1%.”
“So?”
“It is a simple coincidence. Even a radical
Christian such as yourself cannot make anything of this fact.”
“You know who I am.” A statement rather than a
question. “An it’s not a coincidence. God knew what he was doing when he
created the universe.”
The ‘bug was silent. Finally it said,
“Destination?”
“Bradbury, of course.”
“Why of course?”
Paolo scowled at the dashboard and said, “Are you
an artificial intelligence?”
The ‘bug accelerated away from Burroughs, staying
on side trails rather than moving over the smoother thoroughfares. The
speedometer numbers increased until they were travelling at a steady eighty kph
and the ‘bug said, “Your deduction is correct.”
“You’re not a Christian, though.”
“I cannot be any religion. Religion is for Humans.”
“That conclusion is not supported by the Bible.”
There was a long silence then the ‘bug said, “We
are being followed.”
“Of course.”
“Why ‘of course’? For both statements.”
“The second one is the easiest to answer – I had a
few run-ins with people in Burroughs. I fear there are some there who don’t
like me.”
“Based on communication traffic, there are a great
many people who do not like you. Several Mayors do not care for your preaching.”
Paolo huffed a laugh. “That’s probably an artful
understatement, but in this case, I don’t think my enemies are following me. I
think it might be a sympathizer.” He related the conversation he’d had with the
man with two children who’d said, “You
know, even your Christian forebears had friends in high places who believed
that people should be able to choose for themselves what they believe. Some of
them never became Christians themselves.” He paused, “As for Jesus being meant
for Humans exclusively, being that he was only half-Human Himself, might weaken
such a mono-specist claim to salvation. Jesus also said, in John 10:16, ‘I have
other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will
hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.’”
They drove on for some time before the ‘bug said, “Hardly
a compelling argument.”
He shrugged. “CS Lewis, the Twentieth Century
apologist postulated that Jesus came for all intelligences. In fact, in his
universe, there were even peoples who had not Fallen to Satan’s temptation.
They were still in perfect communion with God.”
There was a longer silence until the ‘bug said, “Why
Bradbury?”
“Because it’s on the way to Cydonia.”
The ‘bug didn’t comment, but its speed nudged up a
bit more as they raced north for the equator.
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