( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 21 part 2 Saratov stood in the officer's mess, sipping hot water spiked with mild stimulants. In the command center, Lal and the others questioned Morgan, trying to determine quickly the impact his presence might have on the mission, but Saratov cared little about that. He closed his eyes as the hot liquid trickled down his throat, welcoming the respite from the stress of fixing the Unity. The door swung open behind him. He turned to see Miriam crossing the mess to the small metal sink. He watched her splash cool water onto her face. Finally he spoke. "Your faith and psychology will not help us repair this ship, Officer. Perhaps you should save them for the lecture halls." "They can help," she said simply, dabbing her face with a thin white towel. "They are as vital to this mission as your technical readouts and precision instruments." "Are they?" He laughed once. "Shall my engineers join hands and pray the ship to planetside? Can God change the atom?" "God, and faith, can change anything. Indeed, faith is more visible to me than the atom." She lifted one hand. "Faith keeps my hands steady in these troubled times. How about yourself?" Saratov, clutching his hands around his metal cup, looked at her angrily, trying to discern if she knew about the tremble in his hands. "I am steadied by the knowledge that your belief systems are all but extinct." "Perhaps. Yet I see the fear in your own engineer's eyes. Men and women who have science as their religion now know they may die tomorrow. It gives a body perspective." "Meaningless perspective. The atom exists, God does not. You fill their minds with illusions." She looked at him carefully. "My faith exists, for the world would be a different place without it. With faith, my actions are different, my responses to the events of my life are different. With faith, I look at you with calm instead of...pity." "Pity?" He barked a laugh. "Your experiences are all subjective." She toweled her hands dry, considering. "You kill my child. With faith to guide me I take no revenge and my heart heals, without faith I kill you, or spend my life in bitterness. Faith has altered my reality." Miriam turned to face him now, tossing the white towel on the counter between them like a gauntlet. "Show me the atom that will do that." "Lithium," Saratov said, and grinned like a death's head. "I could put chemicals into you that would turn your heart bitter, and destroy your faith." "No you couldn't." Her eyes were calm, defiant. "It is a proven fact. It is scientifically valid. You can not deny it." This time she did not speak, but held his eyes with hers, and he became aware again of the metal cup clenched in his hands. He finally spoke again, in a near whisper. "You can not measure faith. You are atoms, and nothing more. That your configuration of atoms believes in something it calls God means nothing. Your kind, you crusaders, have set back humanity a thousand years or more." She suddenly reached up and grabbed his hands, holding them tightly. He felt the warmth in them, and he felt the tremble in his own hands, and knew she could feel it as well. She closed her eyes. "Your atoms betray you," she said softly, and then released him. "Every struggle you undertake is for a purpose you can not define. Put your own faith in science, because it feels safe. Rescue the ship, because you consider it a grand experiment. Live or die, it changes nothing. God is waiting for you as well as me." "Enough," hissed Saratov, and slammed his metal cup down on the counter. "I have no time for this. Pray or don't pray, the ship will be fixed. And you will thank me for it, Psych Chaplain." He turned and left the room. Miriam watched him go, calm, and then her eyes flickered to the ceiling's white expanse.
Check out Morgan's faction bio. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with opinions about the story! Your thoughts and opinions are much appreciated, and are taken seriously. Next episode will be posted Monday, October 17. |
