Miracle Visitors by Ian Watson

Author:Ian Watson [Watson, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Michael had drawn it under hypnosis! It was the schematic for the gravitationally propelled space vehicle! The circuit diagram for a UFO!

He read:

FORNEUS a l’apparance d’un monstre de mer, bien qu’il devienne humain si l’opérateur le desire. Il peut enseigner a l’opérateur tous les arts et les sciences. De plus, on peut apprehendre de lui tous les langages.

So the shape that Michael saw on the control panel of his “flying saucer” was really an occult sign for conjuring up some devil called Forneus which looked like a sea monster—though it could change its shape to suit whoever saw it. A devil which could teach all arts and sciences and every known language…

The Sheikh seemed to recede physically, becoming part of the wall, an abstract text. His reality waned. Meaning leaked out of all he had said. An ethereal edifice which had been building in Deacon’s mind dissolved into a mirage in a hostile or, worse still, an indifferent desert. The desert didn’t invent the mirage, the desert simply existed—with the mirage a mere by-product of men’s eyes.

A book of black magic.

Of trashy superstitious spells.

Salim came back. “Please smoke if you wish,” invited Muradi. “Please do.” Salim shook his head firmly, face full of protestations; to win a smile.

A dark wrinkled man of indeterminate age—the servant—followed with a beaten brass tray bearing three cups of aromatic mint tea.

“The answer is that UFOs operate by magic…” The answer was no answer.

This might just, still, be a joke. A teaching joke staged—in all seriousness—by Muradi who saw life permanently from a different angle. Suppose Deacon discounted Salim’s pious avowals that he and Muradi had indeed encountered the Green Man slipping into this reality continuum then out of it again… Could he discount them? Hadn’t Muradi experienced, in his own way, a UFO encounter? He might have done—and still the gift of Le Lemegeton could be a teaching joke, to prove by shock to Deacon that the answer is no answer! Weren’t the Sufis notoriously fond of sending pupils away with apparently idiotic advice—which, years later, would suddenly take on an entirely new meaning, once the pupil’s inner state had changed? Weren’t they notorious for sending fools away with blessings in disguise? Famous for deliberately absurd behaviour? For their shock psychotherapy? The gift of this book could easily be one such absurdity grafted on to whatever had really happened earlier to the Sheikh. Indeed, the Sheikh’s message might be that he had no need to know about UFOs, or about ineffable phenomena—and no capacity either. So he was given a child’s conjuring set, a book of magic spells.

Except…

… that the diagram was exactly the same as the one that Michael saw! So it was genuine. Which meant that the truth was: occult nonsense. Forneus can teach… all human knowledge. Forneus indeed!

“Why should a flying saucer not be he?” Muradi knew; and wouldn’t say!

Bitterly, Deacon slipped the book into his pocket.

“I really should telephone my wife. I ought to have thought sooner. I’m afraid it could cost a bit—”

“A few pounds.

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