Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

They ate the last two packs of compressed food together for lunch, and Dure was almost passed out.Saul and the Consul carried him into the shade on the broad steps of the Sphinx.The priest's face was as pale as his hair. Sol picked up a bottle of water and held it to his mouth, and the priest tried to laugh. "You all accepted the fact of my resurrection without any difficulty." He said, wiping the corners of his mouth with his fingers. The Consul leaned against the stone of the Sphinx behind him. "I've seen the crucifix on Hoyt. Exactly like the one you're wearing now."

"I also believe his story...about your story," Saul said.He handed the water to the consul. Du Lei touched his forehead. "I've been listening to the comlog disks. The stories, including mine, are...unbelievable." "You suspect that some of these stories are untrue?" the Consul asked. "No. But it's a challenge to untangle them all. Find the common elements... the interconnected threads." Saul lifted Rachel to his chest, resting the back of her head in one hand, and rocked her gently. "Must they be connected? Apart from each with the Shrike?"

"Well, yes," Dooley said.A little radiance returned to his face. "This pilgrimage did not happen by chance. It did not happen by your choice." "The selection of participants for this pilgrimage is the result of selection by various institutions," the consul said, "the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council, the Overlord House, and even the Church of the Shrike." Du Lei shook his head. "You are right, but behind these choices there is a common intelligence guiding them, my friends." Sol moved closer. "God?" "Perhaps," Du Lei said, smiling, "but I've been wondering if it's the core...those artificial intelligences that play the mysterious role in this series of events."

The baby makes a soft smacking sound.Sol found him a pacifier, then switched the comlog on his wrist to heart rate.The child clenched his fist, stretched it out again, and pressed it on the scholar's shoulder. "From Braun's story, it can be seen that the members of the inner core are trying to shake the status quo... in the pursuit of their ultimate artificial intelligence plan, and also give humanity a residual chance." The Consul pointed to the cloudless sky. "Everything that happened...our pilgrimage, and even this war...are man-made, arising from internal strife at the core."

"How much do we know about the inner core?" Du Lei asked softly. "Nothing," said the Consul, throwing a pebble at the fine stone carvings to the left of the Sphinx steps, "after all, we really don't know anything." Du Lei got up and wiped his face with a slightly damp cloth. "But their goals are surprisingly aligned with ours." "What target?" Thor asked, still shaking the baby. "Know God," said the priest, "or create God." He squinted down the narrow valley.The shadow of the southwest cliff is gradually moving outward, starting to touch and gradually envelop the tombs. "When I was still in the church, I also participated in the development and research of this idea..."

"I've read your treatise on San Theia," said Saul, "where those writings arguing for the necessity of Omega-divinity-evolution without straying into heresy Astray." "What pie?" asked the Consul. Father Du Lei smiled slightly, "Soccini was an Italian pagan who lived in the sixteenth century AD. His creed...he was also excommunicated for this reason... he believed that God is a being with limited power, who can follow The world...the universe...becomes more complex and learns to grow. I did fall into the Socinian heresy, Saul. That was my first sin."

Thor stared straight at him. "Then what crime did you commit next?" "Besides arrogance?" said Duray, "my greatest sin is tampering with the data excavated in Armaghast for seven years. I expected to find there a relationship between the extinct arcade builders and a kind of primitive Christianity." connection, but that didn't exist, so I fabricated the data. That's the irony, my greatest sin, at least in the eyes of the Church, was the violation of scientific research methods. In the Church's last days, it could Accepts theological heresy, but cannot tolerate any behavior that violates the procedures of scientific research."

"How does the environment in Armagast compare to this?" Thor asked, with a wave of his arm, sweeping across the valley, the tombs, and the desert encroaching on all sides. Du Lei looked around, his eyes suddenly brightened. "The desert, the stones, the smell of death, it's all the same. But this place is far more threatening. Something that should have succumbed to death is still dying." The Consul smiled. "Hopefully we're one of those things. I'm going to drag the comlog to the saddle and see if I can establish a relay connection with the ship's signal."

"Me too," Saul said. "And me." Father Du Lei said, standing up, trying to grab the hand extended by Winterburo, but he staggered and failed to grab it. The ship did not respond to the request.Without the ship, they couldn't relay the signal to the Ousters, the Ring, or anywhere outside of Hyperion with the Transcendence.The normal AC bands are out of order. "Could the ship have been destroyed?" Saul asked the consul. "No. The message was received by it, but it didn't respond. Yueshi is still isolating the spaceship." Thor narrowed his eyes, looking beyond the Gobi to the mountains shimmering in the heat fog.A few kilometers away, the ruins of the City of Poets loomed, a jagged silhouette against the sky. "It's all right," he said, "we've got plenty more, actually."

Paul Dooley laughed, deep and earnest, until he began to cough and had to stop for a drink of water. "What are you laughing at?" the Consul asked. "God of the Machines. What we discussed earlier. I suspect that's the exact reason we're all here. Poor Rayna with the God in the cruciform. Revenant poet, looking for something that will free her personality. You, Thor, wait for the dark god to solve your daughter's terrible problems. The inner core, full of mechanical things, they explore how to create their own gods." The Consul pushed on his sunglasses. "And you, Father?"

Du Lei shook his head. "I waited for the most magnificent mechanical thing in the world, the universe, to create its gods. How much of my writing on San Theia has been born from this simple fact, because I have no in the world today. Find the trace that the creator still exists? My idea is the same as the intelligence at the core of technology. Since it can’t be found elsewhere, it’s better to explore how to create.” Thor looked at the sky. "What kind of god is the Destroyer looking for?" The consul replied, "They are really obsessed with Hyperion. They think it will be the birthplace of a new hope for mankind." "We'd better go down there first," Saul said, shielding Rachel from the sun. "Maybe Braun and Martin will be back before dinner." But they didn't come back before dinner.By sunset, there was still no news of them.Every hour the Consul walked to the entrance of the valley, climbed up a rock, and looked for a while between the dunes and gravel.Nothing was found.If only Kassad had left behind a pair of high-definition binoculars, the consul thought. The sky was getting darker, and before it was dusk, clusters of lights could be seen across the zenith, announcing that there was still a battle going on in the sky.The three sat on the top stone steps of the Sphinx, looking at the brilliant light in the sky, pure white and dark red flowers blooming one after another, and the sudden green or orange stripes left burning images on the retina . "Which side do you think will win?" Saul asked. The consul replied without raising his head, "It doesn't matter. Where do you think other than the Sphinx can we spend the night tonight? Do you want to go to other tombs and wait for them?" "I cannot leave the Sphinx," Thor said, "and if you want to go elsewhere, go ahead." Dooley stroked the baby's cheek.She was concentrating on sucking on the pacifier, her little face pouted under his fingers. "How old is she now, Sol?" "Two days. Almost exactly two days. In Hyperion time at this latitude, her birthday is fifteen minutes after sunrise." "I'll go up for one last look," the Consul said, "and then we'll make a bonfire or something so they can find their way back." The Consul walked up the stairs to the path, and was halfway there when Saul stood up and pointed.Not the dimly lit head of the valley, but another road, winding its way into the shadow of the valley. The Consul stopped as the other two rushed to his side.The Consul reached into his pocket and pulled out the small nerve stunner Kassad had given him a few days earlier.After Lamia and Kassad disappeared, this became their only weapon. "Can you see clearly?" Thor whispered. The emerald tomb glowed faintly, and a figure moved in the nearby darkness.It shouldn't be the Shrike, because the thing doesn't look as big as it does, and it doesn't move as quickly; and it moves at a strange pace...very slow, with a limp and a miss. Father Durley looked back toward the mouth of the valley, and then back again. "Could it be that Martin Silenus entered the valley from that direction?" "Impossible, unless he jumped off the cliff," the Consul whispered, "or circled eight kilometers to the northeast. Besides, he couldn't be Silenas given his height." The figure stopped again, shook a few times, and then fell to the ground.From more than a hundred meters away, he looked like one of the low rocks on the valley floor. "Come on," said the Consul. They still walked at a leisurely pace.The Consul led the way down the stairs, the stunner opened the way, and the range was set at twenty meters, although he knew that the effect on the nerves was the least at this range.Father Durley followed, holding Sol's child in his arms, and the scholar was looking for a small stone to carry with him. Saul came up, carrying a palm-sized rock, and inserted it into the slingshot he had fashioned from the fibrous plastic he had cut from his pack that afternoon. "Ready to repeat?" Du Lei asked. The scholar's face was sunburned darker than his beard. "It's close. Here, I'll hug Rachel." "I quite like hugging her. It's best to let both of you free your hands, and I'm afraid there will be a fight later." Saul nodded and stepped forward quickly, walking side by side with the consul, and the pastor followed a few steps behind with the child in his arms. From fifteen meters away, it was clearly visible that the fallen figure was a tall man - wearing a rough robe, buried face down in the sand. "Stay here," the Consul said, running over.The other two watched as he rolled over the body, put the stunner back in his pocket, and removed a water bottle from his belt. Thor trotted past, feeling exhausted, but the vertigo seemed delightful.Du Lei followed at a slower speed. The pastor approached the light cast by the consul's flashlight. He watched the hood of the fallen man being lifted off, revealing a vague outline of an Asian man. Under the light of the Emerald Tomb and the light of the flashlight, his long face was twisted strangely. "He's a saint," Du Lei said, surprised that there were Muir's followers here. "The faithful voice of the tree," said the Consul, "our first lost pilgrim... Height Masteen."

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