A USED POPE
Dreamed Christmas 1983 by Chris Wayan
My friend Rydra has been shopping for a used starship. She comes over yelling excitedly "I found a great bargain! It's an old ship, it doesn't have a standard nav system... Instead it has a genuine used Pope!"
Oh, I've heard about that. The church these days is shrinking--and always broke. So when Popes die, they're flash-frozen and sold, factory-fresh, to discriminating buyers at high prices. Add sensors and a decoding system, and their brains become oracles. Papal infallibility at the push of a button--the ultimate starship navigation tool! Well worth the extra weight of the glass case with a frosty patriarch inside.
Since they're infallible, starship lines hang on to them. Popesicles never go out of style! So, used ones are vanishingly rare. Rydra's a genius to land such a deal. I have to applaud her.
Except deep in my heart I don't like it. Not this particular deal, the whole idea. Call me a Luddite, but personally, I don't trust infallibility. Or, for that matter, cryonics--what if the guy thaws? Uggh! When I go interstellar, give me a nice clean old-fashioned terahertz.
NOTES IN THE MORNING
World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites