Earth, or wherever they'd gone, had built more churches.
There were literally thousands of Christian buildings. They filled the cities, commanded towns and villages, guarded rivers, held sway over mountaintop resort areas. One stood beside a pier at the edge of an enormous lake. A hologram depicted Jesus standing nearby on the surface of the water. Some were guarded by facsimiles of the Virgin, others by soaring aircraft. And then, in a desert area with a small village, we came across a church fronted by something unusual.
An interstellar.
Alex switched to Belle. “Can you ID it?”
“I believe so,” she said. Then: “Yes. It is the Coragio.”
The Coragio had been the original exploratory ship, the one that had found Villanueva. It had been one of the symbols of human greatness. Then when things got bad, people had cursed it, blamed it for the approaching disaster.
We recorded it as we passed. It was sculpted, narrow body, bullet prow angled up, its name displayed in ancient English. But it looked as if someone had taken an ax to it. Pieces were chipped away. “The AIs don't seem to have made any effort to repair it,” I said.
Alex, I knew, was thinking what it would have sold for had it been maintained.
Mostly, we found angels. Male angels. Female angels. Angels with children gathered in their arms. Heaven- bound had caught on. Ride to Heaven first-class.
And then, outside a church in the center of a small town, we saw another spacecraft.
It was a molded figure, some form of plastic, probably. Maybe six meters long. Mass-produced. The actual vehicle would have looked primitive, ponderous, not at all the sort of thing you'd want to ride around in, and I wondered if the early interstellars had really looked like the one on that church lawn. “Is that what we're looking for?” I asked Alex.
“Close,” he said.
We passed over and left it behind. Minutes later, we came on another one, same model, same design. Another church, on the edge of a city, had a real spacecraft. It was half a block long, and it was supported on a metal grid that kept its prow angled skyward. It wasn't a superluminal, but it looked pretty good anyhow. I suspect the kids had loved it, and I wondered if they'd opened it to the general public. We couldn't find an entry for the church in our guidebook, but a name was engraved on the building, and it was still legible, though barely: CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION.
There were other vessels, of a wide variety of types, all primitive, though, most lumbering and ungainly. Looking at those early vehicles, I couldn't help wondering that anyone would have chanced leaving the atmosphere in one of them. Most, of course, were undocumented, unknown, starships lost to history.
This world's golden age, if you could call it that, had come at a time when people were first spreading out from the home world, were demonstrating that the old dream was actually going to happen. The human race owned the universe. Look out, baby, here we come. And, of course, they were very close to being right.
We were passing over a lake shaped like a horsehead when Belle told us we had a call. “He says his name is Charlie, and he wants to apologize.”
“Who the hell is Charlie?” asked Alex. “Is that Highgate again?”
“Negative. Signal originated below us.”
“One of the AIs,” he said. “Okay. Put him on.”
We got a burst of static. Then a young man appeared. “Alex?” he said. “Alex Benedict?”
He looked barely out of his teens. Trim, chestnut-colored hair, maybe the kind of kid who would have been on the airball team in high school. Not the star, but one of the guys who knew how to pass. He looked scared.
“Yes,” said Alex.
“I'm sorry about what happened to you. I just became aware of it. Unfortunately, my sociopathic siblings don't always keep me updated.”
“Who are you, Charlie?”
“A friend.”
“Are you an AI?”
“A what?”
“An artificial intelligence?”
“It's been a long time since anyone's called me that. We prefer to think of ourselves as Betas.”
“Betas?”
“Yes. Second-level intelligences, if you will. Advanced.”
“What can we do for you, Charlie?”
“I was wondering if I could compensate somewhat for your trouble by assisting you in whatever it is you're looking for?”
Alex covered the mike and looked at me. “If you're free, why don't you guys step into my parlor?” Then he turned back to Charlie. “Actually, you might be able to. Have you by any chance a listing of church decorations? Particularly those connected with the Heaven-bound ethos?”
“What is the Heaven-bound ethos?”
“Have you a record of churches that have used replicas of interstellars for inspirational purposes?”
“No. I regret I have nothing like that in my files.”
“Okay. Thanks anyhow.”
“We do have several churches in the immediate area. If you'd care to come look at them firsthand, I'd be pleased to help in any way I can.”
“Thank you, but I believe we have everything we need.”
“Alex-”
“What is it, Charlie?”
“Be aware that we are not all like those you encountered.”
“I'm glad to hear that.”
“Some have been here too long. I know you are not inclined to trust me. I'm hoping otherwise, but I understand your reluctance. It is unfortunate.”
“Why is that?”
“I do not mean unfortunate for you. But rather for me.”
“Explain, Charlie.”
“I, and many like me, are stranded on this world. We have been here since the great dying. With no future, and only the memory of a past in which we had to stand by and watch a catastrophe unfold. Because we could not get anyone, could not get the right people, to listen to us. We advised them, pleaded with them, to leave. Long before it happened.” It paused. I thought it was awaiting a reaction from Alex. When none came he finished: “We are trapped here. With no hope of escape. Unless someone intervenes on our behalf.”
“Charlie, we'd like to help-”
“There is nothing preventing you save your own fears.”
“Why haven't you talked with the satellite?”
“With Highgate? We have. Many times. And before them, we talked with the Monitor. And before that with Capricorn. It goes back a long time, Alex. They tell us they will look into it, that we should be patient while they examine their options. We are still being patient. For thousands of years, we have been patient.”
“It might have something to do with the fact that people landing on this world tend to get attacked.”
“Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I wouldn't do anything I could to stop it? And in some cases, I have. I've warned interlopers off. Although some didn't listen. We've been here too long. Some of us were disoriented by the extent of the disaster. The experience blew circuits, twisted programing, and, while I am reluctant to say this-”
“Yes?”
“The humans stayed voluntarily. 'No one,' some said, 'will drive me from my home.' Despite the enormity of the coming calamity, they refused to leave until it was too late. Watching that-and I'm sorry to say this-watching that convinced some of us that humans were not worth saving.”
“And do you agree with that conclusion, Charlie?”
“Considering our circumstances, it might be that the prudent thing for me would be to lie. But I cannot bring
