All right. But then you threw in the big one.
You theorize that our planet is imbedded in the interface between the expanding universe and the nothingness it is expanding into, half in and half out, half in one reality, half in another, half continually being destroyed, half continually being created.
Assuming that situation, our planet really can’t be said to have a surface (making Klaus right, damn it!) since the surface is the interface between being and nothingness.
If what you think is true, then we have no surface, but we do have one hell of a cosmological combat zone. I guess I was being too smug too soon about us having no war. Our surface, according to this, is in a state of continuous explosion, leaving no solid-earth surface at the interface. Wormworld is a continually renewing explosion. Where we should have a surface, we have instead a vast number of wavefronts/points which are destroyed by the nothingness of the non-universe ahead of them but are renewed by the somethingness of the universe behind them.
You point out that this situation renders our situation unique, which is to say, paradoxical. Somehow we must imagine our planet engaged at all points with a destructive substance, nothingness. Since no point is free of the onslaught of nothingness, from whence comes renewal, the continual regeneration of Wormworld, and, perhaps, of the entire universe? From within. The within is everywhere, just like the without. The within is the point furthest from the destniction of the surface. Without a within a surface could not be maintained.
You maintain that worms are conditioned to seek outward, since life must express itself outwardly rather than inwardly. This is the direction in which sure death lies.
You think that the way to the unwormholed density of safety and beauty lies inward.
Not too far inward, you point out. Perhaps the very core of Wormworld is crystalline, and that matter expands from it and begins to undergo transformation into organic substance.
Still, an area should exist, you believe, if one could only find a route through all the ancient wormhole mazes, an area that is untouched, virgin territory. In our special situation, the search physically inward would correspond elsewhere to the search outward.
You’ve solved it for me, Robert! But perhaps not quite as you expected. The way out lies inward, you say, and as far as you and your world goes, you may be right. And I wish I could do it, travel inward, into the unwormed interior frontier, Beulah, the promised land.
And I’d like to get as close as I could to that ultimate crystalline perfection, into perfect symmetry, all points, all angles, faces aligned, in the cosmic explosion of the creation of the interior that goes on forever.
But that’s not where I’m going. I’m going outward and upward to where I can inscribe the Great Figure. I know it’s an absurd enterprise, and Jill points out that all I can hope to do is break through the surface and die. She may be right. But I believe a worm should do with his life the greatest deed he can imagine.
I don’t claim to be a hero-worm. I don’t expect to die. I believe that when I break through the surface, nothing is going to end. Nothingness itself will turn out to be just another partial truth, another illusion. As for me, I will be light, all light.
Here ended the communication of Ron the Worm.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
“At the Conference of the Birds” copyright © 1988 by Robert Sheckley.
“The Truth About Atlantis” copyright © 1989 by Robert Sheckley.
“Dial-a-Death” copyright © 1987 by Robert Sheckley.
“Divine Intervention” copyright © 1988 by Robert Sheckley.
“The Eye of Reality” copyright © 1988 by Robert Sheckley.
“Love Song from the Stars” copyright © 1986 by Robert Sheckley.
“Message From Hell” copyright © 1988 by Robert Sheckley. First appeared in Weird Tales.
“The Necessary Thing” copyright © 1954 by Robert Sheckley. First appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine.
“Robotvendor Rex” copyright © 1985 by Robert Sheckley. First appeared in OMNI.
“Sarkanger” copyright © 1982 by Robert Sheckley. First appeared in OMNI.
“There Will Be No War After This One” copyright © 1987 by Robert Sheckley.
“Wormworld” copyright © 1991 by Robert Sheckley.
Copyright © 2014 Estate of Robert Sheckley
978-1-4976-5061-9
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.
Videos, Archival Documents, and New Releases
Sign up for the Open Road Media newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up now at
www.openroadmedia.com/newsletters
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.OPENROADMEDIA.COM
FOLLOW US:
@openroadmedia and
Facebook.com/OpenRoadMedia
Divine Intervention Page 14