The Face of Heaven: The Realms of Tartarus, Book One by Brian Stableford

Author:Brian Stableford [Stableford, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: science fiction, utopia, post holocaust, adventure, space station
Publisher: Ingram Distribution
Published: 2012-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

Eliot Rypeck was a small, excitable man with an unusual combination of mental proclivities. On the one hand he was a man who could pay excessive attention to trivia (something of a collector’s quirk) and on the other he was one of the few men who had a genuine understanding of the way in which man and the cybernet were potentially capable of establishing a quasi-symbiotic collaborative relationship within the context of mechanized society. Because of this, he was something of a two-sided coin. His determined opposition to the perpetuation of the i-minus project beyond the Plan and into the Millennial society itself reflects the second side of the coin—the basis of this particular conviction was the belief that man should be allowed full scope to adapt himself wholly to the new environment of the cybernet. While the instinct-suppressor was in use, he believed that this could not be achieved.

Rypeck was not expert in any particular field, but with respect to any specific topic which happened to attract his attention he was capable of very rapidly picking out significant factors and gaining a good working understanding of it. His affinity with the cybernet was only a good working relationship after this fashion, but by the standards of the early Millennium it was remarkable.

Heres and Rypeck were natural enemies to some extent The form of their personalities was such that they clashed inevitably over method and manner. Rypeck was an older man than Heres, and became a member of the close council before Heres joined it. Heres would not have permitted a man like Rypeck to be coopted into the council once he became Hegemon, but once a secret is shared, there is no way of taking it back. A member of the close council, once inducted, was a member for life.

It might be argued that it was Rypeck who should have been Hegemon and not Heres. Again, this reflects the difference between their characters. Rypeck would have been a more efficient administrator, but it was Heres who commanded the following. In fact, had their positions been reversed both Rypeck and Heres would probably have found the situation intolerable.

Like Heres, Rypeck was an excellent Hoh player. His basic assumptions and strategies were different, but he worked toward similar ends, and his play was only marginally less masterful than the Hegemon’s. Hoh provided an important touching point for their minds and personalities. It enabled them to get along together. Hoh was important in the lives of both men.

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