Project Pope

First, the galaxy, he thought, and then the universe. First the galaxy, then the universe.

Those others, sitting smug within their restricted orbits, secure in their associations with their triad fellows, had missed the one bet that he had not missed. They had missed because of their misplaced arrogance and their fatal smugness, their failure to recognize a simple truth — that they could be wrong.

Over the mille

Plopper landed directly in front of him and now, instead of plopping off in a new direction, it jumped in place, straight up and down in front of him. Plop, plop, plop it went, going very fast.

Watching it, half hypnotized by the straight up and down, by the steady rhythm of the plopping, he felt the wonder, the never-ending wonder, enter him; he felt the piety, the passion, and the power, all welded together, the piety to the passion and both of them welded to the power. All of the three equally sanctified so that the power was no whit baser than the piety. And gripped by all of this, he thought, marginally, that all was as it should be, that the power was equally sanctified with the piety and passion. That pleased him for it was the power that he cared about. There were those who said that power was evil and the use of it was evil, but that was not so, for those who said it were in error. As they had been in error when they had said there were no gods. Wrong because he had found a god and it was his own — along with Haystack and Decker, it was his very own. In time, it would give the power he needed to carry out his plan. When the time came for him to move, he would hold the power.

Worship me, the god commanded.

So he worshipped it, for that was the bargain he had made with it.

Plop, plop, plop went Plopper.

Fifty-nine

Smoky sat on his dais. Looking at him closely, Te

To one side of Smoky squatted Haystack, more like a haystack than a living creature, with the occasional twinkle of eyes glinting through the hay. Standing on the other side of Smoky was Decker II. Looking at him again, Te

All about the room stood the cones, sinister in their stolid blackness. Functionaries of some sort, Te

Whisperer spoke to Te

— Don't look around, he said, but the equation people have just now arrived.

— Do you have any idea of what is going on? asked Jill.

— I do not, said Whisperer. It is an audience of course, but its purpose I fail to catch. The Bubbly, I am certain, is up to no good, and watch out for the Plopper.

— The Plopper?

— The Plopper is the key.

Decker spoke to Te

'We have been well treated, said Te

The bubbly spoke in his grating guttural tones.

Decker said, 'Smoky says the Duster must go. He has an antipathy to Dusters. He does not want it here.

'You tell the Bubbly, said Te

'I warn you friend, said Decker, 'that this is most unwise.

'Nevertheless, please tell him that the Duster stays. He is one of us.

Decker spoke to the Bubbly and the Bubbly answered, his eyes gleaming out of the cloudy dimple straight at Te

'It is against his wish, said Decker, 'much against his wish, but in the hope of harmony and a fruitful conversation, he concedes the point.

— Mark one up for us, said Jill. He is not so tough.

— Don't kid yourself, said Whisperer.

'I thank you, said Te

The Bubbly spoke again and Decker translated. 'We are glad that you came to us. We are always glad to meet new friends. The Center's aim is to work cooperatively with other life in the galaxy.

'We are glad to be here, Te

The Bubbly spoke, Decker translating, 'It would be proper now for you to tender us your credentials, with a statement of why you came, so kindly, to visit us.

'We have no credentials, said Te

'Then, perhaps, said the Bubbly, 'you would not mind telling how you came to know of us.

'Certainly, said Te

'This one mocks us, Smoky said to Decker. 'He would make sport of us.

'I doubt it, said Decker. 'It is just his way of speaking. He is a rank barbarian.

The Bubbly said to Te

'We were looking around, said Te

— You're pushing it a bit, Jill said to Te

— He's fishing for information, said Te

'Friend, said Decker, 'you are going about this wrong. It would be only common courtesy to give us some straight answers.

— They have not as yet finished the reconstruction of the two of you, said Whisperer. If they had, there would be no questions asked of you. The answers could be gotten from the recreated humans. It seems, however, that this one is in something of a hurry. He does not want to wait for answers.

'I can tell you honestly enough, Te

'You are deliberately making it difficult for me, said Decker. 'You know very well we ca

'What is this all about? grated Smoky. 'Tell me, Decker, what is going on.

'Just a matter of semantics, Decker told him. 'Give me a little time and I'll get it all worked out.

Plop, went Plopper, plop, plop, plop.

'I do not like this, said Haystack. 'Dammit, Decker, there is something going on. Tell us what it is.