Page 54 - Effable Encounters

Good and Dead

“Very good, but not quite good enough. Let us suppose that you
do come to believe, after some interval, that you did indeed die back
there in Shinbark. What then would you conclude?”
“I don’t know.”
“Also a good response. Would you revert to some childish belief
that you were among the elect or the chosen, or that you were such a
good person that you were entitled, rather than anyone else, to attain
this privileged status?”
Robert O. Link came back immediately.
“That’s exactly what it is: an infantile human delusion, one of many
I exploited in my occupation. I am either alive or dead, or so I
thought. Now you are telling me I am both. Paradox does not
frighten me: I recognize it as an illusion, as well, subject to analysis
and resolution.”
“Congratulations, Robert! Dr. Feinfedder’s words came in a rush.
“Just follow mentally my words: as I move they will pull you away
from the exmentator’s field. Those who would not leave it to join
me—or whom I would not take with me—remain near the cave; I
realize now that when the batteries run out, they will be hit with a
shock wave and disintegrate—leaving them good and dead at last,
removed from purgatory. Sorry to play god, but this is serious play: I
couldn’t stand an eternity of their complaints.”

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