GODS OF RIVERWORLD by Philip Jose Farmer

“She was an android?” Frigate said.

“Of course.”

“Some of us thought that Nur killed her rather too easily,” Frigate said.

Burton blew out smoke, hoping that he looked more cool than he felt. He said, “I thank you for the explanation. I won’t thank you for the stress, the anxiety and the bloodshed. But, as you say, we had to learn the hard way, and no doubt your intentions were good. However, as you yourself said, it’s not what one thinks, what one’s intentions are, but one’s actions that reveal the true character. Be that as it may, I have a question, perhaps the most important of all!”

He paused, then said, “Do we stay in the tower? Or must we go back to The Valley?”

Loga grinned and said, “What would you like to do?”

“I can’t speak for the others, but I would prefer to stay here.”

The others said they would also like to remain.

“Why?” Loga said.

“For two reasons,” Burton said. “One, life is much more enjoyable for me here—despite the events you caused. It affords me an opportunity to study, to gain knowledge, which I would have given my soul on Earth to have, if I’d thought I had a soul and if someone had made me an offer. It’s also much more luxurious, about as close to Heaven, a physical Heaven, as one could imagine. Two, I think that I am worthy of being here. I have come as close to Going On as I ever will. Sending me back to The Valley would only impoverish and frustrate me and would not raise my ethical level one bit. In fact, it might lower it.”

Loga asked the others if they had similar or different reasons. Their answers were much like Burton’s.

“First, before I tell you what you so evidently are desperate to know, I’ll tell you something else. Burton, when you said that you were as close to Going On as you would ever be, you unconsciously spoke the truth. Your saying that makes me curious. Is there more behind that remark than appears on the surface? Have you some inklings, some suspicions, that… ?”

He smiled and took another sip of the cognac. Burton felt that Loga expected him to expand on his statement. If he did, he was going to be disappointed. Burton had no idea what Loga was hinting at.

“You’ll have to continue,” Burton said. “You were saying… ?”

“Very well. You’ve been told by me and by the Church of Second Chance that, when you’ve attained a certain high level of character and morality, become compassionate and empathetic and free of psychosis and neurosis to a certain degree, then you’ll be ready to Go On. When you die, you won’t be resurrected on the Riverworld again. Your wathan will disappear; it can no longer be caught or detected by our instruments. You have been told that your wathan, or soul, if you prefer that term, goes to God or is absorbed in the Godhead. That, of course, is an explanation that covers ignorance. It was the only explanation that seemed to fit. But …”

He sipped again. His gaze moved over them as if he were anticipating their reaction to his next words. He looked delighted.

“The sad truth is—though I don’t really know if it’s so sad— the sad truth is that no wathans ever disappear, ever Go On! Not as long as the bodies they’ve partnered continue to be resurrected!”

Burton was not as surprised as he should have been. Once, long ago, he had considered that possibility but had rejected it. Alice was shocked; she looked as if she could never again believe anybody. Li Po smiled and stroked his moustache. Frigate’s face was impassive.

Burton thought about the Computer report that such people as Buddha and Jesus Christ had Gone On. Obviously, they had not. The Computer had given false data. Why? Because Loga had ordered it to do so to further the deception.

Burton sighed, and he said, “What is the truth? You will tell the truth this time, won’t you? You’ll pardon me if I’m skeptical. You’ve lied so many times.”