The Race for God
Page 33
“Sure. I want to help.”
“As for the ICCC, I don’t know. A new religion is coming into perspective—one that will end all the foolish clashes of ideology. I think I’ll call it . . . Novarianism. It’s a cosmic church that builds no edifices to itself, a church without a priesthood, without a power structure. It’s full of the new humans I want to create, the ones who are pure of heart. They don’t need buildings to pray in, don’t believe in pouring money into structures and then sitting at services once a week. This is money and time misspent, and they should spend each Sabbath doing community work for the poor . . . painting houses and improving structural safety, helping anyone who needs it. Novarians will pray outside, staring into the evening sky. And when they do that, when they do it right, I’ll see to it that one of my biggest stars goes nova in a brilliant burst of color to fill their minds with wonder. It will be a faith these humans have never before imagined! I see a new Heaven and a new D’Urth. . . . The old images will pass away!”
Corona giggled. “A question for McGod, please.”
“Call me Ev. On second thought, better not. McGod is best.”
“I was just thinking of a star I had named after me when I was a little girl. For a fee, my name was printed in the Star Registry. But the damned—uh, sorry—the star went nova. It blew up and I cried for days. I wondered after I grew up, should I have asked for a refund?”
“You’re suggesting I should concern myself with correcting the smallest of wrongs?”
“I don’t know. But if you’re going to blow up a lot of stars, just think of the problems it could cause.”
“I’ll have to think that through,” McGod said, “I know! I’ll create a new star and blow it up within moments, before anyone can name it, before the life forms of planets can grow to depend on it. I’m sure all the instructions are somewhere in the crystal books Tananius-Ofo left me.”
Corona smiled. “Don’t forget communication, darling, for that seems to have been a principal failing of dear old Tananius-Ofo. He passed his messages on to prophets, and in the dissemination process important details were lost in translation or intentionally distorted. At the end, his only hope was probably to combine the various religious stories and try to ‘sell’ them as a new Great Story that included many parts. It would have been a formidable task.”
“You’re right.”
“Don’t forget the Apostles, either—those seven who knew you are heading back to D’Urth at this very moment. But they have no message from on high; you’ve told them virtually nothing. Mark my words, they’ll talk anyway. Some will claim to have been closest to you, and volumes of your pronouncements will be published. They’ll dredge up things you said on D’Urth and aboard Shusher. There will be distortions no matter your efforts.”
“Well, we’ve got some new technological gadgets that old Tananius didn’t have when he started out. He could always use the Big Voice on one or two people at a time, or even a few thousand, but apparently he never had the power or the energy required to speak to trillions simultaneously. Maybe a simple radio or televid in every house, connected to me, and the folks will get straight-skinny from me every morning.”
“Put your hands on the radio,” Corona intoned, “and say I believe, I believe!”
“Smart aleck. Maybe I’ll use a radio receiver that’s implanted in their brains shortly after birth.”
“Sounds like a police state to me. And what about Free Will? You could crush that with your new and improved human. Maybe you’d be intruding too much with those ideas-pardon me for saying so.”
“I’m going to reshape mankind!” McGod exclaimed. “There are tradeoffs!”
“I don’t know,” she said, with a great sigh. “We’ll talk about it, darling.”
McGod thought for a long while, after which he said, “I only want to know one thing, Kelly. Are you after my job?”
Corona smiled sweetly, did not reply.
About the Author
Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers. He has won many literary honors and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a moving biography of his father that was nominated for the Hugo Award. After writing ten DUNE-universe novels with Kevin J. Anderson, the coauthors created their own epic series, HELLHOLE. Brian began his own galaxy-spanning science fiction series in 2006, TIMEWEB. His other acclaimed solo novels include Sidney’s Comet; Sudanna, Sudanna; The Race for God; and Man of Two Worlds (written with Frank Herbert).