If a pacifist bunch of aliens land on earth and offer us all the details of the past, what would be the consequences? What, in particular, would believers feel - threatened or elated? Would humans be mature enough to handle the truth? How would religion affect what could possibly be the greatest event in human history? J Ramanand deftly handles this question in this wonderfully clever story with a mildly pessimistic ending. This story is the first prize winner of 2007 TS3C.TheScian Science Fiction Short Story Contest [1] J. Ramanand works in text mining in a software company and is a Punekar by residence. He can be found quizzing on weekends and is the youngest winner of BBC's Mastermind India quiz. His science fiction gurus are Douglas Adams, Philip K. Dick, Christopher Priest, and Charlie Kaufman. His homepage is here [2]. He blogs as quatrainman [3].
15:00, the 5.23th day of the year +80, New Priest City
The gentle whirring of the animated bot shook him out of his reverie. His phone had been redirected to text, and the on-screen panel was blinking with the name of Val. From his office cubicle in Sapphire Productions, Neek took a quick look around to ensure his inquisitive neighbor Weber wasn’t in hearing range.
“Val?”, he said and quietly hoped his sister would stick to the code.
“I have the flu, san.”
“You’ve got it then?”, he tried not to let his emotions show. He was absolutely and terribly excited.
“Yes. Just got back from the Doctor’s.”
By now, his listlessness had drained away. Since his sister had remained true to her side of the script, his responses were automatic - the advantages of prior rehearsal. She had the papers. It was not exactly a great secret but some things are better left unopened. The papers were a good example of what humans wanted to forget. There may be some religious cults still holding on to some vestigial violence. They could turn on him and his sister. He didn’t want to take a chance.
“I’ll come over this evening.”
“Ok, san.”
“Bye.”
He had a few errands to clear out before the train. He got busy. At 17:00, he gently spoke the words “shutdown” and heard his eavesdropping computer go “Bye Neek. Hope your sis gets well”. As the monitor dimmed out, its dying beam marked out Weber, who had sidled up.
“Hey Neek – what plans? We’re planning to hit Strafers. Kill some Huns this time – haven’t played the ‘Luftwaffe’ for a while.”
“Thanks Web, but my sister’s unwell. I’m leaving for her house in Wellstown immediately.”
“You’re a noble and sociable man, my friend, one of the last left in our world!” With Web, Neek could never quite tell where irony segued into sarcasm. A shrug was all he offered in receipt.
“What is the matter with her? Something serious and peculiar, I hope. Mind you”, Weber said, dropping his voice in mock-terror, “I bet it’s because of the Azureans using us as little brown and pink lab rats”.
Neek curled his lower lip in imitation of a smile. This was a popular theory of their times. However, he knew that Weber was simply too cynical to believe in it. Weber probably has concocted an elaborate and disparaging theory to explain away his own sorrows. Did pessimism come easy to one who spent his childhood in the Siberian cold?
“Nothing of that sort, sadly. Seems she has the chills. She just needs her brother to help her get over it.”
“My best to the lady, Neek, I wish her an unending supply of paper napkins. All I can do. Perhaps I’ll drop in a prayer to the Lord God of Medical Emergencies. Have a good journey, if you can help it.”
“The view will make up for it!” Neek concluded, as they both sniggered in unison at the thought.
19:00, the same day, the train to Wellstown
Humans didn’t like trains anymore. Everyone agreed this was because there weren’t any real windows left. The days of watching rolling countrysides, indulgent cattle, impressive rivers, or mighty marvels of engineering were consigned to documentary films. Since the dawning of the Azure age (despite the implied parity of the “Azure-Blue Earth Concord”, there was no doubt as to who held the passkeys to Earth), several million Azureans had migrated to Earth. Along with the products of their eco-sciences and their strident pacifism, they bought along their eccentricities – buy one and get the other freely imposed. Not that Subjugate partners had much of a say anymore.
Public transport is always the prime target for cultural integration. The higher ups decided that more contact between humans and Azureans was important. Cultural integration has its problems. The Azureans could not stand the sight of passing scenery in the windows of moving vehicles. As a minor cultural adjustment, window screens in most public transport systems now had images of reassuring geometrical objects on a beige background, slowly morphing into other shapes, instead of the real exterior whizzing by. The humans didn’t know exactly why the Azureans could not bear the sight of rapidly-moving visuals, but it caused a great deal of resentment. “Surely, this is a minor fine-tune to make for friends?” the Chief Azure Overseer on Earth had been famously quoted on the topic. Since that day, the phrase “minor fine-tune” had entered coffee-machine slang as a handy euphemism.
Not surprisingly, Neek had soon become fed up of the projected images on the windows. The Azure couple in the same booth, on the other hand, possessed such strangely beatific expressions on their blue features that it made him long to be in some far away alien land like them and ruminate on his own life with the clarity that distance brings. He caught himself staring at them longer than intended and turned embarrased. How long his parents’ generation would have stared at any Azureans that they encountered? The curiosity had long since evaporated among the general population. Occasionally, he would try to guess the gender of the Azureans he met from the subtle shades of colors in their faces that marked their three sexes, but today, his attention sought the past. He fiddled around with the buttons of his SurroundView, trying to get the focus of the projection right for his eyes. Before leaving for the day, he had copied relevant sections of the history of the days before and during the Concord, from the Walloon History Archives. “Play”, he said.
“[This archive article was created on Oct 30, 2124 (in the old date system). See sections 13.2 and 13.3 for related material]
You will now hear a summary article on Mey Smythe. If you’d like to explore specific aspects, please voice the relevant key phrases.
Mey W. Smythe (2073-2152) was the first Chief Envoy of the Partner States of West Europe to the International Comity. A representative of the NW regions, Smythe was a legalist by profession before accepting an offer by the then Presiding Officer of the NW regions to join his cabinet of ministers as Officer for Legal Affairs in 2105.
2123 saw the occurrence of the extraordinary ‘Discovery of Earth’ by the AXLKA Galaxy group (known locally as the Azure Nations). This led to the creation of the International Comity, which had the mandate to negotiate relations with Earth’s new extra-terrestrial neighbours. Smythe was chosen as the representative of his region to this body in view of his much-applauded work in statecraft in the preceding years. He served as the deputy to Jan Kozzyk of the North American Partnership, who had been elected as Chairperson of the Senate and inner Council of the Comity.
In his duties with the Comity, Smythe first headed the committee for the creation of the AXLKA-English Translation Standard, helping establish a common basis for both groups to communicate with each other, especially with regards to formal language for use in the Concord. After the publication of the standard in 2125, Smythe worked closely on the drafts, setting the parameters of the co-operation in geology and mining, trade rights, movement of personnel, and other eco-scientific issues. At the time of the announcement of the Concord to all-round acclaim in 2130, Smythe was among the famed “Dreamers”, the men and women who had successfully managed the transition to a new era in Earth’s space history. Despite the clear superiority of the Azure Nations in all eco-scientific spheres, Earth had been accepted as an equal and autonomous partner in the Galaxy. A new emergence of the planet and its inhabitants had been signaled.
However, by 2132, the Comity was struck by allegations of corruption and incompetence against Kozzyk and his council by several members of the Comity’s general Senate. They alleged that several unnecessary concessions relating to medical research by the Azureans on Earth had been provided for special favours. In addition, several religious demonstrations and riots of an extraordinary nature took place in some of the largest cities in Western Europe and Asia, severely destabilizing the region and the Comity. On 3rd January, 2133, Jan Kozzyk was found dead of cardiac arrest. Mey Smythe took over as acting Head of the Comity, pending fresh elections.
Later that year, the International Comity of the Nations of Earth unilaterally declared war on the Azure Nations knowing full well they stood no chance. Suicidal, Earth historians would put it simply; most of humanity became a suicidal cult bent on attaining species salvation at the face of an unquestionably more powerful alien race. By 2134, after the renegotiation of the Concord, the Comity had been disbanded, leaving each political nation to seek its own terms with the victorious power. Each of the nations agreed on Subjugate status for Earth, and the establishment of a military, political and eco-scientific agency of Azureans to oversee all extra-terrestrial matters on behalf of Earth.
There is common consensus among historians - particularly Azure historians- that if humans had not declared war on the Azureans, they may have enjoyed greater stature and prosperity, as the Azureans are a largely pacific race. Immediately after the end of the war, the blame for humanity's fiasco was unanimously laid at the desk of Mey Smythe. Smythe was detained by the government of the North American Partnership but despite much speculation, the reasons for actions taken under his leadership were never made public. Mey Smythe died in detention on 27 August, 2152.
[This is the end of the article. If you’d like to explore…]”
21:30, The Train
The train had reached an intermediate station, causing the bland projections to cease. Neek looked out, his first glimpse of the world outside for over two hours. A bunch of pilgrims, with their assortment of religious paraphernalia were disembarking. One of their holy shrines was nearby, he recalled. Neek wasn’t very religious, but had been considering his position lately. Many at his workplace were, for all appearances, quite devout. More than just spiritual succour, they seemed to derive an immense social security from the religious orders, especially given (as some churches said) the ungodly presence of the alien Azureans. Val had told him she’d been to a temple of one of the newer 20th century religions that embraced the aliens as saviors situated near her house. She said it was founded on the teachings of someone named Bobbard or Joseph, he couldn't recall the name. He must remember to ask her about it.
He looked around the booth he was sitting in. The Azure couple had left. There was just an old lady sitting there, who’d dozed off as soon as the train’s doors quietly slid shut. A pair of Azureans looked in tentatively from the passageway but didn’t enter, they were probably looking for a more Azure-filled area. Humans and Azureans weren’t at ease with each other yet. They had treaded millions of years on different evolutionary paths; commerce and technology had brought them together but otherwise they were a world apart.
He turned back to his Surround Vision, and said “fetch article; keywords ‘war declaration in 2137’” in a low, clear voice.
23:00, Wellstown
Val was at the door as the taxi pulled up outside her house. It was their mother’s house and had been left to her.
“San!” Val had a big smile for her brother as she picked up his bag.
He, in turn, had a frown.
“I still don’t believe you got it all that easily. What did he want for it?”
“Well, um, nothing yet, san. I’m sure he’ll save it up for one nice juicy favour later. Don’t bother yourself with that. Though I’m not sure we have the complete diary.”
“But you didn’t have to explain anything? Surely, he must have been puzzled by your interest in a bunch of forgotten papers? You didn’t have to mention how Mel Smythe is connected to us?”
She heaved the bag inside. “No san, I didn’t have to. An egotistic man like Tel is easy to convince provided you keep the conversation strictly about him. I did have to spend a week pandering to that massive blob of an ego, though.” A mock shiver ran through her.
“I wonder if it’s really worth all the pain.”
“Come on, not now. It’s about ma, it’s about us. We have been taught to never acknowledge the Smythe blood in us. Have you stopped wondering about that? And plus, with this diary, we do have an authentic chunk of lost history with us, don’t we?”
Neek’s worried expression fell apart with a smile. “I prefer to see it as an ugly lump!”
Thirty minutes later, they were settled in the living room, he on Val’s comfortable futon, she on the carpet with a file full of papers.
“There you are, like some medieval emperor, who’s having his jester entertain him”, she teased.
“Not what I like for a Friday evening’s entertainment, I can tell you. Now, will you begin?”
“How should we go about it? There’s quite a bunch here. Should we just jump to the entries just after the so-called “Discovery of Earth”?”
“So-called?” He was genuinely puzzled.
“I couldn’t help peeking”, she said, a little embarrassed. “Listen to this.”
Mey Smythe’s Diary – New York - 26 Nov 2123
History, as we know it, continues to be overwhelmed by events that have no recognizable rationale and do not follow any pattern. Since that extraordinary day when radio contact was first established two months ago, Earth has changed in unprecedented ways every week. I feel I’m in the middle of a science fiction saga. I’m not sure a thesaurus has enough adjectives to fully convey what we’re all feeling.
The Azureans land tomorrow. By the way, it was Dr. Hart Rixar from South Asia who called them that because of the curious tinge of blue on their skins, and the name stuck. He said that Krishna, one of the more playful Indian God, was blue-skinned because he represented the color of heavens. Will they turn out to be gods? Would earth become a paradise? We all wondered in jest. The Azureans have repeatedly stressed that they are a peaceful species. If that indeed turns out to be true, then these won’t be Old Testament smiters of sinners!
One thing is certain: they’ll be bringing their own food to the party. We have no idea what they eat.
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 20 Aug 2124
This morning, the inner council met for the last time before the ten day season’s break. We reviewed progress on the committees for proposed eco-science collaborations, boundary outlines, and most importantly, the language inter-translations. As Jan keeps saying, we can’t dance the cosmic tango if we keep stepping on each other’s feet. In return, I keep telling him we’re still learning how to walk.
Did we know the Azureans don’t have any concept of suicide? Or that they too have a game very similar to football? More surprises will doubtlessly follow in the years to come. For now, we just need a common understanding of the lingua political. Oh, and our blue friends aren’t blue all over. There was an exchange of anatomical details of our respective species a month ago to repurpose public facilities on earth to accomodate Azureans. Our medical guys showed us some of these images – the Azureans have pink toes, just like human babies!
Finally, there’s been some talk that the Azureans have indeed known about Earth for a long while now. The whole “discovery” could be a charade, as many of us always suspected. Given their technological prowess, which is clearly many mega-generations ahead of us, it’d be no surprise if they had been aware of us for a while. Jan has asked us to keep this under our hats for now.
01:30
“The rest of the entries are quite similar in tone and content: he talks about some of the communication problems and how they had to ease their way around them. Some word on the opposition of certain groups on Earth, but how they were motivated mostly by personal grudges. On the whole, it was quite amicable, with the Azureans as well as at home.”
She saw him stifle a yawn.
“Should we stop for the night?” she asked.
“No, let’s go on. Let’s jump ahead a little.” he said, adjusting the cushions behind him.
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 16 Oct 2126
Today, we celebrated the 1st anniversary of the publication of the translation standard. It has been quite an achievement, perhaps the greatest for some of the leading linguists and technologists on Earth. To mark the occasion, we launched a newstracker today, which can summarise news reports in the different Azurean tongues in English. It gives us an informative look at the buzz on the AXLKA planets: what the mood is with regards to the Concord drafts, any rumblings or murmurs, and the like. Naturally, it’ll take us a long time to set up any meaningful intelligence networks in those Azurean regions, and even then, given their superior monitoring and communication systems, we will probably be dreadful at it.
I think everyone feels that there is no such thing as a “perceived threat” with our alien friends – they truly do seem territorially non-aggressive. I suppose they could crush us like bugs if they chose to, but their entire mental (if I can use that word) makeup is geared towards commerce and technology. It will be interesting to know if they were always that way or if their systems have evolved in that direction.
I wouldn’t call any of the Azureans “friends”. Not yet, anyway. Though, over the last few years, there have been some pleasant acquaintances. I think it will take us and them a generation to even begin any kind of integration.
Still, it remains our duty to be sceptical and watchful of the guys who’ve moved into the neighbourhood. Do we have anything that allows us to meaningfully deserve the parity that is being unilaterally offered, or is this equilibrium doomed to be unstable?
Mey Smythe’s Diary – New York - 20 Jan 2129
Ok, I must confess to being a little heady! TIME-TODAY’s latest cover features all of us (from the council) on it. We’ve been dubbed “The Dreamers”. Wow! The Concord is around the corner – we should have the ratifications done by the end of the year.
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 19 April 2131
Today, I informed the inner Council about yesterday’s development which will have, as they say, earth-shattering consequences. It’s exciting. I reported:
“Yesterday, in a private meeting, the cultural envoy of the Azure representation here confirmed that the Azureans have indeed been aware of us Earthlings for a long, long time – several millennia actually. They have had us under the microscope, in a manner of speaking, for much of that time. With great prudence, they decided against any active deployments in the region as they were not very confident of Earth’s maturity and ability to make the necessary philosophical adjustments. This is quite similar to what we know as the ‘monolith conjecture’ (A.C.Clarke in the second millennium).
They have, however, kept us under the scanner for much of that period. We do know that much of our first couple of millennia was spent in bloody internecine conflicts which were, in plain speak, the powerful and unscrupulous cartels thieving from the vulnerable ones. From what we have seen and learnt about the Azureans, they would not have wanted to be involved in any way with such an environment. Especially, as Earth has nothing to offer them that could not be obtained elsewhere.
Now that they’ve seen relative stability on Earth, they have been emboldened enough to make the approach in a spirit of cooperation (besides, I think they are getting impatient for commerce). We have not had any reason to doubt this, from what we have seen in the last eight years.
Here’s the big news: they kept extensive audio-visual records during their observations over the last couple of millennia. A massive historical archive. All this while, they’ve had visual sensors on their satellites pointing at Earth, some buried in our moon, and even dropped on Earth itself. Ground level zooms. Recorded audio. It’s as if someone turned on a video camera and left it running for thousands of years. Almost every bit of collected information has been collated and indexed chronologically.
And they’re offering it to us for use.”
At first, most of the council failed to see the implications of this announcement. I had to spell it out for them. For the first time, we could potentially answer historical questions, from the mundane to the most extraordinary. Was there really a Shakespeare? Did Mallory and Irvine make it to the top of Everest first? But apart from such interesting but ultimately useless questions, geographical observations such as the shifting of the Polar caps and the original extent of rainforest coverage could be studied scientifically; great battles and economic changes can all be revealed. We can set to rest some of the most legendary as well as incendiary questions that historians never thought they could answer. We’d actually go back in time. The greatest documentary ever!
We’ve decided that this is classified top-secret for now. We’re still coming to grips with this.
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 23 Oct 2131
I’m happy to record that I’ve finally won! It’s been a struggle, slowly persuading everyone on the council that the pros outweigh the cons; that these archives represent the greatest inheritance we will ever know; that we are indeed mature enough to confront the distant past without any adverse effects; and that the sources must be made as open as possible. The massive vote of confidence represented by the Azureans treating us as partners should clearly tell us we’re far removed from those murderous hordes of the Middle Ages. This is the Age of Understanding.
The members of the Senate will be carefully informed soon. For now, they will be asked to keep the information confidential. First sample requests to be made of “The Ark-ive” (as it’s been dubbed) will be conveyed via the Azurean cultural envoy. I’ve got a few of my own: where did I misplace the deliciously anachronistic reading glasses my wife gave for our tenth wedding anniversary.
06:00, the next day
Neek took a welcome sip from his mug.
“That is pretty interesting. I’ve been through a lot of material on that period, and none of them ever mention this point, this ‘Ark-ive’. Let me quickly run a search through the material again.”
He switched up his little gadget as Val stretched out sleepily, upsetting a framed photo of their parents on the side table.
“No, there are no references to anything of this sort.”
“Hmm. Let’s get back to the diary, san.”
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 2 Feb 2132
No wonder politics is a pit. More accurately, it’s a snake-pit full of these career politicians.
The “Ark-ive” exercise has degenerated into a maelstrom of name-calling and backstabbing which I did not foresee at all. My faith in our so-called philosophical maturity has turned out into a bag of hot air, punctured by the first pinpricks. Oh, what I’d give to string these myopic lepers upside down over a pack of hungry pigs.
It all began with a little verbal skirmish during one of the ‘Ark-ive’ discussions in the Senate a couple of days ago. We were drafting the policy on how access to the ‘Ark-ive’ would be provided, at first to academies and state organizations, and eventually to the general public. A member, with a pronounced religious view, wanted to ban any queries that would directly or indirectly be related to the religion he claimed to represent. He said it would amount to religious interference and insult the leaders of his religion, past and clear. Being deliberately vague, it was hard to tell what his argument was! Still, it was sufficient to get a member of a rival faith riled up. Accusations regarding the respective provenances of their religions were tossed around. Each informed the other that one look at the ‘Ark-ive’ would settle things once and for all.
Till now, I had not seen any religious considerations affect the working of the Comity. What can I say, we have been very extraordinarily naïve.
The session adjourned amidst the increasing bedlam. When we resumed the next day, both the warring parties seemed to have come together. It was no surprise when they tabled a proposal to strike down all ‘Ark-ive’ queries of any religious nature. Clearly, they’ve decided that, rivalries apart, opening up their own religions to scrutiny may jeopardize not only the fundamentals of their religions, but also their own standing as leaders of their faiths.
It was not a compromise of my choice, but I was ready to take it, though reluctantly. But there were some who’ve gone on the warpath against these mega-religions. It includes a bunch of particularly strident atheists, but mostly, it’s made up of members of some 2nd millennium sects, who don’t have ancient holy books or prophets or divine earthly incarnations to defend, and have the advantage that their mythos is purely elemental or doctrinal. They demand open access, but for all the wrong reasons: just to unmask the mega-religions and fill the vacuum with their own brand of mindspace.
It looks like the clouds from some long-forgotten religious crusade have gathered above.
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Istanbul - 15 Sep 2132
Despite weeks of negotiations, the violence has spread to further parts of Asia, including the Anatolian regions. It is the same everywhere: none of the rioters on the streets really know what they are quarrelling about, save for some totemic reasons about “enemies of their religion” causing grave affront. I have no doubt that the source of these problems lie in those ‘Ark-ive’ deliberations of February. Were the religious representatives worried about the credibility of their ancestors being affected by any revelations? Of their divine figures being mere humans, however august? Was this too much to tolerate?
Is this all necessary?
Jan has been ill for weeks now. It hasn’t helped that the heads of state have held him responsible for these calamities in the Comity. I hold myself to blame – after all, I championed the ‘Ark-ive’. This is quite the opposite of what I imagined would happen when I heard of it. I have run out of ways to salvage anything worthwhile. All my hopes are lost.
The Azureans have been loath to get involved, especially, as per the Concord, they promised to stay out of Earth’s affairs. But how long before, like a kennel-master of an increasingly torrid pack of dogs, will they stay out of it?
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Prague - 5 Jan 2133
Jan: farewell, you lucky man. You escape this tumult. Like the last chapter of a mystery novel, we now know who your true friends really were: the few who paid you the courtesy of showing up at your funeral. I fear by the time my turn arrives, that chapter will be blank!
Mey Smythe’s Diary – Brussels - 7 Feb 2133
In my long career, I have met with several ultimatums, but this is the ugliest of them all. It seems inevitable that the progress of the last decade will be erased with a regress worth a century.
The religious leaders confessed today that they are no longer in control of their raging flocks, and that they can no longer direct the flames that they tried so vainly to fan in the last year. (Of course, they wouldn’t quite take the blame for being the masterminds in so many words.) Consequently, their (cold-blooded!) analysis is that no balm can be applied to soothe these volcanic tempers. In speech that is disguised as advice, they suggest an approach that would be more appropriate in quelling oil-fires: they want us to start an even bigger fire that will consume every inflammable element in the neighbourhood. They want us to declare war on the Azureans in a desperate bid to distract humanity. Of course, they call it “uniting mankind”.
Such an absurd suggestion I could not countenance. Instead, I suggested taking our troubles to the Azureans. Surely they could not stand by as their newest ally committed mass suicide. But this only provoked derision. There is a conspiracy theory among certain circles that some of the current troubles have been fomented by the Azureans, a fact that we know to be completely incorrect. The actual fomenters were in the room with us when this theory was being discussed!
It doesn’t help that these groups have painted the Inner Council as corrupt puppets in the pay of the Azureans. We have failed to combat these accusations, so what credibility do we have left?
I fear for Vina – she isn’t safe anymore now that her university has been shut down.
09:00, the 5.24th day of the year +80
“What, is that it?” asked an agitated Neek.
She rummaged through the papers once again.
“That’s it. Perhaps he couldn’t write any more, may be they didn’t make it to this set, may be someone got rid of it.”
“Oh, come on.”
“And just as he mentions ma. So what do you think happened next?”
“We do know that they declared war on 22 April, and he was still Acting Head, so he must have acquiesced in the end. Perhaps that was the only way to stamp out the worst religious strife in centuries? Perhaps a spot of personal blackmail? Perhaps this was in the best interests of the race?”
“He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would cave in. But I suppose, if ma had been in mortal danger, would he have behaved differently?”
Neek eyes were clouded. Light shimmered in his distressed eyes.
“I don't know. He could – we don’t know enough about him. And ma didn’t exactly talk about him.”
“No, she didn’t. But why! Was she ashamed of being his daughter, of the infamy that now surrounds him? Or was it something more than that?”. Val could not control her tears. One's identity is one's life, especially in an age when it was in danger of erosion.
“Oh, Val", Neek keenly felt his sister's distress,"not every mystery in our lives could be solved. Some questions will stay unanswered”, he looked around at the sheaves of paper all around them, “even after all this. The ‘Ark-ive’ that could have told us puny humans exactly what the truth was. But no one wants the real truth. We humans have made our peace with our versions of the truth. Is is too overwhelming to have to re-calibrate our minds.”
Val sighed, and got on her knees collecting the papers.
“What do we do with these? Your pal Tel from the university will want them back, I suppose?” asked Neek, taking them from her.
“Not really – he has a digital copy and would not bother to retain this archaic bundle of paper. I don't think we should either, you know it's dangerous for us to have it. Let's give it a decent burial. It’s not as if they can now bring down a civilization. What credibility do they carry? I’m sure the Azureans are wise enough to never mention the ‘Ark-ive’ again. Reject the chains of the past, my new preacher says.”
“This is that preacher from the religious order you were planning to visit? ”
“Yes. It was interesting – there was a certain kind of dynamism to it, a promise of a social order without upheaval.”
“And in the light of what we’ve just read courtesy our mother’s father – it doesn’t change your attitude towards religion? I mean, a bunch of zealots wrecked what could have truly been, to use the cliché, a giant leap for mankind. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Why should it? In fact, I feel quite the opposite”, she said, looking at her toes.
“I mean, irrespective of any major religion’s origins, look at the potency of the ideas, strength purely from belief, the staying power – you’ve got to respect the fundamental need for religion. The fanatics you talk about – where are they? Them and their likes – their time has gone. We have had two major and modern religions spring up in the last century, haven’t we?”
Neek was agitated: “Isn’t that just a consumerist twist to spirituality – a bazaar where you choose the sizes and colours and designs that fit you?”
“But san”, she said, in a gush, “just because a bunch of aliens showed up and are now in charge of us and knew what we were up to in the past isn’t going to make us humans think we’ve solved the questions of who we are and what we want, is it? We need the scaffolding that religion promises – to hold on to in times of our greatest fears and our deepest loves. Do you think the average human, irrespective of centuries of progress, has been able to do away these emotional crutches?”
“I suppose we do need it. Perhaps we really do. I’m not sure though. But I wish we could tell someone about this”. He looked at the papers in his hands. “About all this. Make them think a little.”
“Do you think two minor members of a subjugated race that worries more about whether Wellstown beats East Aldiss Centre in a game on Saturday, can change anyone’s mind? I want peace, san. I prefer to take my chances with the majority. I’m sorry - all I’m good for is to be part of the herd. I’m satisfied that our grandfather is less of a stranger to us now. But that’s about it.”
Neek thought for a moment. He then lit up a small flame with his lighter. “Shall we do our grandfather the honour?”
END.
