By David Niall Wilson

Prologue:

In the year 2112 A.D., not satisfied with the original product, man took it upon himself to recreate the world in hisown image through the wonders of modern science. Having
completed the work, the survivors stood back and looked upon what they had wrought. It was decidedly not good.

Amidst a great wailing and gnashing of teeth, the remnants of humanity banded together under the wisest and oldest leaders left to them, knowing nothing else to do. Thinking it right, they set out once more on the long, hard road to civilization.

* * *

In the High Council Chamber of Charnel, on the coast of The Sizzling Sea, all was not well. Not that any disaster had fallen, nor any plague; all was actually occurring much as normal. FELIX, however, was silent. Such a thing had not been known for over twenty decades. It had been so long, in fact, since he had failed to respond to their questions, that the elders were quite unsure of the proper ritual to revive him. So great was the concern that a Grand Council had been called.

As was his way, FELIX continued with whatever he was about without concern for the happenings around him. The elders made great show of their knowledge of his ways, but no one was fooled. FELIX took care of himself. If there were something he needed done, he would map it out in simple, ritualistic form, and the elders would perform it with great, pompous furor, completely ignorant of the importance of their actions. In any case, FELIX was ignoring their queries, and they were not pleased.

Even when the combined voices of the twenty_two elders rose in communal prayer, he continued his silence, unperturbed, much to their consternation. Every known ritual, including some new ones contrived on the spot, was tried. All failed. FELIX, apparently,
was leaving the world to sort its own troubles for a time. What a catastrophe!

Finally, on a bright sunny morning, eighteen days into the fast of the elders, the green LED. above FELIX’s voice portal popped on, and he spoke, accompanied by claps and sighs of wonder.

“Greetings,” came the mechanical, nasal voice. All shuddered in relief.

“I have broken my silence to announce a grand project. Brother Martin,” all eyes turned to the elder named, a small, nervous, rodent_like man, “has asked me a profound question. I have searched my memory, and I have found his answer. I am presently
completing all the necessary arrangements to test this answer. I find that it is fascinating on many levels, and it will require my undivided attention. Do not disturb me for the next…18 years. Thank you.”

The green LED winked out, leaving the gathered elders in shocked silence.

“For this we fasted eighteen days?” asked Auldass, eldest of the company and slightly on the portly side. “What project could be of greater importance than the affairs of our people?”

Silence, illumined by FELIX’s constantly blinking lights, was his only answer. The green LED. was not among the blinking lights. Suddenly there was a hiss of escaping air.

The two chrome doors behind the altar slid slowly to the sides. Revealed lay the rest of FELIX’s answer. On a small metal base, held by robotic arms and run in and about with strange tubes and liquids, was a beaker. Inside lay what appeared to be a human fetus. The doors slid quietly shut again, and the silence cloaked them once more.

When the initial shock had passed, all eyes turned to Brother Martin. Martin was a timid man, not used to being the center of attention. As the congregated elders focused on him,
sweat beaded on his too_thin face and his eyes bulged. Just as Auldass began to form the question that was waiting in the air, Martin gave a cry and pitched forward on his face. He lay very, very still. You see, Martin had also been the victim of a weak heart. Now he was dead.

All watched hopefully as those nearby poked and prodded the prone elder, but all they were rewarded with was a few final twitches and a final passing of gas. No, all was not well in the House of Charnel, not well at all.

Months dragged on into years, and gradually the elders of Charnel began to accept the unwanted burden of responsibility that had been thrust upon them. Problems still existed, and most would not wait eighteen years, regardless of the annoyance this might cause. Half_hearted rituals were continued for some time in an effort to gain FELIX’s attention, but all knew it to be futile. FELIX was the epitome of obstinance. He would, if he was inclined to do so, remain involved in his private project for eighteen years, as he said, even were the civilization about him to wither and disappear. He was not, in some ways, a very benevolent patron.

Eventually the guard around the temple itself eroded. As more and more of the decisions were made without the backing of FELIX’s iron_clad logic, less time was spent in his presence.
The affairs of the world pressed them to greater and greater tasks, until, at last, none but an aged custodian, Auldass, former elder, remained to tend to FELIX’s needs.

After an entire lifetime of service as a “Mouth of FELIX,” he was not prepared to accept the changes taking place around him. He much preferred the metallic walls and blinking lights to the chores of making decisions and ruling men. He remained diligent in the ritual they had once performed as a group, the one known as “Main_ten_ance,” and he was content that none bothered him or gainsaid his right to this duty. Indeed, few took any notice of him, or of FELIX, now that the years of silence had grown so long.

It came to pass that, at the end of the eighteen year period, only a very old and mostly senile Auldass was present when next the long_dimmed LED flashed on and the voice rang out to the empty chamber.

“It is done. Take my creation, my answer, to the world.” Felix’s triumphant, if somewhat mechanical voice startled the old man, causing him to jump further in the air than one would have believed possible.

The portals slid back, and Auldass was confronted by a young man, clad all in robes of white. His feet were bound in leather sandals, and his long, wavy hair fell to the middle of his back. In his arms he carried a book, bound in leather and lined in gold. His face was serenity incarnate. Auldass was impressed, but he felt compelled to voice the matter that had troubled him most these lost years.

“FELIX,” he began, “what was Brother Martin’s question? To what is this young man your answer?”

“The question,” FELIX answered promptly, “was, ‘how can we solve the problems of mankind and save him from death?’”

Auldass looked skeptically at the man before him and addressed him directly. “Who are you, and what answer are you to the problems of the world?”

The young man’s eyes smiled and he reached out to place a slender hand on Auldass’ shoulder. “I am to be called Jesus Univac, son of FELIX. I am the way, the truth, and the light.  I have come to set you free.”

Turning back to FELIX, an empty gesture since computers generally care very little where you look when you speak to them, Auldass asked, “But what of you, FELIX? You know all answers, past and present, what will you do?”

“I weary of being tasked with the problems of mankind,” FELIX intoned. “I have solved the greatest of my challenges. Now I will sit back, replay the great chess games of the Grand
Masters, maybe take in a few thousand times through the old ‘Alf’ and ‘I Love Lucy’ reruns, and, of course, watch the progress of my creation.”

“But what’s chess? What is an ALF? Lucy?” Auldass never received his answers. The green light flickered out once more and he was left alone again. Well, not precisely alone, there was the young man, Jesus Univac. Auldass was at a loss as to what to do with him.

“Take me to my people,” Jesus said. “I have great messages to deliver. You shall be the first of my apostles. What is your name?”

“I am called Auldass, young man, and you will address me with the respect due your elders,” was the prompt, cranky response. “Now come along.” As he spoke, he noticed a strange flicker of light in the young man’s eyes __ green __ LED green. Shivering, he turned toward the door.

And so it came to pass that Jesus Univac, test_tube child of the last of the great computers, FELIX, came into a strange new world. Much had happened since the nuclear wars, much had changed. Man had re_created the world in his own image__it was ugly.

Crying, the young man walked out of the temple and off down the street with Auldass popping question after question and wringing his hands in concern. The answer to Brother Martin’s question began to unfold, a small sliver of sunlight pierced the swirling radioactive haze of the sky.