GODS OF RIVERWORLD by Philip Jose Farmer

“There may be an explanation you haven’t thought of.”

“Hundreds of thousands of minds greater than yours have tried to find another explanation, and they have failed.”

“But one may yet come along who won’t fail.”

“You’re depending upon faith now,” Loga had said.

“No. Upon history, logic and probability.”

Loga had been upset, not because he was beginning to doubt his beliefs but because he feared that Burton would not Go On.

As it had turned out, Loga was not going to Go On. His body-record had been destroyed, and he would no longer have the opportunity to attain that final goal. Yet … it was Loga’s own fault that he did not have that chance now. If he had not set the project on a different course, he would still be alive, and his body-record would insure that he could keep striving for that mysterious event known as Going On.

Was the unknown who had committed Loga to oblivion an Ethical who had somehow survived Loga’s mass slaughter of his fellows? If he was, why didn’t he show himself? Was he afraid of the eight lazari? Was he biding his time until he could kill them and raise them in The Valley where they could no longer interfere with the original design?

Anyone who knew how to input override commands in the computer should not be afraid of the eight. But then perhaps the unknown knew something that the eight did not know yet but might find out. If that were so, the unknown would try to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

However, it was possible that one—or more—of the eight might have made Loga vanish.

Burton was thinking of this when Nur’s head appeared on a wall-screen. “I’d like to speak to you.”

Burton gave the codeword that allowed Nur to see him.

5

“What is it?”

Nur was wearing a green turban, indicating that he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. The choice of color was probably accidental, though, since the little Moor was not one to set store by such things. His long, straight black hair fell from under the cloth onto skinny brown shoulders. His narrow face was intense.

“The inhibit input against resurrecting Monat and all the Ethicals and their agents still holds. I expected that. But something even more momentous has occurred!”

He paused.

Burton said, “Well?”

“You know that Loga told us three weeks ago that he’d told the Computer to start resurrecting the eighteen billion in the records. We all assumed that it had been done. But it’s not so! Apparently, Loga changed his mind for some reason. Perhaps he intended to wait until we were out of the tower. Anyway, not a single person has been resurrected since then.”

The shock silenced Burton for a moment.

When he recovered, he said, “How many bodies are on hold now?”

“As of now, eighteen billion, one million, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine. No. Now … two hundred and seven.”

“I suppose you… ?” Burton said.

Nur, anticipating him, which he did with annoying frequency, said, “Yes. I ascertained that the Computer now has a reinforcing override from the unknown. The hold is still on.”

“Just think,” Burton said, “only three weeks ago we thought that our long hard, struggle was over. That all the big issues were dissolved and our only problems from then on would be personal.”

Nur did not reply.

“Very well. What we must do first is to subject each of us to a truth test. We can’t proceed on the assumption that there is an unknown until we’ve eliminated all of our group.”

“They won’t like it,” Nur said.

“But it’s logical that we do it.”

“Humans don’t like logic when it’s inconvenient or dangerous for them,” Nur said. “However, they’ll submit to the test. They have to to avoid suspicion.”

If not telling a lie was the same as telling the truth, the results of the test were positive. If telling a lie could result in an indication that the truth was being told, the results were negative.

Whether the indications were true or not, the eight seemed to be innocent.