The Mote in God's Eye

“Aye.” Potter thought. “It happened during the Secession Wars. The war did us great damage, you know. New Scotland remained loyal to the Empire, but New Ireland did not. We were evenly matched. For fifty years or thereabouts we fought each other, until there were nae interstellar ships left and nae contact with the stars at all. Then, in 2870, a ship fell into the system. ‘Twas the Ley Crater, a trading ship converted for war, with a working Langston Field and a hold full of torpedoes. Damaged as she was, she was the most powerful ship in New Caledonia System; we had sunk that low. With her aid we destroyed the New Irish traitors.”

“That was a hundred and fifty years ago. You told it like you lived through it.”

Potter smiled. “We take our history verra personally here.”

“Of course,” said Staley.

“Ye asked for dates,” said Potter. “The university records do no say. Some o’ the computer records were scrambled by war damage, ye know. Something happened to the Eye, that’s sure, but it must have happened late in the war. It would not have made that big an impression, ye ken.”

“Why not? The Face of—the eye is the biggest, brightest thing in your sky.”

Potter smiled without mirth. “Not during the war. I hae read diaries. People hid under the university Langston Field. When they came out they saw the sky as a battlefield, alive with strange lights and the radiations from exploding ships. It was only after the war ended that people began to look at the sky. Then the astronomers tried to study what had happened to the Eye. And then it was that Howard Grote Littlemead was stricken with divine inspiration.”

“He decided that the Face of God was just what it looked like.”

“Aye, that he did. And he convinced many people. Here we are, gentlemen.”

The Church of Him was both imposing and shabby, It was built of quarried stone to withstand the ages, and it had done so; but the stone was worn, sandblasted by storms; there were cracks in the lintel and cornices and elsewhere; initials and obscenities had been carved into the walls with lasers and other tools.

The priest was a tall, round man with a soft, beaten look to him. But he was unexpectedly firm in his refusal to let them in. It did no good when Potter revealed himself as a fellow townsman. The Church of Him and its priests had suffered much at the hands of townsmen.

“Come, let us reason together,” Renner said to him. “You don’t really think we mean to profane anything, do you?”

“Ye are nae believers. What business hae ye here?”

“We only want to see the picture of the Co—of the Face of Him in its glory. Having seen this, we depart. If you won’t let us in, we may be able to force you by going through channels. This is Navy business.”

The priest looked scorn. “This is New Scotland, not one o’ yer primitive colonies wi’ nae government but blasphemin’ Marines. ‘Twould take the Viceroy’s orders to force yer way here. And ye’re but tourists.”

“Have you heard of the alien probe?”

The priest lost some of his assurance. “Aye.”

“We believe it was launched by laser cannon. From the Mote.”

The priest was nonplussed. Then he laughed long and loud. Still laughing, he ushered them in. He would say no word to them, but he led them over the chipped tiles through an entry hail and into the main sanctuary. Then he stood aside to watch their faces.

The Face of Him occupied half the wall. It looked like a huge holograph. The stars around the edge were slightly blurred, as would be the case with a very old holograph. And there was the holograph sense of looking into infinity.

The Eye in that Face blazed pure green, with terrifying intensity. Pure green with a red fleck in it.

“My God!” Staley said, and hastily added, “I don’t mean it the way it sounds. But—the power! It’d take the industrial might of an advanced world to put out that much light from thirty-five light years away!”

“I thought I had remembered it bigger than it was,” Potter whispered.

“Ye see!” the priest crowed. “And ye think that could hae been a natural phenomenon! Well, hae ye seen enough?”

“Yah,” said Renner, and they left.

They stopped outside in the failing sunlight. Renner was shaking his head. “I don’t blame Littlemead a damn bit,” he said. “The wonder is he didn’t convince everyone on the planet.”

“We’re a stubborn lot,” said Potter. “Yon squinting silhouette in the night sky may hae been too obvious, too…”

“Here I am, stupid!” Renner suggested.

“Aye. New Scots dinna like being treated as dullards, not even by Him.”

Remembering the decayed building with its shabby interior, Renner said, “The Church of Him seems to have fallen on evil days since Littlemead saw the light.”

“Aye. In 2902 the light went out. One hundred and fifteen years ago. That event was verra well documented. ‘Twas the end o’ astronomy here until the Empire returned.”

“Did the Mote go out suddenly?”