3001: The Final Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Author:Arthur C. Clarke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780345423498
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Published: 1998-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

20

Apostate

RECORD POOLE

Hello, Frank... So you've finally met Ted. Yes, you could call him a crank - if you define that as an enthusiast with no sense of humour. But cranks often get that way because they know a Big Truth - can, you hear my capitals?

- and no one will listen... I'm glad you did - and I suggest you take him quite seriously.

You said you were surprised to see a Pope's portrait prominently displayed in Ted's apartment. That would have been his hero, Pius XX - I'm sure I mentioned him to you. Look him up - he's usually called the Impius! It's a fascinating story, and exactly parallels something that happened just before you were born. You must know how Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the Soviet Empire, brought about its dissolution at the end of the twentieth century, by exposing its crimes and excesses.

He didn't intend to go that far - he'd hoped to reform it, but that was no longer possible. We'll never know if Pius XX had the same idea, because he was assassinated by a demented cardinal soon after he'd horrified the world by releasing the secret files of the Inquisition...

The religious were still shaken by the discovery of TMA ZERO only a few decades earlier - that had a great impact on Pius XX, and certainly influenced his actions...

But you still haven't told me how Ted, that old cryptoDeist, thinks you can help him in his search for God. I believe he's still mad at him for hiding so successfully. Better not say I told you that.

On second thoughts, why not?

Love - Indra.

STORE

TRANSMIT

MISS PRINGLE

RECORD

Hello - Indra - I've had another session with Dr. Ted, though I've still not told him just why you think he's angry with God!

But I've had some very interesting arguments - no, dialogues - with him, though he does most of the talking. Never thought I'd get into philosophy again after all these years of engineering. Perhaps I had to go through them first, to appreciate it. Wonder how he'd grade me as a student?

Yesterday I tried this line of approach, to see his reaction. Perhaps it's original, though I doubt it. Thought you'd like to hear it - will be interested in your comments. Here's our discussion -MISS PRINGLE COPY AUDIO 94.

'Surely, Ted, you can't deny that most of the greatest works of human art have been inspired by religious devotion. Doesn't that prove something?'

'Yes - but not in a way that will give much comfort to any believers! From time to time, people amuse themselves making lists of the Biggests and Greatests and Bests - I'm sure that was a popular entertainment in your day.'

'It certainly was.'

'Well, there have been some famous attempts to do this with the arts. Of course such lists can't establish absolute - eternal - values, but they're interesting and show how tastes change from age to age.'

'The last list I saw - it was on the Earth Artnet only a few years ago - was divided into Architecture, Music, Visual Arts.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.