Killobyte

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: High Tech, Fantasy Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Fantasy Games, Fiction
ISBN: 9780441444250
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1993-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

1011

eleven

PHREAK

Douglas Wannington was a dedicated man. He was a good provider and capable

husband. He believed in his religion, and as the years progressed, so did his

faith. Unfortunately his religion was unorthodox. In fact there were those among

the ignoranti who called it snake worshiping. This was not true. The snakes were

not worshiped, they were regarded as vessels of evil. They were used as an

ultimate test of faith. The believer whose faith was strong enough could handle

a poisonous snake without getting bitten, and if he did get bitten, he could

deny the effect of the toxin.

Each year those who sought advancement in the hierarchy of the religion proved

themselves against the snakes. The snakes were never hurt, but neither were they

tame; they were freshly caught for the purpose, and after the ceremony they were

set free. This was so they could inform their brethren that the minions of evil

were neither feared nor heeded, and that their worst were harmless against the

minions of the true faith.

Douglas had successfully handled the snakes for six years, and he handled them

again this year. But when one rattlesnake made a threatening pass at a novice

worshiper, Douglas lifted it up and demonstrated how not to fear it. How not to

be governed by its malice. He held it stretched across his loosely enclosing

hands, over his head. And the rattlesnake bit him on the forearm.

He set it down gently. "It may strike, but it has no force," he said, and all

were comforted by this demonstration. He declined any treatment; indeed, he

ignored the bite entirely. They completed the ceremony in good order, the others

never realizing how much he was hurting.

Douglas' faith must have been imperfect, because within an hour of the ceremony

he died. There was a hostile outcry from local radicals, and an unkind article

in the local paper, but no member of the church would testify and the case was

written off as an accident.

This misfortune left Douglas' wife Paige in an unkind situation. She was an

intelligent upper-class woman, and reasonably independent, but her husband's

religion had decreed that women should know their place. In the interest of the

first flush of a love that was to weather somewhat in later years, she acceded.

As a result her education had been wasted, and she had focused on homemaking and

volunteer work. Now, abruptly, she had to support the family, and she was not

prepared.

Paige did her best. She took a clerical position, and performed it competently.

She was in line for promotion when news of the earlier fate of her husband

reached the employer. Snake worshiping? No accusation was made, but an unrelated

reason was found to include her in the next layoff. Actually Paige had not cared

for her husband's religion, and had disassociated herself from it the moment he

died, but that seemed not to matter. She was, it seemed, indelibly tainted by

association.

She took another clerical job, the best available. She was a comely woman, and

it turned out that the office manager had hired her with this in mind. The way

was open for rapid advancement, for one who was sufficiently obliging and

discreet. Paige was discreet but not obliging, and the way was then open for

rapid dismissal.

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