Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 20

"I wish to hear what the Archbishop has to say. It may further elaborate my dataset on the matter."

"Magistero here will show you out," said Henry, waving a hand as an assistant came running forward. He saw the hesitation on Taylor's face. "Really, Captain. You can be right outside the door. We aren't going to kidnap your lovely friend here."

Taylor looked doubtfully at Pam, but then he nodded.

He let himself be walked outside.

********

Pam came out several minutes later. Her face was blank.

"Pam, are you all right?"

She gave a forced smile. "Of course, Taylor. We can go now." And a second later, they were back at his apartment.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"I gave him what he wanted," said Pam.

"You did?" said Taylor.

"I made him equal," said Pam.

********

Henry Egan suddenly found himself inside a cave. No, a mine. And he was dressed as a miner, and held a laser pick in his hand.

"Hey, you, get back to work!" said a supervisor.

"This is a mistake," said Egan. "I'm the Archbishop of Equality!"

"Oh, pardon me, your lordship," said the supervisor. Someone else laughed. "Now get back to work, or there'll be no supper for you."

*********

The disappearance of Archbishop Henry was taken as a sign, a miracle, that the Equalpocalypse was at hand, the end times when all peoples on the earth would suddenly become equal. Congregants poured into churches to give up all their worldly possessions. People prayed day and night, convinced the end of inequality was at hand. The population was worked into a frenzy-

Until Archbishop Henry, his clothes tattered, and his face caked with dirt, reappeared three days later. That's how long it took him to earn enough money to buy a bus ticket from the mines to get to Sydney.

The Archbishop announced he had had a revelation. The Equalpocalypse had not yet come. But it was coming soon. Everyone had to give to the church to make it happen, and dig deep.

********

"His entire premise was unbalanced," said Pam, watching the holo as she leaned against Taylor's chest. "You humans are entirely unequal. Some have greater abilities, greater motivations, and others have less. How then can you all be equal?"

"It has nothing to do with equality, and everything to do with envy," said Taylor.

"Envy?"

"When people see other people with bigger homes, better air cars, better technology, they feel envious. They want to steal what the other people have, but that's not considered virtuous. So instead they dress it up in terms of inequality. They say people have more because they earned it unfairly. Therefore, it has to be redistributed--taken by force of law, and given to others, who have done nothing to earn it."

Pam thought about that. "It is resource allocation. It sounds a little like Tisson Crae."

"I suppose, in a way it is."

"Except that those who propose it have no conception of Tisson Crae or how to expra it."

"Which is another reason why we have such conflict on our planet," said Taylor. "The Equalitarians are almost as bad as the followers of Aura."

"Aura?"

********

There weren't as many followers of the she-Goddess Aura as there were of the Churches of Equalitarianism. But their numbers were still in the millions.

When Pam appeared, and demonstrated her powers, many members became convinced that Pam was the second coming of Aura. Pam was invited to appear before the College of Cardinals in their main Churchery in San Francisco. Vera Labia, the High Priestess of the Church of Aura, was their host.

Taylor had a distinctively uneasy feeling as he and Pam stood in the Church of the She Goddess, surrounded by their College of Cardinals. It wasn't that he feared for his personal safety, or Pam's; it was just that he felt uncomfortable being surrounded by so many zealots. They had wild looks in their eyes, and their expressions were all of shock and amazement as they stared at Pam. Most of the Cardinals were women, though there were a sprinkling of emasculated and liberated men.

The followers of Aura were anti-technology. They believed that technology and industry were destroying the planet. They subscribed to the unproven theory that factories emitted gases causeing temperature change, the daily fluctuation of temperatures from the morning to the evening which they considered to be unnatural. They claimed, without evidence, that in past centuries the temperature was constant throughout the day, and further claimed, without evidence, that industrialization was causing the temperature to fluctuate during the day. They wanted to deindustrialize the planet.

The followers of Aura were especially critical of the Survey Service. They had been lobbying for years to get it shut down over fears that Survey Service rockets were harming the environment. Taylor felt uncomfortable standing there in his Survey Service uniform, aware of the unfriendly looks he was receiving.

Labia, the High Priestess, welcomed Pam with deep bows, as did the entire Congress of Cardinals. "We are not worthy, we are not worthy, we are not worthy," they all intoned, as they bowed.

"On that we are agreed," Taylor muttered. He thought he saw a hint of a smile from Pam as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

Labia stood up and looked Pam in the eyes for a long moment. Then she said, "It is said in the Holy Book that the She Goddess will return to us one day to right the world of its wrongs. Are you her? Are you the She Goddess, Aura?"

Pam looked at Labia. "No," she said slowly.

The Cardinals gasped.

"It is also said that when the She Goddess returns, that she will at first come in secret, and deny her presence, so she may roam among us undetected and observe us committing our sins. Is that what you are doing?"

"No," said Pam again.

The Cardinals gasped. "It is her!" one of them murmured.

Labia bowed low. "Tell us, oh mighty She-Goddess, what is it you would have us do."

Pam frowned. "Whatever you wish."

"The Goddess is tempting us!" a Cardinal moaned.

Labia looked up at her. "We know we are wicked in our ways. We know we use electricity, and consume products, and live in homes, and eat meat, and other less sinful foods, all of which kills trees and flowers. How can we atone for the murder of trees and flowers?"

"I do not know," said Pam, looking at her curiously.

"The She Goddess challenges us!" said a Cardinal.

"Please, please forgive us," Labia pleaded. "We seek your guidance. We seek your punishment for our sins. Tell us how to make restitution for all your good nature that we have wantonly destroyed with our wicked existence."

Pam looked at Labia for a long moment. "You wish to be punished?"

"Yes!" The Cardinals intoned.

Oh no.

"You wish to make restitution?"

"Yes!" They cried.

"Very well," said Pam, simply.

And then, before Taylor could say a word, they vanished. All of them. Labia and the entire College of Cardinals.

"Where did they go?" Taylor asked. "Where did you send them?"

"Not far," said Pam.

Suddenly, they were in front of the Church of the Goddess, on the expansive front lawn.

"They are here," said Pam.

Taylor looked around. He didn't see anyone. All he saw were trees and flowers.

Trees and flowers he didn't remember seeing when they entered the Church. When they had first entered, it had just been one great big lawn.

"You didn't...."

"I turned them into trees and flowers. I thought they would be happier that way." Pam turned to him. "Do you wish me to change them back?"

Taylor looked at the trees and flowers. He thought about the near constant demonstrations outside of Auburn base from followers of Aura who demanded the Survey Service shut down because they claimed rocket launches were harming the environment. He thought about the pressure they had put on the World Government repeatedly to try to get the Survey Service disbanded.

And then he looked at the trees and flowers again. So peaceful and so very quiet! "No, they look just fine to me," he said.

********

Something was changing.

Pam was becoming more and more desperate for sex. That night, she wore the same skimpy nightgown she always did, made of sheer pink material that was almost see-through. But as they got into bed to go to sleep, she pressed her body against his and kissed him passionately. Taylor, who slept in his underwear, could feel the warmth of her full breasts pressing against his chest.

"Please, Michael, please," she said. "This body cannot delay much longer. This body needs your touch. It is female, and the female body cannot be complete without the male inside of it." She looked into his eyes, silently imploring him.

Taylor was powerfully tempted. Her words were extremely arousing. It was Pam, and she was beautiful, and practically nude, and very willing. But something held him back. "No."

"Please!" she cried again. She reached down and felt him with her hand, tracing her fingers over his explosive growth. "You want it. I can see you want it."

Taylor took her in his arms and said, "This body wants to have sex with you. But this mind does not, and will not, not until you do."

"I... I..." Pam grabbed her head. "I... I think I feel something, Taylor."

Taylor sat up abruptly. "You do?" he said excitedly.

"This body... this body desperately wants to feel your touch, Michael," she said, running her hands over him. He could see her nipples were hard and erect.

"But you, what do you want?" Taylor asked.

"I... I...." she looked desperate. "I think... I think I feel something...."

"What?" he said.

"I...." He could see tears in her eyes. "I do not know."

She was almost sobbing. Taylor took her in his arms.

"Please, Michael, please. I need it so badly," she whispered into his ears, between sobs.

Taylor hugged her tightly. "You're almost there, Pam."

"I am?" she said.

"I can screan it," said Taylor. "You're almost there. You're so close. Just take the last step."

They fell asleep together, in each other's arms.