Well, son, allowing for the foolishness, which I reckon depends on what port you hail from—ain’t there any one seems better than the rest?
And I reckon you ain’t even looked at that nice book on Vodou.
Nor the Bhagavad Gita? Nor the Avesta, neither?
Now then, Nick, wilt thou not sleep?
I thought certain you’d like them Gnostic Gospels.
What do I tell my boy, then, if he gets the shakes about eternal life?
Mortals might have been contemptible, true, but not evil entirely.
This ain’t any better than the Tao?
You don’t look like revelation has struck you, somehow.
Consigned to everlasting fire,” said Nicholas in a faint voice. He had gone white as chalk.
No, you medieval imbecile!” Edward clenched his fists. You still have no grasp of the truth, have you? Leave your angels and devils in the trash of history, where they belong.”
Has there ever been a revolution that produced something better than what it overthrew? The only thing people learn from being oppressed is how to oppress others!
Why did I never understand…”
That it was vanity?” I said.
Mm, but so much worse… Delusion. Because, the thing is—human progress begins, not with one lone man with a weapon, however heroic. Nor with subtle governments, be they never so altruistic. It begins with a man and his wife in bed… and… how could I ever hope to govern humanity, without having been even that human?
Justice doesn’t exist! We did worse things. Nobody deserves to go to that place, Alec said. Anyway, weren’t you Christian types supposed to forgive everybody?
I will shed no tears for that bastard’s damnation, said Nicholas stonily.
No wonder nobody’s left that believes in your stupid religion, said Alec.
When will you stop this metaphysical nonsense?” said Edward wearily. But I suppose you’ve no other way to look at the matter, born as you were in an age of superstitious piety.”
I looked up at several pockmarks in the nearest wall; if they weren’t bullet holes, the place had damned big hailstones.
They find us outlandish,” Lopez admitted. Extravagant. Eclectic. Unfathomable.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any stranger, I was proven wrong.
The Rogue Cyborg is doing serious Rogue Cyborg stuff. He’s crouched before a data terminal as though it were an ancient altar, and from the look on his face what he’s praying for is desperate and bloody revenge.
I had a productive day, without the distraction of conversation.
Edward has a purpose for us. Ruling the world, I assume.”
He can’t,” says Alec, aghast. That’s what villains do!”
