Pascale's Wager: Homelands of Heaven

by Anthony Bartlett

  7. MENACE

  Later that morning Danny told his group about the family drama.

  “You would not believe it, unless you'd been there! She was out cold, and I mean cold, I felt her. It was like she’d been on the icefields all night. What was she thinking?”

  “Is she going to be OK?” Esh asked with feeling.

  “Well, Emergency got there as I was leaving. They'll check her out and everything. But, if you ask me, it can't be a coincidence that it happened just after she got involved with that Poll guy. He’s had some sort of bad influence, I swear!”

  “And what would that be?” Wes drawled.

  “What did you say?”

  “He said, that’s not cool,” interpreted Liz, keeping the peace.

  “Yeah, really.” Danny looked at Liz, distracted by another thought, trying to remember what it was.

  “Wait! Didn’t I see you with some strange man earlier? Who was that? He looked kind of different.”

  Liz reddened a little. “Oh, that was Dante. He came from another Sector. He’s cool. He’s interested in swimming.” Then almost as afterthought, “Oh yes, he wants to meet you, Dan.”

  “That’s unusual. Not that he wants to meet me,” he said, grinning shamelessly, “but that he’s from another Sector. Those people only come for the inter-sector competitions.”

  “He said he was observing, something like that,” Liz trailed off.

  “Well he found you pretty quick. I’ll check him out. Don’t want anyone moving in on my girl, do I?”

  Wes who was leaning back in his chair spoke up. “Look who’s coming.”

  Everyone followed his eyes. Making his way toward them in an ungainly but determined fashion was Poll.

  “Oh boy, that’s all we need.” Danny was openly hostile, staring straight ahead. No one else made eye contact. Poll did not seem to notice.

  “Where’s Cal?” he asked abruptly, arriving at the table.

  No one answered.

  “What’s the matter with you? I asked you, where's Cal?”

  “You messed her up, that’s what” Danny shot back.

  “What? You’re not making any sense. Speak plainly!”

  “In words of one syllable, genius, she’s been acting weird ever since she began hanging out with you. She didn’t sleep and almost froze. We had to call Emergency.”

  Poll looked at Danny, but his look went through him and out the other side. “Where is she? I’ve got to see her.”

  “You go anywhere near her and we’ll turn Security on you. You’re a public menace!”

  Poll said, “You don’t understand what’s going on, do you?” He turned and walked away.

  Danny gazed furiously at the retreating figure. “If he goes anywhere near my sister I’ll kill him!”

  Well, he won’t get near her today at least.” Esh tried to calm the situation. “She’ll probably be on medical supervision at home and he’ll never get transport to see her.”

  “Yeah,” Liz joined in. “Don’t worry, Danny, it’ll all blow over. You’ve got to concentrate on the competition this afternoon. You know you’ve a great chance in the 400.”

  Danny brightened. “You're right, I'm bound at least to place. It's going to be soooo cool!”

  ***

  Poll guessed to some extent what had happened to Cal. He already believed she was different from the rest: that is why he sat behind her and tried to get her attention in the first place. She tried not to show it, looking like she was day-dreaming all the time, but there had to be something special going on with her. Her grades were always good and every now and again if you caught her looking you could see that thing, whatever it was, happening: she saw everything in a way other people didn’t. He was powerfully drawn to her, as the only other person anything like him in the Sector. And now he had told her his questions it made sense they would affect her. What kept him going personally was the will to ask questions and to accept the consequences come what may. But that did not stop moments of free-floating anxiety when he had doubted his own mind. Perhaps it was something like this had happened to her. In this sense Danny was probably correct: he was to blame for what happened. At the same time he did not think he had done wrong. He’d seen signs in Cal of the same deep disconnection to everything that he’d experienced. All he’d done was to bring it to the surface, where it could take on real shape and thought. In that way he had helped her be more herself: it was a matter of truth.

  As he exited Dining he thought feverishly of what he should do. He wanted urgently to see Cal, both to support her but he also wanted to hear what she had to say. She might have understood something better than he had and have some answers for him. But going to see her in her TEP was out of the question. Private transport around the sector was severely limited. Such visits were always arranged through the Worship Centers and their Leaders for people with known connections. The only people who knew they had any kind of relationship was Danny and his crew, and they saw him as a cause of her problems not the cure.

  Thinking of the Worship Center reminded him of Cal’s invitation to see her father’s files. Tomorrow was the big 99th day and it was certain that her father would be at the Worship Center getting ready. He decided what he could do. Everyone had a right at any time to request counseling with a Worship Leader. He would contact the Center and arrange an immediate visit, and so be able to talk at least with Cal’s father. He went straight to a Communications Booth and put in a code for counseling at Worship Center Five. The text came up at once: “Transport for Poll Sidak. Main port, four minutes.”

  8. GOD TALK

  Cal had recovered rapidly from her fainting spell, brought on more by the shock of her vision experience than by the cold. Medical Services had placed her on home rest, but she contacted her father on the WIA link and begged him to arrange a transport to the Worship Center. Benn was persuaded she’d come to no harm, and anyway he wanted to question her about what had happened. It was not hard for him to get clearance and by mid-morning she was in the Holo-cast control room.

  “Dad, you know you said that some of the files come from very early in the Homeland's history, not just the world before it. Can you show me where they are? Is it possible to see them?”

  “Why are you suddenly interested in these matters, Cal? What’s happening to you?”

  “I know, Dad, I know. It’s hard for me to explain. But I met this student. He was asking questions about things.”

  “What things?”

  “Well, the Homeland's weather, the Shield, the rest of the earth, things like that.”

  “All these questions are answered by our faith, our story of salvation. You know that, Cal.” Benn spoke with firm religious conviction.

  “But his questions seemed true, and they gave me a kind of hope. Is that wrong?”

  “What happened this morning did not seem hopeful. It caused a lot of anxiety. And I don’t know about this young man. He sounds more disturbed than you. What’s his name?”

  “He’s called Poll, and I’m sorry, Dad, I am. I can’t really explain what happened this morning. It was like one of your Holo-casts except it wasn’t a hologram. I thought I was really seeing it.”

  Benn looked closely at his daughter. A different thought occurred. “Perhaps God gave you a vision. Perhaps he was answering your questions more directly.”

  Cal seized the chance. She knew her father probably anticipated God’s answers in line with everything he already believed, while what she had seen seemed more like fresh questions. But here was the opportunity to put her father’s mind at rest, plus get his help.

  “Yes, perhaps God did. So would you let me look at your Holo-cast files? They might help me understand the things God was showing me.”

  Benn hesitated. “Only theological students are allowed access to those files…”

  “Well, I think I’ve just become a student of theology,” she said.

  Benn smiled at his daughter and softened. He wanted to help her. After al
l that was his job as a Worship Leader, and, who knows, perhaps what she was saying was genuine and this was her path to becoming a Worship Leader herself? All the same he could not hand over the precious tools of his trade without communicating their immense holiness.

  “Cal, all these files come from our distant past, from the depths of our Homeland story. They were recorded during the time the world changed. Nothing can match or replace their importance, the story of the people God raised up to preserve the human race and lead it to its destiny. They are God’s gift to guide us on the road to heaven, a treasury of divine light. They come from the fire of illumination, the holy mystery itself!”

  “I believe that, Dad, perhaps more than you understand. I just want to see that light more clearly, I really do.”

  ***

  Down below in the reception area Poll was having his own introduction to the theology of the Worship Center.

  “You cannot see the chief Worship Leader. That is by appointment only. There are two other spiritual counselors available. You can see one of them.”

  The assistant spoke with a flat voice. The rules were inflexible. Poll looked at her with disgust but tried to keep his voice even.

  “I am a friend of his daughter who has been ill. He will want to see me.”

  “Personal appointments are made through an individual’s place of work or training. You requested an opportunity for counseling. Please take a seat, and someone will be with you shortly.”

  Poll stood back from the booth and looked around. It was a long time since he had been to a Worship Center. Of course he had been many times as a child and had enjoyed the Holo-casts, but once the questions started coming he had stopped. He had preferred the acute boredom of the TEPs to the frustration provoked by the Centers. Now all that frustration welled up inside him. He took another step back and shouted with a harsh, discordant voice.

  “I have questions, serious questions, here in this place. I have the right to speak to someone in authority!”

  At once he got the receptionist’s attention. She was alarmed. There seemed to be no security—evidently this was a place of peace—so Poll pressed his advantage. He got down on his knees and shouted even louder.

  “I have a question to ask God, a really important question, and only a person of religious authority can answer. My question is this: where does all the energy go? What happens to it? That’s my question and I ask God for an answer. I need God to answer!

  His last words rang out with such force they seemed to make the heavy walls of the dome shake. People in the area were startled, looking around uneasily. The receptionist was already on the intercom reporting to the Worship Leader the presence of a disturbed individual. Benn could hear Poll’s voice above that of the receptionist and he was himself shocked. He’d never heard anything quite like this before. Cal heard it too.

  “That’s him, the student I was telling you about, I recognize his voice, and there’s only one person who’d do anything like that, Poll! He’s here for your help!”

  Benn spoke to the assistant. “Tell him I’ll be down at once.”

  Cal sprang from her chair. “I’m coming too. He’s come to see me as well. I know.”

  Benn didn’t argue. He was anxious about the abnormal behavior; it was vital to deal with it promptly. It also seemed a heaven-sent opportunity to evaluate this person’s relationship with his daughter, so having her along was a good thing. They entered a transport idling on the access deck outside his office, and in less than a minute they arrived in the reception area. Poll had been informed of the Worship Leader’s imminent arrival and had fallen silent, but he was still on his knees in the middle of the concourse.

  Benn hurried over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, half lifting him to his feet. The moment Poll saw the man coming toward him with Cal beside him he relaxed. He allowed himself to be led without ceremony to a counseling room there on the concourse.

  “Please sit down, young man,” Benn began. And then to Cal: “I need to see this young man alone for a moment. It's a private counseling. Please wait outside until I call you in.”

  Cal smiled brightly at Poll, nodding meaningfully to him as if she was agreeing with something, while allowing the door to swing shut. All at once Poll felt a glow, a totally new sensation for him. Looking at Cal right now it was as if a cold immobile world had suddenly began to yield. If something had happened to her it was obviously a positive experience, as if she’d gone through something and come out better, stronger. And she seemed to want to communicate something to him, something she knew. He sensed an opening, and she was the key. Somehow she had seen or grasped something important and would now help him unlock the secrets that oppressed him. It was like a light turning on inside his head. He sensed in her, or began to sense, possibilities that went further than all his arguing had ever done.

  “Worship Leader Anders, please let your daughter come in with us, I need to speak to her as well.”

  9. FLIGHT RISK

  At the Sector’s main Sports Center the crowd was on its feet, cheering madly as the competitors surged to the finish line. It wasn’t Danny’s best event and he was trailing in fifth place. All the same his passionate tribe of teenage fans was screaming his name as if he were in the lead. Indeed he emerged from the water like a victor, pumping the air with his fist and looking around in broad triumph. The actual winner was confused, checking the times on the digital display to confirm that he really had come in first. He continued to be frustrated, for a cheer went up as each of the names and times were given, but beginning with Danny who got the most fervent cheer of all.

  The excitement in the Center was unparalleled. It seemed to make the electronic display and the pool itself brighter. Everything shimmered with a special brilliance, more even than the sacred performances could produce. For Danny it was a totally wild feeling and when his name was announced he did a forward flip on the artificial beach surface. He landed on his knees with his hands spread wide, sending his fans ecstatic. The noise was deafening. He caught sight of Esh and Wes high in the stands waving and shouting. At the other end of the pool he could see Liz warming up, her beauty even more striking in the frenzied atmosphere. Suddenly he saw the stranger to whom she had been talking earlier—Dante—very close to him in the crowd. Now he could see him more clearly he thought his face was somehow different from anyone else’s. It did not have the drawn, dull look that everyone who lived in the Homeland took as normal. Danny was instantly attracted to that look. It was something he didn’t have, and he immediately wanted it. The man smiled and made a beckoning motion.

  High in the bleachers Esh and Wes saw Danny walk over to the stranger, but Liz’s race was about to begin and they were distracted. When they looked back Danny and the stranger had disappeared, lost in the frenzy which was erupting all over again. Liz was not only good-looking but she was an excellent athlete. The race was between her and one other girl and they were both way ahead of the field. Danny’s partisans were screaming and chanting for Liz and the excitement they generated infected everyone. In the final two lengths Liz relentlessly drew ahead. She came in three strokes ahead of her rival and emerged from the pool looking like a goddess. Everyone was cheering. Down at the pool edge Danny sprinted over to Liz in her moment of glory. He grabbed her by the hand, speaking animatedly. Very shortly the two of them ran, laughing, from the poolside.

  ***

  In answer to Benn’s indignant query of why he needed to speak with his daughter, Poll began to explain his issues with the Weather Shield and the numbers. He mixed these with vague metaphysical questions, statements of personal unhappiness, and hints that Cal had helped him where nobody had before. If he was able to talk with her, with her father present, then her father would begin to understand. Benn was irritated with the notion that his daughter might have a better grasp on theological issues than he did. He interrupted Poll. To demand an answer from God was disrespectful, and anyway the Holo-casts held the answers to everything. />
  “But that’s exactly wrong, sir. The Holo-casts never explain the overall energy of storms in the planet, and they never say what happens to all the heat produced by the refrigeration.”

  “That’s verging on the blasphemous, young man. I would advise you to be much more careful.”

  Poll glanced bleakly at the Worship Leader. His only hope was Cal.

  “Look, I know something happened to your daughter, but it’s good. She has understood something. You must see that just looking at her. If we can only talk together then I’ll have my answer!”

  Benn was caught. Talking with Poll was like an abyss opening up under his feet. It could get worse. He’d be obliged to take stern measures, something he was loath to do. He’d already admitted to Cal the possibility she had been granted a vision. Perhaps it was true, and she offered the one best hope of bringing this strange youth to his senses. He got up, went over and opened the door to where Cal was sitting in the reception area.

  “Come on, both of you, I want to talk to you in my private office.”

  The three of them took the Bubble back to the Worship Leader’s suite, but the moment they were alone in the transport the two young people could not contain themselves. Benn was helpless to stop them.

  “Tell me what happened, Cal. Tell me everything.”

  “It’s hard to describe what happened. Last night I thought I was losing my mind, basically because I started to agree with you. Then this morning I seemed to be flying, out beyond the borders, into the storm world.”

  “You’re kidding! You went beyond the borders! You penetrated the storm! What was there? What did you see?”

  “I don’t know, Poll, there was a bright light, and warmth, I think. I remember feeling it. Really, I didn’t see anything.”

  “Sure you did, you’re special, Cal. You see stuff other people don't!”

  By this time they were in Benn’s office and there finally he took charge.

  “Please sit down, and remember we’re here because of you, young man. You were asking for help. This is not about my daughter.”