Ex Machina - Dayton Ward by Christopher L Bennett

Author:Christopher L Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER ELEVEN

History is written by the victors, true. But another history is whispered by the losers: a quiet, moving target, keeping to the shadows, biding its time until it can rise up into a shout.

—Alexander M. Brack, 2073

TAVERO STROVE to cast out fear as he approached the Fedraysha school. “There is no fear,” Dovraku had told him. “There is no doubt. There is only the One and the Zero. Either you succeed or you fail. Simply choose not to fail me.”

There was nothing Tavero wanted less than to fail Dovraku. He tried to see what he was about to do with the pure clarity Dovraku had shown him. To his shame, doubts still lingered, though he kept the prophet’s counsel in mind. It wasn’t so much that he feared dying. Dovraku had spoken to him of mighty V’Ger, and how He had the power to scan those He deemed worthy and absorb their digital essence into His being. Naturally the Oracle would do the same for His martyrs, for their courage earned them life everlasting in His realm of mathematical perfection. At first Tavero had been puzzled, for what Dovraku asked seemed to negate his earlier promise to provide him with his perfect mate, or mates if he were worthy enough. But of course he had been a fool to think so, lacking the clarity of Dovraku’s thought. “Naturally your ideal mate will be chosen from among the martyrs who have gone before you,” the Great One had told him. “For who else could be worthy of you, after all?” Tavero had seen pictures of some of the martyr women. They were heroes of the People, of course, and most boys found them quite glamorous and exciting. And many were beautiful, too. It thrilled Tavero that he would have his pick of such desirable women while the others had to settle for immature sluts like Ribasi and Semila.

The doubts he had more trouble casting aside were those about the target Dovraku had sent him to destroy—or rather, the timing of the attack. Certainly the Fedraysha schools were founts of blasphemous filth, tools of the oppressor, and needed to be smashed by the fury of the People. Tavero was happy to cleanse Lorina of this one; what hurt was having to do it while people were inside, especially children. “I know it is a grave burden to bear,” the Great One had told him. “These are the hard choices we must make if we wish to cleanse the World of its alien poisons. But remember that they are already lost, their souls corrupted by Fedraysha lies. It is written that those of the People who sin or speak evil will be punished. Not out of cruelty, but out of need, to purge the People of evil before it can spread. They who stray from the Oracle’s will in life redeem themselves in their sacrifice to the good of the People. And you, Tavero, are to be the means of their redemption. You are an Instrument of Obedience, the hand of the Oracle.

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