I had not told you this before, but if the worst comes on Earth, the College of Cardinals-or what's left of it-will convene.
No, no,"" he added in response to the murmur of surprise from the monks. While the sun rose, a shepherd was elected to lead the flock. The sign outside the old gate had been removed, for there were women and children to be fed, clothed, and given shelter. The abbot had temporarily readjusted the "cloistered" areas of the abbey to give the refugees access to virtually everything except the monks' sleeping quarters. He swung himself out of his chair and went to stand at the window and look down on the courtyard where a crowd of refugees were milling around several hastily built wooden tables: The abbey, old and new, was overrun by people of all ages and stations whose homes had been in the blighted regions. For Brother Joshua's group had only begun the first short lap of a long and doubtful journey, a new Exodus from Egypt under the auspices of a God who must surely be very weary of the race of Man.Īfterward, the conventual Mass was a Mass for Pilgrims and Travelers.Ībruptly, and with such force that he twisted the dial knob free of its shaft, Zerchi switched off the receiver. While aboard the plane, he had spoken as if the destiny of Brother Joshua's group were as clear-cut as the prayers prescribed for tomorrow's Office but both he and they knew that he had only been reading the palm of a plan, had been describing a hope and not a certainty. Afterward, he drove back to the abbey and to the remainder of his flock. The plane taxied onto the runway and roared aloft, He watched until it disappeared from view in the evening sky. He moved slowly down the aisle, pausing at each seat to bless and embrace before he left the plane.
"If you ever come back, you might meet the Archangel at the east end of Earth, guarding her passes with a sword of flame. Be for Man the memory of Earth and Origin. Teach them, and receive into the Order those among them who are called. Some may be lost for a time from the Faith. Some of you, or those to come after you, will be mendicants and wanderers, teaching the chronicles of Earth and the canticles of the Crucified to the peoples and the cultures that may grow out of the colony groups. And with you, the records and remembrances of four thousand years and more.
Wherever Man goes, yon and your successors will go. If civilization, or a vestige of it, can maintain itself on Centaurus, you will send missions to the other colony worlds, and perhaps eventually to the colonies of their colonies. But the ship will remain in your hands, and the Memorabilia. After the patriarchal see is established at the Centaurus Colony, you will establish there a mother house the Visitationist Friars of the Order of Saint Leibowitz of Tycho.
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