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We don't know your history, or even your world. But from your memories I can
tell "
"And the Maid! She is thwarted more than I! For her convictions, she paid the
ultimate price. Being crucified could be no worse than what she suffered at
the stake. Light a goodly pipe as I love to do
before her, and her eyes roll with confusion. "
"But that's crucial to who she is, "
"Rational inquiries cannot be carried out in an atmosphere of fear and
intimidation. If our contest is to be
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fair, I implore you, rid us of these terrors that prevent us from speaking our
minds and from encouraging others to speak theirs. Else this debate will be
like a race run with bricks tied to the runners' ankles. "
Madame la Scientiste did not respond at once. "I I'd like to help, but I'm
not sure I can. "
Voltaire spluttered with scorn. "I know enough of your procedures to know you
can comply with my request. "
"That poses no problem, true. But morally, I'm not at liberty to tamper with
the Maid's program at whim.
"
Voltaire stiffened. "1 realize Madame has a low opinion of my philosophy, but
surely "
"Not so! I think the world of you! You have a modern mind, and from the depths
of the dark past
astonishing. I wish the Empire had men like you! But your point of view,
though valid as far as it goes, is limited because of what it leaves out and
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cannot address. "
"My philosophy? It embraces all, a universal view "
"And I work for Artifice Associates and the Preservers, for Mr. Boker. I'm
bound by ethics to give them the Maid they want. Unless I could convince them
to delete the Maid's memory of her martyrdom, I can't do it. And Marq would
have to get permission from the company and the Skeptics to delete yours. He'd
love to, I assure you. His Skeptics are more likely to consent than my
Preservers. It would give you an advantage. "
"I quite agree, " he conceded at once. "Relieving me of my burdens without
ridding the Maid of hers would not be rational or ethical. Neither Locke nor
Newton would approve. "
Madame la Scientiste did not answer at once. "I'll talk to my boss and to
Monsieur Boker, " she said at last. "But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were
you. "
Voltaire smiled wryly and said, "Madame forgets I have no breath to hold. "
10.
The icon flashing on Marq's board stopped just as he entered his office. That
meant Sybyl must have answered it in hers.
Marq bristled with suspicion. They had agreed not to talk to each other's
re-creations alone, though each had already given the other the required
programming to do it. The Maid never initiated communication, which meant the
caller was Voltaire.
How dare Sybyl boot up 'without him! He stormed out of the office to let her
and Voltaire both know exactly what he thought of their conspiring behind his
back. But in the corridor he was besieged by cameras, journalists, and
reporters. It was fifteen minutes before he burst into Sybyl's office and,
sure enough, caught her closeted cozily with Voltaire. She'd reduced him from
wall-sized to human scale.
"You broke our pact!" Marq shouted. "What are you doing? Trying to use his
infatuation with that schizophrenic to make him throw the debate?"
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Sybyl, head buried in her hands, looked up. Her eyes glistened with tears.
Marq felt something in him roll over, but he chose to ignore it. She actually
blew Voltaire a kiss before freezing him.
"I must say, I never thought you'd sink to this. "
"To what?" Sybyl got her face back together and jutted out her jaw. "What's
gotten into your usual jaunty self?"
"What was that all about?"
When he heard, Marq marched back into his office and booted up Voltaire.
Before the image fully formed, color blocks phasing in, he shouted, "The
answer is no!"
"I am sure you have an elaborate syllogism for me, " Voltaire said
sardonically, unfreezing.
Marq had to admit that the sim handled the sudden lurches and disappearances
in its frame-space with aplomb. "Look, " he said evenly, "I want the Rose of
France wilting in her armor the day of the debate. It will remind her of her
inquisition, exactly. She'll start babbling nonsense and reveal to the planet
just how bankrupt Faith without Reason is. "
Voltaire stamped his foot. "Merde alors! We disagree! Never mind me, but I
insist you delete the Maid's memory of her final hours so that her reasoning
will not be compromised as mine so often was by fear of reprisals. "
"Not possible. Boker wanted Faith, he gets all of it. " "Nonsense! Also, I
demand you let me visit her and that odd metis charmant curiosity Garcon in
the cafe at will. I've never known beings like either of them before, and they
are the only society that I now have. "
What about me? Marq thought. Beneath the need to keep this sim in line, he
admired the skinny fellow.
This was a powerful, impressive intellect, but more, the personality came
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through bristling with power.
Voltaire had lived in a rising age. Marq envied that, wanted to be Voltaire's
friend. What about me?
But what he said was, "I don't suppose it's occurred to you that the loser of
the debate will be consigned forever to oblivion. " Voltaire blinked, his face
giving nothing away. "You can't fool me, " Marq said. "I
know you want more than just intellectual immortality. " "I do?"
"That, you already have. You've been re-created. " "I assure you, my
definition of living is more than becoming a pattern of numbers. "
That bothered Marq, but he passed it over for the moment. "Remember, I can
read your mem-space. I
happen to recall that once, when you were well advanced in years, unforced by
your father and of your own free will, you actually received Easter communion.
"
"Ah, but I refused it at the end! All I wanted was to be left to die in
peace!"
"Allow me to quote from your famous poem, 'The Lisbon Earthquake. ' Part of
the ancillary memory-space:
'Sad is the present if no future state, No blissful retribution mortals wait,
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If fate's decrees the thinking being doom
To lose existence in the silent tomb. '"
Voltaire wavered. "True, I said that and with what eloquence! But everyone who
enjoys life longs to extend it. "
"Your only chance at a 'future state' is to win the debate. It's against your
own best interest and we all know how fond you've always been of that! to
delete the Maid's memory of being burned alive. "
Voltaire scowled. Marq could see running indices on his side screen: Basis [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]