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Shortly after Adama's final collapse into truth, I wrote my official report. I dealt in facts. I was not, at that time, greatly interested in what forces made a human tick. I was more interested in meshing cause with effect.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyekE8a2uc
I published my report and many senior members of the Benevolent Order visited the Great Caprica Monastery to interview Adama. He answered their questions eagerly. He spoke about everything and occasionally I had to intervene as he tended to cast the worst light, that is the most self-critical light, upon his own participation in the events. In his way he was still asking for punishment. The wiser brains of the Benevolent Order took note and it was decided that never again would one man be asked to take such awesome responsibility. The Galactica was a one-time-only ship. In the ship's capacity to extend the powers of a fallible man, it came close to making him God. In the hands of a brigand the Galactica could, alone, have devastated the Benevolent Order.
"We must therefore," as the Magister of Assis Central put it, "give thanks that in choosing Adama, we almost chose well. But it is an experiment not to be repeated. It allows vanity too wide a scope."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQsVlDNKy7
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And where is the Galactica now? The mercystar is now a museum, a tourist attraction. It is tethered out from Assis Central in permanent orbit and parties of sightseers are ferried out to it daily. The story of the Galactica has become a myth.
That the ship is a wreck is significant. Because it is a wreck, the imagination is free to wander and guess at its one-time magnificence. Given time, its ordeal may begin to seem heroic rather than tragic. And that will be a loss.
Magister Cain visited the Galactica during his last sabbatical to Assis. He informs me there is a restaurant in what used to be the DME sector and he also told me the food was second to none. Some sections of the ship have apparently been restored such as the dormitory and rejuvenation centers. Others, such as the lobes containing the massive symbol transformation generators, have been gutted and their cells redeployed. The private quarters occupied by Adama are just as he left them right down to his final recorded message. The seed chamber which he ruined is also left as found. Few people visit it as it has an atmosphere of dejection and grief, like a cell for the condemned.
I am told that the museum is well appointed and informative. The one and only journey of the Galactica is clearly documented with pictures and video shows. The part which Adama played in the ship's demise is not, however, emphasized. The implication is that he is dead.
And that is how it should be. The saga of the Galactica is complete unto itself and makes a fitting conclusion to a thoughtful pilgrimage. It would be wrong to contaminate the myth with the flesh and blood of a real man.
But Adama still lives. The events I have described in this yarn occurred some twenty yahrens ago and it is now time for me to place a few last musical notes into my medley.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetPPytdzmA
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After the departure of the investigative cadres from Assis Central, the spotlight of publicity went off Adama. Quickly he became a forgotten man. Physically he was in robust health and so gradually Serpentine withdrew her attention. She had other things to deal with. There were always babies being born. There were always members of the Benevolent Order who needed the deep rest that only the Jadriel Garden can give. There were always Callrine women on pilgrimage who needed Serpentine's help. There were always fractures to set or wounds to dress. Such was Serpentine's work and she felt comfortable with it.
Adama eventually moved out of the little hospital and into a smaller house further around the wall of the garden, closer to the seawall. He lived on in the garden as a kind of pensioner. He could roam at will and help with the gardening when he felt like it.
I also withdrew from Adama. After I had written my official report, I undertook to provide a detailed catalog of the contents of the Galactica. Later Magister Cain needed me. He was into his dotage and thus I became something between amanuensis and handmaid. Maigster Cain finally entered Serpentine's Garden himself after a stroke which left him unable to speak, and he died there within five days. He never saw Adama, though Adama saw him.
A new Magister arrived, one who had been an engineer out in the Blind Man System. His name is Stanif and he is built like a boxer. He spends much of his time down in the maintenance sheds. He has little needs of me and the Great Caprica Monastery more or less runs itself. I have retreated to the library.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajRduOU9fg
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And what of Adama?
It has been my practice for many yahrens now to spend a few centons each week with him. We play a game or we talk. He is still not quite right in the head but there is a kind of glee with him and he is always an interesting companion. I never know what he will come out with. I am like one of those old oregg miners who, so long as there were lights, continued to pan.
Here by way of mosaic pebbles are two anecdotes. I have given them titles. They complete this volume. I must confess that I do not really understand them. But then again, having talked about them with many humans, I am not convinced that anyone else does. I hope you enjoy them.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjaWiDFm78
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1.] ADAMA AND THE GREEN MAN155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBTUFCA8o5
One day Adama was working out at the edge of the orchard at the place where the wild wood comes down to the river. Having worked all morning gathering windfall fruit he felt drowsy and so lay down in the shade and quickly fell asleep.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAM5NnCFKn
He began to dream. In his dreams Adama was always back in the Galactica and in this particular dream he found himself crouched in the darkness deep inside the ship but safe within a small cell of light. For centons Adama had been walking through the deserted ship with only darting shadows for company. Several times he paused unsure of his way and several times he stopped because he believed he could hear someone behind him. Now, tired at last, he had lit his small night light and dowsed his suit lights and had settled down in a corner hoping for sleep. But sleep would not come. He lay awake with his eyes open and eventually, just beyond the small cone of light, he saw movement. A swirl of fabric, he though.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAqiqfSBfN
Now, in the dream he was not afraid. But if such a thing had actually happened on the Galactica he might have been driven out of his wits with fear. In the dream he stood up and called upon whatever presence was near to reveal itself. A light shone out as if at the end of a long, long corridor. Hesitantly a figure advanced toward him. Man or woman, Adama could not say. The figure was clothed in a long gown of green. It was holding a lamp which glittered brilliantly and which was held in such a way that it replaced the face of the figure. Nevertheless, Adama had the impression that the face was damaged in some way.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVu0NBA4QH
The figure came toward him tentatively, as if afraid of him. Adama called encouragement and opened his arms. At moments the shape of the figure was like Ila, at others it was like the first woman he had loved or the prison guard who had loved him or like Adama himself. But the face was always invisible. It came closer and closer....155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCDeRHltV5
And when the brilliance of the approaching lamp became unbearable, Adama woke up and found the sun in his eyes. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was streaming down on his face. He opened his eyes and was dazzled so that he seemed to be in a red haze. At first he did not know whether he was asleep or awake.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJscHPmOV8C
Adama sat up and rubbed his eyes to rid himself of the redness, and when his sight returned it seemed that everything about him was brighter.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtscjdUpsCX
As Adama said when he was recounting this incident to me, "I know something of such states. I can recognize when the apparent world of sense dissolves to reveal a different reality. I was seeing the world of the Nature Gods which can exist in the blackness of space or in a secret grove at midnight or midday. We live in this world but we do not see it for most of our time. It is a world in which, when we see it, everything reflects us. For when we are there we are the Gods of the earth."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gxi4BshFY
I have given you Adama's exact words. Those of you who are able to make something of them are welcome to do so. Objectively I cannot understand them. But I know they meant something to Adama and that is sufficient.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLqt3cwg4t
So the world seemed brighter and Adama found his gaze drawn to a particular tree, a silver oak with leaves that glowed and a trunk that was more vivid than three dimensions. The tree had dense foliage and it moved and jostled in the breeze.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRmgsbouYu
And as Adama stared at the screen of leaves it seemed that he could detect a face. It was a green face and slightly larger than the face of a man but yet not the face of a giant. It was an ugly and dangerous face, with flat cheeks and thick lips. Yet it was also a face filled with primitive vitality. Leaves grew in the nostrils and throat. Leaves sprouted from the temples and drooped over the ears. The eyes were dark and flashing. Unmistakably the figure was that of a man.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2GowKTGWs
As if aware that it had been seen, the figure moved from behind the oak tree and out into the yellow sunlight. It advanced on Adama.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0Inh6hAtz
Adama recognized that he was seeing both the spirit of the silver oak tree and at the same time, for in this state he was a God of Nature, he was seeing an image of himself. That was perhaps most unnerving. He was being confronted with a part of himself that he had lost and never known.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnSA6IbiRE
The green man of leaf and bark, with fingers like roots and rough skin, stood over Adama and then quickly sat down beside him. Adama felt a pain in his back and side and the Green Man rolled into him. It was as natural as a cat catching a bird or a frog jumping.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJ1QsSxhDW
Slowly the brilliance of the world faded but it could never again completely fade. The vegetative side of Adama had come home.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPGnjee8ig
That night Adama did not return to his little house but made a bivouac under the trees of the wild wood. There he discovered that nature can be cruel but never vindictive. He discovered his own cruelty and strength.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiVp5CY7vZ
I quote him once more: "Had I known my own pagan self, I would never have gone chasing socialators like the Galactica."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxXIAq3257
And now, on to the second musical note. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ne5nRmoIz
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2.] ST. DIONYSOS COMES WALKING155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNw2bV2xRfR
One afternoon, Adama was whittling wood, sitting with his back to the screen at the entrance to the garden. He was hoping to catch sight of a Callrine woman who had come to the garden two nights ago and with him he had drunk ambrosa and made love.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqeEoLgAc2
Suddenly he heard a voice. It said, "Hey, you. You with the vacant expression on your face. Give me a hand. I'm not so young these days." Adama glanced about and then chanced to look out through the gate and he saw the old taura-headed figure of St. Dionysos waving to him. The statue had come to life. It waved its arms and the birds and creatures that were perched on his arms shut themselves in fear and flew and scampered away.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JVS3CFt5T
Wondering, Adama climbed to his feet and hurried through the gate and to the foot of the statue. There he offered his two arms raised and the taura-headed one reached down and put his weight on Adama's shoulders and swung to the ground. For a few moments Adama saw into the hard yellow eyes of the taura and felt its hot breath.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzFZ16p3o0
"Thank you," said St. Dionysos. "I've had my eye on you for some time, young man. I thought it was about time we got together. You'll be dying soon, and you've still got a few things to learn. Take my arm and let us walk in the Jadirel Garden."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcP0rK9COeq
Adama did as he was bidden, all the time saying inwardly that this was not happening. And yet, the gate warden came shambling out of his hut and when he saw them he said, "Afternoon, Sire Dionysos. Thank you for the late sunshine and the good harvest." Then turning to Adama he said, "There's a woman left a message with me for you, Mr. Adama. Says she's decided to move on---trusts you will understand."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaN5JMuVwrH
"Sad," said St. Dionysos gripping Adama's arm strongly. "You liked her didn't you? First woman you'd had for some time eh? Ah well. There's a time for standing and a time for being fallow, and you, whether you like it or not, are fallow for the time being." They walked on. "Do you ever think about Ila?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODoTRjsIBe
"Oh, I think about her every day."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSEGoHnRis
"Stop it. She thinks of you but she'll never come back. She couldn't come back if she wanted to. If it helps you in this life, she still loves you. But she won't be beside you in bed tonight. Listen, Adama. True dignity consists in accepting that which cannot be altered. Don't waste your time in dreams. More than that, accept the procession. Watch it from the balcony, enjoy the drums and the passion but do not seek to lead it." The taura-headed God paused. "Do I sound like an old man to you?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdGdAR0kzo
"Yes."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFxVi018mB
"Then that is because you want an old man's advice. But I'm not an old man. I'm as young as discovery. But I'm old too. If it helps you in this life, think what the old tree feels when the sap starts to rise. Think of all the deligh spreading up through miles of branch, giving the blossom power, drawing water from the depth."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iKehKQtcv
"I do not understand," said Adama.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MwLbrW3Se
The taura-headed one snorted. He turned and faced Adam and then pulled at the cords which held his rough tunic closed over his broad chest. The cords loosed and the robe fell open. Revealed were breasts that would not shame the Goddess of Love herself and a rounded belly and broad hips and diving pelvis. "Behold the breasted Dionysos," said the taura-headed one. "Now do you understand?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡan4csj0rWJ
Adama shook his head. The taura snorted again and drew the coarse habit tight about him. "You will."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGaMbahuYY
They came to the river. As the taura-headed God entered the river he changed. He became a small man with sloping shoulders and a bright-eyed eager face reminiscent of a ferret. He stood in the middle of the river with his habit hitched up revealing scrawny hairy legs. "What am I doing now?" he called to Adama who was standing on the bank.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdS6vSyeVi
"You are standing in the river," called Adama, "and you'll catch your death of cold if you don't come out."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCe9TX63p5B
The old man waded to the side of the stream and clambered out awkwardly. He stood on the bank opposite Adama. "And what am I doing now?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUV3TPJLSPK
"You're standing."155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGQzhH3V8Z
"Where?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVA01o4ZYep
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These two stories that I have just related tell a lot about the final state of Adama. I noticed that in his later yahrens he came to spend more and more time mooching around the Pectanile. He was trying to understand it, he said. But I think he was fascinated by the thoughts that it bade rise within him. Its power was that it made him think and fell and discover all the things that were within him. The golden store of truth---the cold face of reality. Solitude and love. I say again Salt and Honey. Dignity before the passing of life. Patience and soaring passion.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXj01nBbj8
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And it was there that we found him, two days after he had been last seen. Quite dead and beginning to smell. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoA1H7WfTw
The gate warden limbered him out of the Pectanile and lowered him down to the smooth wet stone to Serpentine who received him into her cage.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70zOeOYmKO
I was there, swaying beneath the trees and observing everything. I noticed that Adama's face was set in a smile such as I had rarely seen on his face in life. I would like to think it was more than just the rictus.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7AXV4XRkU
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What had he found in the last few moments? Did he see his true image in the Pectanile pool? Did he manage to put his life together and make proper quittance?155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bAQqTq3E1
Did he discover his own green nature?155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi77cfXJzM2
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I hope so.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6XVk2vM5Z
In as much as I can hope for anything.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcChfWEetkj
I abide.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGRZAmQdcA
THE END
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