The Grand Religion of Peace

"Commander, what is happening up there?!" High up on the Tower ofCommand and Control, the young primus stood by the wall window,talking over the communication channel. The day has dimmed as thering ship drew out the sunlight into a long bright beam in space.
"The firing sequence has engaged, but the ship's bearing hasdeviated by 0.23 percent, Primus."
"What is the cause of this deviation, Ccommander?"
"Unknown as yet, Primus. This ship's technology is so primitive, itcould be anything. We have not had sufficient time to fullytroubleshoot this ship's systems."
"What about the prisoner?"
"The target has been disintegrated from all scopes."
"Excellent commander. Terminate fire sequence and power down theship. You can continue your testing of the ship's system."
"Yes, sir. Powering down main fire system. .... Controls are notbeing acknowledged by the ship's systems. Fire termination sequenceis malfunctioning!"
"Severe the main reactor power!"
"Main reactor power shut down! Shutdown confirmed. .... Mainweapon still on line! The beam is sustaining itself! Control systems are drawing power from the EM field of the beam! Bearingnow at deviation 3 percent from original! She turning out of control!"
"What?! Which way is she turning?!"
"Toward the Galactic Axis North. Now bearing at 7 percent deviationfrom original, delta rate increasing. Now bearing at 10 percent.... 13 percent."
"Shut her down!! Shut down every system!"
".... Computer will not accept input."
"Order all hands to abandon ship, Commander! At least she's turningaway from Andros. We'll let her burn out, and then salvage herlater."
"Sir, all bulkheads are in lock down. None of them are disengaging. We are trapped!! .... Now passing Galactic Axis North...."
Young Primus turned toward the window and looked up. The all visible dark sky display the distant voices unfolding. The brightbeam is turning like a hand of a clock.
"Oh, Great Realms of Andros! She's turning toward the Sun!!" The voice in the comm displayed the growing fear in Primus' heart.
Near the middle of the sky, there is a dark sphere where the sun was. And the beam is turning rapidly toward it. On the day side of the planet Andros, in many domes, many saw thisin the sky. Movements paused. Life paused on the planet. Then, as some nine billion prayers are murmurred, the beam focused into the sun of Alpha Aurelius, and a momentary flash of blind whitelight, then darkness returned.
"Commander. What's happening?! Acknowledge!"
"They are not there to answer you any more." A familiarly calmvoice said from behind.
Primus turned in paranoid and horror, only to find GalenAlec'S'Andros standing on the other side of the control room. Witha flash of reasoning running fast through his mind, Primus tapped abutton on his left armband with his right index finger, and a forcefield surrounded Galen instantly.
"Reason triumphs again." The Primus gloated, his posture restoringalong with his confidence. "You surprised me with this new trick,faking your own death, Undros, but I had been preparing for yousince the very beginning. Now, without your sword, you have nopower to escape."
Galen shook his head. "Who said I want to escape? This is themoment of our faith, Primus. Yours and mine."With unblinking eyes fixed upon Primus from across the room, Galentook an unhurried step forward, and across the force field, as if itwas not even there.
"Not possible!!" The young primus shrunk within and back from Galen.
"Why not, Primus?"
"It's religion, it's superstition! You are disintegrated,vaporized, destroyed, wiped from existence, DEAD!!!"
"All the more reason to allow me to walk through force fields,Primus."
"The dead cannot walk!!!" the Primus cracked in his voice.
"Really?! How many dead have you talked to lately?"
Primus gasped in lack of response, as Galen finally came upon him."...What do you want? What's happening to the Sun? To my men onthe ship?"
"They are with the spirits of our ancestors and God."
"You KILLED THEM!!"
"I did not. It was your destiny that ordain this end."
"They are dead?"
"In a sense, Primus. We all die. This is merely our time, and youare the instrument of it, as I was."
"We all?"
"Yes. This is OUR moment. As we speak, Androsians are moving abovethis all, through the light of our ethos."
"I killed them all!"
"Yes and No, Primus. You had a choice, and a Prophecy. Nothingmore, nothing less."
Below, in the domes, lights are dimming, as automatic sensors invarious rooms lost track of life signs, one by one. As the powersaving circuits kicked in, lights dimmed. Slowly but surely,Androsians were moving above.
"All I wanted, was to finish this war, to end it, for peace."
Galen shook his head again. "That is why I came. To unlearn you ofthis genetic memory of a mistake. The others learned along withyou, but you have the most difficult time with it."
Primus shook his head. "No, I'm not wrong. I refuse your lesson.Peace must be defended sometimes through just War. On that point,we are no different from the Terrans."
"Yes, they too will learn this lesson some day. But time has ranout for you. So I shall try one last time."...
"Primus. Pax Ethos, the code of our past, is what Andros called,the Grand Religion of Peace. Remember?"
"Yes." Primus sat down on the floor, sighing and gasping inexhaustion of his spirit.Galen sat down next to him, like he sat down with others inUndrostadt, like he was another eager student.
"Peace is religion and faith, Primus. War is reason."
"I do not understand."
Galen smiled, "That is a wise answer, filled with hope of betterknowledge in the future, instead of your usual refusal. Thenrecognize that Peace is only possible, if all involved believe init. There is no reason to believe in Peace. Usually, there areplenty of reasons to be paranoid, to suspect, to refuse tounderstand, and thus to engage in conflicts and war."
"...There are always plenty of reasons for Wars. One will never runout of reasons for Wars. And yet there is only ONE good reason forPeace."
"What is that?"
"Hope, Primus. Faith in Peace itself. Recognize then, that thisHope must be a leap of Faith, that it is not true Faith, if itwavers in the face of so many reasons against it. That if youfalter in the hope of peace when you do not believe that others haveno hope. Then it is not the faith of others that you question, butyour own faith and hope....
"Yes, others might not believe in Peace, but you still must."
"Why?"
"Because Peace is Faith, which is God of the Unknown Place. Peaceis Hope, without which, Life is meaningless. Without Hope, there isno reason to see to the future for the better. In this way, Peaceis irrational, yet it is the most rational, because it gives lifemeaning and its one single greatest reason of continuation. War,filled with so many reasons, is thus the most rational, and yet themost irrational of all, because these bread of reasons are onlythere as cheap imitations of Peace, to give us cheap reasons to goon fighting. The wars of control and doctrines are no differentbetween the periods of religions and periods of our reasons.Drayann too came to that realization in the end. Your reasons,without Hope, without Peace, become Religions that have no Hope,existing only for their own sake and their own justifications....
"But sooner or later, the spirits without Hopes will return to theUnknown Place, for renewing of destiny. We are all drawn to it."
"Then why bother to help me to this lesson?"
"Because, the spirit must make a leap of Hope, to relink itself tothe Universe, Primus. Your hope is nearly severed. And what theUniverse cannot link to, must be abandoned."
"Abandoned? To what?"
"Simply disconnected, alone, without Hope. In the dark." Galenturned toward Primus.
Primus looked around, and found darkening around him. "What'shappening?" He thought.
"You never truly believed in Peace, never sought another way toPeace, never opened yourself to the possibilities of Peace. Everyopportunities, you have squandered away in pursuit of your glory andyour pride, in your reasons. That is why you never confronted thepossibilities of this end. What remains, is your own finalchoice." Galen said, his form fading away in the dark.
"Galen? What is the final choice? Galen? Where are you?" As Primus' voice quivered, the lights began to dim in the control room.
"Computer? Lights! Computer?!"
"Computer? Geners!! Anyone?..."
The Planet Andros is dark in every dome. The only lights are the lights of the robots, which continued to run. The Androsian race has moved above, to the far reaching embrace of the Unknown place and a new peace.
The ring ship dimmed its beam slightly, and in its final energetic gasp, gave out a sudden bright flash. And then the beam was extinguished.