“Once again, Kioawa tried to climb to his feet. After a full minute, he managed to be upright, but his wounds would not allow him to straighten. ‘Never on my knees before you,’ he said, and again he spat on Tawiskaron.
“The twin God was beyond furious, and the knife in his hand elongated into a saber. He started to swing it in a killing blow, but it struck something solid, and then the world began to press in on Tawiskaron. He was being crushed to the ground by a force that he could neither comprehend nor fight. Both his ankles cracked as he was forced lower, then his knees folded beneath him, the ligaments snapping audibly. His chest was pressed into the solid granite, preventing him from drawing a breath, and then he felt the vertebrae in his spine give way. His chin broke next, and finally everything stopped. He was beyond pain, and he struggled to reassume a more natural, nonmortal form, but the constricting bars of his prison prevented it.
“Kioawa watched as Tawiskaron was contorted before him, not fully understanding. He looked up and found Jed pressing a set of enormous antlers over the twisted body of Tawiskaron. The antlers immediately fused to the underlying stone and then slowly turned to stone themselves. A snort refocused his attention to the enormous elk, who had lost its magnificent set of antlers.
“‘Drink and wash from the stream,’ it said, and Kioawa found that a small stream had formed just past the imprisoned Tawiskaron. ‘Both of you.’ Kioawa dropped once more to the stones and the water began to flow over him. Jed joined him, and the pair greedily drank from the stream, which had begun to grow in size. The washed their wounds, which immediately sealed and then disappeared. Both men found that they could breathe freely and that energy began to flow back into their bodies. After several minutes, Kioawa jumped to his feet and ran to his wife and daughter.
“‘Leave this place and never return. Ever!’ the elk told Jed.
“‘You are Okiwirasch?’ Jed asked, and the elk nodded. ‘But he is your brother.’
“‘And you are my children. Even we are faced with difficult choices.’ He turned and glided away into the now green trees.
“‘We must leave,’ Jed said to Kioawa and his family.
“‘First you must meet Onatah,’ Kioawa said, steering her towards Jed.
“The two stared at each other for a long second and Jed finally presented his hand, which Onatah accepted. ‘I remember you,’ she said softly. ‘And your father.’ Her eyes flicked to the twisted form of Tawiskaron. ‘He hasn’t changed much.’
“Jed held her eyes and thought about what she had said. ‘I sincerely hope that he has.’
3. Ghosts in the Machine
In 1950, Isaac Asimov published a series of nine short stories under the title I,Robot. He reinvents the phrase ‘ghosts in the machine,’ which was originally coined by the British philosopher Gilbert Ryle’s description of René Descartes’ mind-body dualism (thanks Wikipedia). Essentially, it describes the fact that we are really all ghosts locked inside a biologic machine, but this definition has nothing whatsoever to do with what Asimov or the 2004 movie that starred Will Smith. Both book and movie borrowed the phrase and changed its meaning to describe random bits of excess computer code that somehow combine to create consciousness in domestic robots (who then begin to run amok).
Acknowledgments
The Unyielding Future Page 30