Mazzare shrugged. “This is true. But the distinction in that alternative is very great indeed, Cardinal Wadding. For if we were only transported here by Satan, then we are not his constructs at all; we truly are from the future, and the contents of Grantville are an authentic record of it.”
“It is also possible,” persisted Wadding, “that the instincts of every down-timer in this room have been misled, that Satan has created the perfect illusion.”
Mazzare smiled again. “If the cream of the Church’s intellect, as well as the common people, can be so completely duped, then the real miracle is that Satan has not used that skill to triumph long before now. To cite an axiom of my time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, and can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. If Satan had such powers of deception, there would never have been any hope for humanity.”
Vitelleschi waited. When no debate ignited, he lifted his palms, inviting “Any who have questions may ask them.”
Sharon was surprised when Ruy stood. “Learned Eminences, will you allow a poor, ignorant soldier to ask a question?”
Vitelleschi raised an eyebrow. “First, you are none of the things you say, Don Ruy. And second, I did say any who have questions. So ask.”
“Your Eminences, Father-General, you may certainly presume I have made my own determination that Grantville is not a creation of Satan.”
He looked back briefly at Sharon, who was shocked by the sudden gravity of his smile. So this is what Ruy looks like when he is very, very serious.
“And yet,” he continued, “I am not without my reservations. Cardinal Mazzare, you raised the issue of the knowledge that has come to us from Grantville. I have read many of your books. One author-a Swiss by the name of Nietzsche-has, in particular, troubled me.”
Larry’s eyes became very grave. “I’m not surprised.”
“In particular, I am worried by his famous assertion that ‘God is dead.’ I understand that he was not literally claiming that divinity had recently expired, but rather, that God had never existed, except in the human imagination: that the idea of God was how early man explained the inexplicable phenomena that surrounded him.”
Mazzare nodded. “That is as good a summary as I’ve ever heard, Ruy.”
“His Eminence flatters an old soldier’s stunted powers of insight. However, it also seems that this philosopher claimed that Man’s increasing knowledge and command of natural phenomena caused ‘God’s death.’ So I ask you: are we not seeing the beginning of that same process in this world? In short, how long before the majority of down-timers make a chorus with this Nietzsche, saying also that ‘God is dead’?”
Larry Mazzare smiled slowly, fondly, at Ruy. “Ruy Sanchez, you are indeed a wily old soldier. And I freely admit that what you fear could transpire. But it was coming, anyhow; had we not arrived and changed your history, your outcome would have matched our own.
“But I believe that our arrival may have, in fact, changed that. I think that this world may do better than ours did in handling this challenge to faith. The trial came upon us up-timers slowly, and faith decayed inside us over the centuries, like a citadel falling to a long, slow siege. But here, where this century’s eyes of undiminished faith are abruptly shown the natural wonders unveiled by Grantville’s science, I think it likely that those same eyes will see that God is more alive than ever. How much more astounding is the wonder of God’s design when we see the elegant beauty of His handiwork in the microscopic structures of a leaf, a snowflake?”
Ruy nodded. “I have thought-and hoped-this too. Now, we look into a stagnant puddle and discover a teeming universe of animalcules. We look up and discover not a closed system, but an infinity so vast that its size defies the human mind.”
Wadding frowned mightily. “Yes, and the same science that reveals these wonders is also the enabler of oblivion, of ‘atomic weapons,’ as I believe you called them, Cardinal Mazzare. What dark fruit of human hubris could be more pleasing to Satan, whose imprisonment in Hell fills him with burning envy of, and hatred for, the clean, fertile world of our Creator? How elegant and delicious a victory for him if he can tempt man to build weapons that can destroy this lesser Eden, can reduce God’s gift to ashes and ruin.”
Larry Mazzare nodded soberly. “I could not agree with you more, Cardinal Wadding. But science, and the technology that arises from it, is neither good nor evil. It is a lens, whereby the intents and hopes-both noble and petty-of its human wielders are magnified. Therefore, atomic weaponry also poses humankind the ultimate test of self-control, of the triumph of peace and grace over wrath and sin.”
Ruy’s eyes did not leave Mazzare. “As you yourselves successfully demonstrated toward the end of your twentieth century.”
Wadding frowned. “Don Ruy, that was but one crisis averted. The problem with such power, such weapons, is that one mistake is a final mistake. They are like the apple in Eden; they wait, eternally, for human frailty to induce a momentary lapse of reason or resolve-for that is all it takes to undo eternity: a momentary lapse.”
“True, Your Eminence,” nodded Ruy. “But I learned in my catechisms-and again, reading the resolutions that arose out of the Council of Trent-that the Lord our God never permits Satan to tempt or deceive us past our individual capacity to resist. It is a central tenet of the concept of free will, is it not?”
Larry Mazzare could not keep the sudden, bright smile off his face. “Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz, I think it is you who should be doing my job. What do you think, Cardinal Wadding?”
Who was, strangely enough, smiling also. “I think an old soldier has just reminded an old priest how important the simplest truths of our faith are. I am in your debt, Don Ruy.”
Vitelleschi nodded primly. “Are the arguments and questions concluded? Very well. My recommendation to His Holiness are as follow: Cardinal Wadding’s warning that the Devil might have transported the town of Grantville to our time cannot be wholly discounted. However, I find that the arguments supporting the assertion that the whole town is a satanic creation to be well beyond the bounds of credibility. As Cardinal Mazzare points out, the magnitude of such a manifestation as Grantville, both physical and intellectual, far exceed those limits that we understand God to place upon satanic action. Cardinal Mazzare also argues-convincingly-that the arch-fiend stands to lose more from such a florid display of his power than he stands to gain. This does not constitute proof positive, but it does answer all reasonable doubts. Consequently, I hereby inform our Holy Father, Pope Urban VIII, that I can find no valid grounds for declaring Grantville a satanic construct.”
Urban nodded once. “I humbly thank both advocates for their spirited and learned address of the issue.” He raised his chin. “Father-General Vitelleschi, we shall proceed with the further inquiries as soon as it is convenient for you and our esteemed advocates. And I hope that our lay auditors”-he shot an impish glance in the direction of Ruy and Sharon-“shall be able to attend all our sessions, since it seems that, as ever, God sends his most important reminders through the most unexpected messengers.”
Ruy bowed deep thanks and sat.
When Urban looked away, Sharon grabbed his arm and kissed the side of Ruy’s still-serious face.
“To what do I owe the ambrosial drop of Heaven upon my cheek?” he asked.
“Well, why do you think, you wonderful fool?” Sharon hugged his arm. “Because you done good, honey; you done good.”
Giulio burst into the room loudly, as was his wont. “Rombaldo!”
“Yes, Giulio?”
“Valentino’s group-they have found our agents. Or rather, their bodies.”
Unfortunate that they were dead, but the two had been missing for too long for any other outcome to be probable. “Where did Valentino find them?”