Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer

Author:Robert J. Sawyer
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Toronto (Ont.), Fiction - Science Fiction, God, Space Opera, General, Science Fiction, Science Fiction - General, Human-alien encounters, Adventure, God - Proof, Life on other planets, Fiction, Science Fiction And Fantasy, English Canadian Novel And Short Story
ISBN: 9780765322890
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2009-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Suddenly the cat was out of the bag.

I hadn’t said a word to anyone about the Merelcas’s mission being, at least in part, to look for God. And I was pretty sure the gorillas in Burundi had been mum on the topic. But all at once, everyone knew.

There was a row of newspaper boxes by the entrance to North York Centre subway station. The headline on today’s Toronto Star said, “Aliens Have Proof of God’s Existence.” The headline on the Globe and Mail proclaimed, “God a Scientific Fact, Say ETs.” The National Post declared, “Universe Had a Creator.” And the Toronto Sun proclaimed just two giant words, filling most of its front page: “God lives!”

Usually I grabbed the Sun for light reading on the way to work, but for in-depth coverage, nothing beats the Mop and Pail; I dropped coins into the gray box and took a copy. And I stood there, in the crisp April air, reading everything above the fold.

A Hindu woman in Brussels had asked Salbanda, the Forhilnor spokesperson who met periodically with the media, the simple, direct question of whether he believes in any gods.

And he’d answered—at length.

And of course, cosmologists all over the planet, including Stephen Hawking and Alan Guth, were quickly interviewed to find out if what the Forhilnor had said made sense.

Religious leaders were jockeying for position. The Vatican—with rather a history of backing the wrong horse in scientific debates—was reserving comment, saying only that the pope would address the issue soon. The Wilayat al-Faqih in Iran denounced the alien’s words. Pat Robertson was calling for more donations, to help his organization study the claims. The moderator of the United Church of Canada embraced the revelations, saying that science and faith were indeed reconcilable. A Hindu leader, whose name, I noted, was spelled two different ways in the same article, declared the alien’s statements to be perfectly compatible with Hindu belief. Meanwhile, the ROM’s own Caleb Jones pointed out, on behalf of CSICOP, that there was no need to read anything mystical or supernatural into any of the Forhilnor’s words.

When I arrived at the ROM, the usual round of UFO nuts had been joined by several different religious groups—some in robes, some holding candles, some chanting, some kneeling in prayer. There were also several police officers, making sure that staff members—including but by no means limited to myself—made it safely into the museum; once the main doors opened for the day, they’d extend the same courtesy to patrons.

Laser-printed leaflets were blowing down the sidewalk; one that caught my eye showed Hollus, or another Forhilnor, with his eyestalks exaggerated to look like a devil’s horns.

I entered the museum and made it up to my office. Hollus wavered into existence a short time later. “I have been thinking about the people who blew up the abortion clinic,” he said. “You said they were religious fundamentalists.”

“Well, one presumes so, yes. They haven’t been caught yet.”

“No smoking gun,” said Hollus.

I smiled. “Exactly.”

“But if they are, as you

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