Part 7 (1/2)
”May I experiment? I confess I am impressed, but I am an incorrigible skeptic.”
”Proceed,” Deacon Brown said. ”We approve of skepticism, in your case. We do not need yet another dedicated cultist.” There was a murmur of agreement, though Brother Paul thought he detected a rueful tinge to it. At least these cultists were not overly sensitive about their situation! Probably they had been chosen to deal with him because they were the least fanatical of their respective sects.
”Then if I may borrow a Tarot deck-” One was handed to him. Though he was usually observant, his fascination with the current proceedings rendered the favor anonymous; he could not afterward recall whose deck he had borrowed. He riffled expertly through the cards, limbering his fingers. There had been a time when-but those days were best forgotten.
This was one of the popular medieval-style versions, with peasants and winged figures and children, rather than the more sophisticated modern designs. In this circ.u.mstance he was glad it was this type; a surrealistic deck could only have complicated an already incredible experience.
”I shall select a card,” Brother Paul said carefully. ”I shall show it to all of you except one. And then that one shall have it and animate it for us, without looking at the rest of you. May I have a volunteer?”
”I will do it,” Deacon Brown said. ”We of Lemuria are always happy to demonstrate the reality of our-” Someone coughed, and he broke off. ”Sorry.
Didn't mean to proselytize.”
The deacon faced away, his bald pate glistening in the dim light from a window.
The storm had brought a nocturnal gloom to the landscape, but now it was easing.
Brother Paul selected the Three of Swords. It was a handsome card with a straight, red-bladed sword in the center enclosed by two ornate and curving scimitars, and a background of colored leaves. Silently he showed it to the others, then pa.s.sed it to the deacon.
In a moment the picture was reproduced with fair accuracy. Three swords and some leaves hung in the air. Brother Paul reached out and touched one of the scimitars-whereupon all three swords fell to the floor with a startling clatter.
There was silence in the hall. Everyone at the other tables was watching now, silently. ”Sorry,” Brother Paul said. ”I fear my ignorant touch interfered.
Allow me to try one more.” Privately he asked himself: if he had been able to accept the presence of Antares during matter transmission, why did he have so much trouble accepting these simple objects? And the answer came to him: because there were witnesses here. He could have imagined Antares; this present phenomenon went beyond imagination.
Brother Paul glanced about. Where were the wand, the cups, the swords? He saw none of them now. Had they vanished into that limbo whence they had come, or had they never really existed? Well, if someone were tricking him, he would have the proof in a moment.
Again he selected a card: the Four of Disks, with its four flowerlike disks, each centered by a four-leafed clover, and an ornate s.h.i.+eld bearing the device IM. After he had shown it around, he pa.s.sed it to the deacon. But, unbeknownst to his audience, he exchanged cards. The actual model was the Ace of Cups.
Now, if the Four of Coins formed, he would know it was ma.s.s hypnosis, for it had to have been compelled by the belief of others. But if the cup formed-!
The cup formed, huge and colorful, with a blue rim, a red lid, and a cross inscribed on its side.
”I think our guest is having a little fun with us,” Reverend Siltz remarked, unamused.
”Merely verifying the origin of the Animation,” Brother Paul said, shaken. ”Do you all see the coin?”
”Cup, not coin,” Siltz said. ”It is controlled by the one who makes it; our expectations are irrelevant.”
Evidently so! And the cup was so large that it could not have been concealed on the deacon's person for a sleight-of-hand manifestation, even had the man been clever enough to work such a trick under Brother Paul's experienced eye. This was a larger challenge than he had antic.i.p.ated. Physical, concrete apparitions, willed consciously into existence!
”Impressive,” Brother Paul admitted. ”Yet you seem to have good control over the situation. I had understood you were quite alarmed by untoward Animations.”
Reverend Siltz smiled grimly. ”We were indeed, at first. But in the past year we have come to know more about these effects. We are a.s.sured of the reality of the Animations; it is G.o.d we have yet to compa.s.s.”
The deacon turned, and his cup faded out. ”Any one of us might Animate G.o.d in his own image, but that would be merely opinion, not reality. It is vital that we know the truth.”
”Yet would I not Animate G.o.d in my own image?” Brother Paul inquired, troubled.
This really was the point Siltz had raised in their private discussion.
”We must trust to your objectivity-and we shall send Watchers with you to a.s.sist,” Reverend Siltz said. He was not giving away any of his private att.i.tude now! Did members of the Second Church Communist play poker? ”They will also try to protect you from untoward manifestations.”
And such manifestations, as had been made clear, could be lethal! ”May I try this myself? Here, now?” Brother Paul asked, feeling a slight s.h.i.+ver within him, as of stage fright.
”Do it quickly, for the storm is pa.s.sing,” Deacon Brown said. ”These effects are erratic at best; this has been an unusually good run. Normally it is necessary to go into the abyss of Northole to obtain such clear Animations. And that is dangerous.”
Brother Paul picked out the first of the Major Arcana: Key Zero, the Fool.
”No!” several voices cried at once.
”Do not attempt to Animate a living man,” Reverend Siltz said, evidently shaken, and his sentiment seemed to be shared by the others. ”This could have unforeseen consequences.”
Brother Paul nodded. So they were not really so blase about the phenomenon! If they had never attempted to Animate a man, they had not experimented very much.
He knew where he had to begin. ”Still, if I am to explore this phenomenon properly, I must be permitted to Animate anything that is in my power-and I would prefer to attempt it first here, under your informed guidance.”
The others exchanged glances of misgiving. They might belong to many opposing religions, but they had a certain unity here! ”Your logic prevails,” Reverend Siltz said heavily. ”If you must do this thing, it is better done here. We shall stand aside.”
Brother Paul sifted through the cards. In this deck, the Fool was t.i.tled Le Mat and garbed as a court jester. Not at all like Waite's interpretation, in which the Fool was a n.o.ble but innocent lad about to step off a cliff, symbolic of man's tremendous potential for aspiration and error. Other versions had a vicious little dog ripping the seat from the Fool's pants, so that his bare b.u.t.tock showed: the height of ridicule. He had seen one variant in which the Fool appeared to be defecating. Probably it was after all best to pa.s.s this one by, this time; to attempt it could indeed be Folly.
Key One was the Magician, or Juggler, performing his cheap tricks at a covered table. At the Order Station, Brother Paul himself was sometimes teased- very gently, of course, since no Brother would deliberately hurt anyone-about his supposed affinity with this card. They knew his background as a one-time cardsharp, and had observed his uncanny proficiency with mechanical things.
Brother Paul accepted such allusions with good spirits, grateful for the camaraderie he had found within the Order after a prior life of-never mind. He preferred to think of himself as Everyman in quest of life's ultimate meanings as symbolized by the objects resting on the table in the Vision Tarot card: a wand, a cup, a sword, and a coin, meaning fire, water, air, and earth respectively in the ubiquitous symbolism of the form. In that version, too, the cosmic lemniscate, or sidewise figure-eight, the symbol of infinity, hovered like a halo above the Magician's head, and about his waist was clasped a serpent devouring its own tail: the worm Ouroborus, a symbol of eternity. All things in all s.p.a.ce and time-that was the grandeur of the concept for which this modern Magician strived. But here in this deck, as a degraded trickster-no, pa.s.s it by also.
Key Two, here t.i.tled Juno. In Roman mythology, Juno was the wife of Jupiter and queen of the G.o.ds, counterpart to the Greek Hera. She was the special protectress of marriage and women. Her bird was the peac.o.c.k, also represented in this card. Here she was a handsome female in a bright red dress, full-bosomed and bare-legged. But such an amazonian figure might not be well-received by this male-dominated a.s.semblage. Pa.s.s her by, regretfully; even in her more common guise as the High Priestess (and the notorious Lady Pope!) she was a questionable choice.
Key Three, the Empress-a more mature and powerful woman than the preceding one.
In many decks, the Priestess was the virginal figure, while the Empress was the mother figure. Here she sat on her throne; in other decks the throne was situated in a field of wheat. Had it really been her he had glimpsed when he emerged from the capsule, only hours ago? If so, he did not want to invoke her here in public. He would prefer to meet her privately, for there was something about her that attracted him. Pa.s.s her by, for now.
Key Four, the Emperor, counterpart to the Empress, symbol of worldly power, seated on his cubic throne, his legs crossed in the figure four, holding in his right hand a scepter in the form of the Egyptian Ankh or Cross of Life, and in his left hand the globe of dominion. He represented the dominance of reason over the emotions, of the conscious over the subconscious mind. Yes, this was a good symbol for this occasion! The card of power.
Though he held the medieval card, what he visualized was the Order of Vision version. The one in the present deck, that he would have to Animate, was a medieval monarch with a great concave s.h.i.+eld a little like the wooden cup used here to guard against the threats of the storm, and a scepter that needed only three p.r.o.ngs added to it to become a trident. The Reverend Siltz could readily serve as a model for this one!
Brother Paul concentrated. He felt ridiculous; maybe he had taken so long to decide on a card because he knew this was an exercise in foolishness. There had to be some trick the colonists knew to make the Animations seem real; obviously he himself could not do it.
Sure enough, nothing happened. Whatever Animation was, it would not work for him. Which meant it was some kind of trick. ”It does not seem to function,” he said with a certain amount of relief.
”Allow me to try; perhaps you only need guidance,” Reverend Siltz said. He took the card and concentrated.
Nothing happened.
”The storm has abated,” Deacon Brown said. ”The Animation effect has pa.s.sed.”
So the power behind Animation had fortuitously moved on. Now nothing could be proved, one way or the other. Brother Paul told himself he should have expected this.