frond was like a child, and obviously couldn’t be expected to comprehend all the
complexities of speech in an instant. “My task now,” he said to it, making his
phrases short and simple. “Talk to world. Kill all Lifemaker’s enemies.”
“Talk to world means talk to robeings?” the frond asked.
“Yes,” the Enlightener answered.
MOSES’ JOB AT PRESENT—TALKING TO TALOIDS; KILLING HERETICS, the screen informed
Zambendorf.
Zambendorf shook his head. “No! No! Killing each other is not the way. You have
to understand that!”
The screen offered NOT KILLING EACH OTHER IS NOT A GOOD METHOD. HIGHLY PROBABLE
THAT YOU UNDERSTAND.
“Damn,” Zambendorf muttered beneath his breath. “Delete. Substitute: Do not kill
each other. Imperative that you understand.”
(Phrase 1) DO NOT KILL.
(Phrase 2) IMPERATIVE THAT = command?
“Oh hell . . . Delete phrase two,” Zambendorf ordered.
And the frond said, “Thou shall not kill.”
“Clarissa,” Zambendorf called into his radio. “How are you doing in there?”
“Nearly through. Why?”
“Is there any chance Otto can come out here? He’s more used to this damn
transmogrifier thing than I am.”
“I’m done. I’ll be out as soon as I get a helmet on,” Abaquaan’s voice said.
Meanwhile the Enlightener was standing transfixed in wonderment. He had heard
the divine command. But what new wisdom was the Lifemaker revealing? Was His
power so strong and invincible that His faithful need have no fear of enemies?
Were heretics, blasphemers, and unbelievers not to be punished? The Enlightener
stared at the frond in the angel’s hand and puzzled over what the utterance
meant. And then, slowly, his inner eye was opened. What did killing another
robeing signify, apart from brutality and ignorance, and an inability to
persuade by other means? It required no learning or schooling, no discipline and
development of self, no comprehension of worth, or any aspiration to higher
things. The lowest savages in the farthest reaches of the swamplands south of
Serethgin were capable of that. They knew of no other way to settle their
differences.
Truly this was a sacred moment that would be recorded in the Scribings, and this
spot a holy place that would be visited by pilgrims and penitents for all the
twelve-brights that were left to come until the world ended. The moment should
be symbolized by an act that would immortalize it, the Enlightener thought, and
the spot marked as the selected place of the angels’ coming. He looked around
him and saw a smooth, flat rock, obviously placed there to serve his purpose. He
moved over to it, and with the tip of his staff inscribed slowly and solemnly
near the top of the slab the words:
THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
When he had finished he looked up, and saw that a third angel had appeared.
“What more of me does the Lifemaker command?” he asked meekly.
Abaquaan took the transmogrifier from Zambendorf. “He seems pretty impressed by
the message,” he said. “Maybe it’s a new idea to these guys. He wants to know if
you’ve got any more of ’em.”
“They mustn’t believe anyone who tries to tell them they’re worthless or
inferior,” Zambendorf said. “But neither must they believe they are superior to
any of the neighboring nations. All the nations must accept each other as equal
partners and learn to cooperate in building a better future for all.” After some
exchanges with the transmogrifier, Abaquaan had reduced this to something the
machine could accept.
And the frond spoke once more. The Enlightener listened, then added the numeral
1 before his previous inscription and wrote underneath it:
2. THOU ART THY NEIGHBOR’S EQUAL. HELP THY NEIGHBOR, AND THY NEIGHBOR SHALL HELP
THEE.
The Enlightener was being enlightened, as he would bring enlightenment to
others. With just a few simple words, the Lifemaker had opened up a vision of a
whole new world that could come to be, a world in which all robeings everywhere
would prosper and help one another grow strong in a spirit of compassion,
cooperation, tolerance, and understanding. All would be brothers, like Thirg. A
new era would come to pass, in which killing and violence would be renounced and
universal love among robeings would prevail—a stronger, deeper, and more