Thomas M. Disch by The Pressure of Time

Author:The Pressure of Time
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-13T15:38:33+00:00

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]ohn’s ruthlessness. The continued toleration of immortals within the Church could only have vitiated its potential as a what-shall-I-say … a rallying-point for th; mortal element. And in this he was successful, as we know. we may judge it a small success, but possibly it was the only one that could have been wrested from the circumstances.”

Emma wrote: The Church victorious.o

Mr. Harness asked: “Are there any questions? char-mianP”

“rt still, you know, doesn’t seem fair. I rnean, most of that eighty percent that got booted out still believed all that stuff, didn’t they? And then just to be told that it didnt make any dlfferenc:e, whether they believed. could th,ey help it they were born immortal?’”

“On that point you would have to consult a ]esuit. The Church’s position is that they could and can help it. We are all, or rather”—and again, and even more devastat-ingly, the lips crumbled—“aou are all heretics. rt’s not essentially different from the notion of original sin.”

“But, I mean! It’s genetics.”

Yes— alasr” said Mr. Harness,

Emma closed her notebook.

‘Emma?”

‘?lease, I have to go to the lav.”

Leaving Mr. Harness’s room, Emma stepped squarely on Charmian Levin’s splendid foot. She could almost feel, in her own foot, the pain she’d caused.

Once, in her first months at the fnverness School, Charmian had been Emma’s best friend, but those days were gone forever. It was fruitless to suppose otherwise. Too much had been said on both sides, and there was no longer a basis for mutual respect.

Nevertheless, she did, bolted in the loo, open Charmian’s note and read it, once, before flushing it down. It was an invitation to dinner that night with Charmian’s family. Arry reply was, of course, unthinkable. Mr. Levin was a business associate of Arthur Schiel, and if Emma’s

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