The Pillars of Eternity

Mace seemed to have fallen asleep. Ebarak arranged her limbs more comfortably in the deep armchair. ‘You see, the government, including the Cabal itself, has unwittingly become host to a secret occult society, and its beliefs are treasonable. Cere Hebron, the tall fellow in the next room, is Director of this society. He is also Director of the Department of Scientific Affairs.’ He shrugged. ‘I haven’t been able to tell you this before, but we have both, to some extent, been under his protection. I have also been obliged to collaborate with his society in the matter of research into the time-gems.’

‘These treasonable beliefs concern time?’ Boaz asked.

‘Yes. The society’s aims are broadly speaking the same as your own. But the philosophical background is quite different.’

Unseen by Ebarak, Cere Chai Hebron had slipped into the laboratory while he spoke. ‘That is right, Captain Boaz,’ he said quietly. ‘And yet you, I gather, should be able to appreciate that background.’

‘What “philosophy” is it that makes it necessary to kidnap an innocent woman?’ Boaz demanded brusquely.

‘I make no apology,’ Hebron replied, unperturbed. ‘The Great Work is of such magnitude that any act committed in pursuit of it is praiseworthy. As it is, I took your friend so as to gain an insight into your good self, Captain. And I am glad that I did.’

He moved closer, without a glance at Mace. His gaze on Boaz was open and disconcerting. ‘Listen closely, and I will explain our doctrine. We reject that colonnader teaching on the absoluteness of mind-fire. We believe it is not a state of ultimate consciousness, but only a kind of limpid sleep, a clear, calm quiescence. The whole universe is in this state of quiescence, whether in its latent or its manifest phase. Essentially, it consists of the fact that nothing ever changes. The Mirror Theorem proves this. It is what we call predestination. But what does predestination signify? To those of us in the society it merely signifies that existence has not yet evolved true consciousness and will. What consciousness does exist, either as pure mind-fire or as the smaller consciousness that is present in every one of us, is passive and not in command of itself.

‘In this condition, the universe resembles a flower, or some other plant, that blossoms by day and closes up by night, and does nothing more. This opening and closing, of course, symbolizes the manifest and latent stages of the world. So it has been for no one knows how long.

‘But it will not remain so forever. The universe is capable of further development. There is a higher destiny – to evolve a new, more intense consciousness that is not quiescent, but which instead is capable of change and innovation. Only creatures possessing individual consciousness can take this step, and doubtless this is the reason why such creatures – organic creatures – exist. We believe it is man’s specific duty to generate the new consciousness. We are the acme of creation. But we are still conditioned by the material universe. We can, if we choose, become its masters.’

Boaz turned his face away. It was no wonder Hebron was interested in him, he thought. He remembered Gare Romrey. It was more than likely he had disclosed Boaz’s quest under interrogation.

‘You see how closely our ambitions match, Captain,’ Hebron went on. ‘The difference is that you seek only escape. You have not grasped that the goal is rather a glorious new adventure. To create wholly new events! To control time, space and materiality!’ His eyes shone. ‘To become, in a word, gods. That is our future – a future outside the dead time we are used to.

‘And yet if anyone has earned a place in our society, it is you, Captain,’ Hebron added calmly. ‘You see, I have learned all about you from your girl. On Meirjain you met the ibis-headed man, who told you the secret of attaining super-consciousness.’ He gestured. ‘All this technical research is unnecessary. The secret is in the will. If you can descend into hell, and emerge unbroken, you will become a god.’

‘Except that no one could do it,’ Boaz said bitterly.

‘Not even if it is the only way? Think, Boaz. We are a madcap species. Some man, somewhere, must brave that which cannot be faced. Perhaps it will be our society that implements the ibis-headed man’s instructions.’

‘You will not implement it. If you try, you will fail. You could not endure that agony. I could not. No one can, and if either your aim or mine depends on it the cause is lost.’

‘In any case,’ he said after a pause, ‘are you not guilty of a failure of perspective? The universe has spawned millions of species, any of whom might be candidates for this transformation you speak of. More likely than ourselves, for instance, might be the ibis-headed people.’