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Poetry, like consciousness, drops the insignificant digits

- Raja Flattery, Shiprecords

SHIP’S WARNING that this could be the end of humankind left Flattery with a sense of emptiness

He stared into the blackness which surrounded hi to find so? What did Ship ?

Last chance

His emotional responses told Flattery he had touched a deep core of affinity with his own kind The thought that in soht be other huht filled him arm affections for such descendants

"Do You really mean this is our last chance?" he asked

"Much as it pains Me" Ship’s response did not surprise him

The words were torn from him: "Why don’t You just tell us how t ?"

"Raj! How ive me!"

"How much would You take?"

"Believe Me Raj, there are places where neither God nor Man dares intervene"

"And You want o down to this planet, put Your question to them, and help them answer Your demand?"

"Would you do that?"

"Could I refuse?"

"I seek choice, Raj, not compulsion or chance Will you accept?"

Flattery thought about this He could refuse Why not? What did he owe thes thes Shipmen, these replay survivors? But they were sufficiently human that he could interbreed with theht about a universe devoid of huht be interestin play Or it ht be one of Ship’s illusions

"Is all this just illusion, Ship?"

"No The flesh exists to feel the things that flesh feels Doubt everything except that"

"I either doubt everything or nothing"

"So be it Will you play despite your doubts?"

"Will You tell me more about this play?"

"If you ask a correct question"

"What role ah of beatific grace "You play the living challenge"

Flattery knew that role Living challenge You made people find the best within theht not suspect they possessed But so the pain of responsibility for such destruction, he wanted to help in his decision but knew he dared not ask directly Perhaps if he learned more about Ship’s plan

"Have You hidden in ame that I should know?"

"Raj!" There was no h his body were a sudden sieve thrust beneath a hot cascade Then, more softly: "I do not steal yourdifferent, a new factor, in this game What else is different?"

"The place of the test possesses a difference so profound it may test you beyond your capacities, Raj"

The many implications of this answer filled hi did not know, things even God or Satan ht learn

Ship ht

"Given that marvelous and perilous condition which you call Time, power can be a weakness"

"Then what’s this profound difference which will test ame which you must discover for yourself"

Flattery saw the pattern of it then: The decision had to be his own Not compulsion It was the difference between choice and chance It was the difference between the precision of a holorecord replay and a brand-new performance where free will dominated And the prize was another chance for humankind The Chaplain/Psychiatrists’ Manual said: "God does not play dice with Man" Obviously, so

"Very well, Ship I’ll gamble with You"

"Excellent! And, Raj - when the dice roll there will be no outside interference to control how they fall"

He found the phraseology of this pro it Instead, he asked: "Where e play?"

"On this planet which I call Pandora A small frivolity"

"I presume Pandora’s box already is open"

"Indeed All the evils that can trouble Mankind have been released"

"I’ve accepted Your request What happens now?"