Acts of Contrition by Kirsten Beyer

Author:Kirsten Beyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek

Counselor Hugh Cambridge was bored beyond belief. For any student of comparative mythology, a firsthand experience of an alien culture’s religious observations should have been fascinating. The Confederacy’s notions of the Source, however, were simply too new, too young, to touch the deeper mysteries of existence, let alone shed any light on them. These worshippers remained mired in the literal. They accepted without question the existence of the Source and, like Cambridge’s ancient ancestors who believed the sun rose and set around them, saw themselves as the Source’s chosen people.

Someday, he hoped, legions of skeptics would rise to challenge the authority, the very existence, of this Source. For a culture this technologically advanced to retreat from a scientific explanation for the existence of the streams was to willfully court ignorance. Inevitably, someone would be brave enough to question this acceptance, and at that point, assuming they survived the upheavals of religious adolescence, the true spiritual benefits of devotion might finally be open to them.

Faith was not a crime. Blind obedience should be. Too many years wasted in strict adherence to fabricated laws could damn a religion to oblivion. Only those that moved past such things, toward transcendental experiences of individual and communal awareness, had any hope of surviving or guiding their followers toward wisdom. Many humanoid cultures had flourished in the light of such practices. It didn’t make them any more “true” than anyone else’s. The path toward one’s center was irrelevant. But it did bind communities together and, usually, by minimizing internal noise, had the added benefit of forcing people’s attention outward toward the needs of their fellows.

Cambridge was momentarily distracted by movement over his right shoulder. A long line of pregnant women had assembled in the center aisle, and they were making their way slowly toward the stage on which the celebrant spoke.

“You have received the greatest gift the Source can bestow, the gift of new life growing inside you. Every life the Source has blessed us with is essential to its purpose. Every mother, a reflection of its perfection. Enter the ceremonial stream and allow its waters to renew you and the children you will bear.”

One by one, the women descended into a small pool sunk into the stage. They emerged from a stairway at the water’s far end and returned to their seats via the side aisles.

“The Source protects you. The Source gives you strength.”

Does the Source also provide towels? Cambridge wondered, imagining how much more annoying this service would be if he were forced to endure it with soaked feet and pants.

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