George sheathed his sword, then took off the harness. After shifting things around a bit, he sat on the end of his bed, leaned back against the pack frame. “I am by no means a teacher of religion. But I do share your interest in anthropology, even if I lack your wide, hands-on experience. You may not embrace a faith like mine, but I feel comfortable trying to explain it in academic terms.”
Fortis settled himself somewhat like George.
Looking at the ceiling, George began, “On purely intellectual terms, I assume you are like many out there in the more advanced society of the galaxy. You are aware of religion as a subject of study, without which no man can hope to fathom even a sliver of human nature. Humanity is religious, regardless of whatever word they use to denote a belief in something beyond human ken.”
Looking again at Fortis, “You probably have some vague religious feelings yourself.”
Fortis nodded. He fingered the spare spooler he had been keeping in case there were more significant details worth adding to his initial report.
“I’m going to guess you haven’t really given it much thought, but your reflex is to believe it’s unknown, but only partially unknowable. Belief should meet certain rational guidelines to avoid being a mere delusion. So you probably can respond to religious talk, and you are familiar with the vocabulary.”
“Your intuition is better than mine,” Fortis smiled.
George grinned. “Lots of practice, since all I have is the data from our birds. We understand there are a vast horde of varied religions out there, and plenty of them use variations of ‘Christian’ in the title or it appears in the summary explanation of them. Our religion here is one more. You also are probably aware of the Book, in various versions and translations, as ancient literature. Perhaps you are familiar with a major figure named Noah.”
Fortis nodded, “The guy with the giant boat and all the animals.”
“Quite so. While our religion holds the story contains literal elements, it is largely meant to be read as symbols. The ancient culture which produced the Book is what we attempt to emulate. Noah is associated with a particular set of Laws only vaguely referenced in the pages of the Book, but we know the very detailed laws of another character are a specific application of the more general Code of Noah. You would recognize the second fellow as Moses.”
“Ah, the father of Judaism, and a few other derived religions,” Fortis recalled.
“Exactly. Many religions diverge, then merge again, and it’s all very mixed up. The point is this: We find in our holistic reading of the Book there is a set of standards for human government revealed in the Codes of Noah and Moses. Not so much in the words, as many religions assert, but for us the primary interest is the cultural and intellectual assumptions. That being, as you know, Eastern Mysticism. More precisely, Ancient Near Eastern Mysticism — Early Hebrew Mysticism. The context of the terms are mostly forgotten now, but the labels still work. The entire culture and religion of Misty, while ostensibly Christian, adheres to a fundamental epistemology derived from what we can perceive of the ancient world of Noah, and to some degree, Moses.”
George rolled a bit to one side, resting on his elbow as he gazed through the narrow gap between the curtains over the tent doorway. Fortis said, “But you can’t really teach mysticism.”
George rolled back to face Fortis. “No. We can’t even really call it a way of knowing, but a way of arriving at a decision. The mystics have strong input on the development of the legal code here on Misty. Most of us serve as judicial advisers to Sheiks or their vassals. While the religion is carefully guarded, the most important thing we do is prevent changes to the basic social structure. Agitating for change is a good way to get in serious trouble. When sheiks call out the troops, it is most often to quash that.”
George rose to his feet. With an oddly quite voice and dramatic gestures, “We are so very firm with such things because by mystical means we have concluded it is absolutely necessary. So important, we would destroy the planet before allowing fundamental changes in the tribal feudalism. We can offer rational proof this serves the purpose of reaping the promises of God’s Laws, but that would miss the point. God is sovereign. What He commands, we do, regardless of the costs to us. Whatever comes of it is in our best interest.”
For all his jolly, bubbly energy in the past, Fortis had never seen George quite so lit up. It was not fanaticism, but a quiet passion, an assurance of such depth there were no words. George sat back down, still glowing.
“So, this trip through the forest to the city is tied to this struggle to lay the groundwork for sending missionaries out into the galaxy?” Fortis was surprised at his own question.
George beamed. “Yes.” He patted his palm on the ground between them. “Yes a thousand times.” It was almost a whisper. “You can go your own way any time you like. If you choose to follow me to the city, you will learn far, far more. Not so much in the sense of volumes of data as you did in your professional studies, but a massive depth which will shift the entire universe under you.”
“Rather like the technology of hyperspace which brought me here,” Fortis thought outloud.
“Where do you think that technology came from?”
Fortis shrugged, having never given it much thought.
George went on. “One of the retired technicians of our community who stayed behind on Terra described a conversation he had with the men who developed that drive. They were having trouble with the algorithms, and he suggested they reverse their mental image of it. He was just a lab assistant then, on his first job after getting his degree, but he was a mystic. They laughed him off at first, but later embraced it as the only way to make things work.”
Fortis found himself swimming in vast sea of thought. There were no words, no time, no reality, just himself cast upon a vast sea, alone. He closed his eyes. Perhaps seconds, perhaps minutes or hours passed. Slowly, he realized he was not alone. Not in the sense of George just a meter away, but someone else was in that endless ocean with him. Unseen, but there nonetheless. He knew he would not drown.
How long he had sat thus, he couldn’t guess. A part of him knew when George slipped out of the tent, but it didn’t matter. When at last he opened his eyes again, he realized he was a stranger to himself.
