Emzaba was shocked. “I did not know that Yess intended to keep all his worshippers Awake!”
“It’s not definite. Apparently, he’s still considering it and won’t give his decision until just before the Night begins.”
“But why should he do that?”
“I was told that he would like to weed out all the secret worshipers of Algul and also the lukewarms and the lip-servers. He wants a planetful of zealots.”
The bishop nodded. “And Yess would send these fanatics out as missionaries, right?”
“Right.”
“And Yess has the power to do this, to make everybody put himself into the terrible jeopardy of the Night?”
“He has the power.”
The bishop hesitated, frowned, then said, “Our superiors must believe that you have some chance of succeeding. Otherwise, you’d not have been sent to Yess.”
“They could also be doing it out of desperation,” Carmody said. “The inroads that Boontism has been making into our faith, into all non-Kareenan faiths, have been devastating. And it will get worse.”
“I know. Yet... you went through the Night... it is even said that you were one of the Fathers of Yess... but you did not become a worshiper of the Goddess. So, there is hope. But I do not understand why you have not been publicized by the Church. You are our greatest living testimony to our faith.”
Carmody smiled grimly and said, “There is great danger in my testifying. How would it look to the average man if I had to swear—and I would have to—that the phenomena of the Night are real? That the god Yess is formed out of the air by a mystical union between the Great Mother and the Seven Fathers? That so-called miracles are a dime a dozen on Kareen, that Boontism can offer living proof of its claims, solid and visual results from the practice of its religion?
“Or that I was a criminal of the worst sort, a murderer many times, a thief, a pervert, you name it—yet after I passed through the Night I did not even have to be given the rehabilitation treatment at Johns Hopkins?”
“They would say that Boontism did it and would give more credence to the Kareenan missionaries. Yet, you did not become a worshiper of Boonta.”
“I might have if I had stayed on Kareen,” Carmody said. “But I returned almost immediately to Earth after the Night. And while in Hopkins, I had an experience the details of which I won’t go into now. It’s enough that I decided to join the Church, and became a lay brother and am now a priest.”
The bishop said, “I still don’t understand. You affirm the validity of Yess and of Boonta, yet you also declare the truth of our faith. How can you reconcile such opposites?”
Carmody shrugged and said, “I don’t. I have my questions, plenty of them. But so far they’ve not been answered. Perhaps this visit to Kareen will do it.”
The aircar settled down in the parking lot, Carmody said goodbye to Embaza, received his blessing, then delayed to ask the bishop to go easy on Bakeling. Emzaba replied that he would try to be as just as possible. But before he was through, he would make Bake- ling understand just what he had done and promise to avoid such errors in the future.
Carmody got into his seat in the White Mule only a minute before the ports were shut for the pre-takeoff checkout. He saw that most of the Boontist converts involved in the riot had been able to make the ship.
One fellow, who had entered on Carmody’s heels, was not a Boontist. He was a short muscular man who looked as if he were about Carmody’s physiological age, that is, anywhere between thirty-five and a hundred. He had thick, black, very curly hair, a broad Amerindian face with a big aquiline nose, thin lips, and a jutting cleft chin. He wore all- white clothing: a conical hat with a broad flappy brim, a close-fitting shirt with puffy sleeves, a big leatheroid belt with a hexagonal metal buckle, a white beltbag, and trousers that clung to the thighs but ballooned from the lower legs. His shoes lacked the fashionable frills and festoons of spherelets; they were simple and rugged.
Clutched in one hand was a large white-covered book. On its cover, in the old-style nonphonemic alphabet, were words in black: TRUE VERSION—HOLY SCRIPTURES. By this and his white garments, Carmody knew the man belonged to an increasingly powerful religious group. The members of the Rockbottom Church of God—sometimes referred to by their enemies as the Hardasses—were fundamentalists who believed they had returned to the original faith of the original Christians. Carmody had met a few on Wildenwooly.
However, it was not the man’s religion that made Carmody’s eyes open wide. It was the shock of recognition.
So, all the old pros were not gone! This man was Al Lieftin, and he had once worked with Carmody during a phase of the Staronif robbery.
Lieftin’s own eyes expanded on seeing Carmody’s face. They opened even more when they lowered to take in the maroon robes of a priest of the Order of St. Jairus.
Lieftin raised his hand as if to ward off something, took a step backward, then turned away. But the priest called to him.
“Al Lieftin! Come sit by me! No need to avoid me. I’ve nothing to hide. And it looks as if we’ve both changed.”
Lieftin hesitated. The color came back to his face; he grinned, and he almost swaggered over to the seat beside Carmody’s.
“You startled me,” he said. “It’s been so many years. You... you’re Father Carmody now?”
“Father it is,” said Carmody. “And you?”
“I’m a diaconus of the True Church,” Lieftin said. “Praise the Lord! The evil days are gone forever; I saw the light in time. I repented, I paid for my sins. And now I preach the Basic Word.”
“I’m very happy that you’re at peace,” Carmody said. “At least, I presume you are. We’ve taken somewhat different paths, but they are both, I trust, good paths, the right paths.
“Tell me,” Father Carmody continued, “that is if you don’t object, why’re you going to Dante’s Joy? The Night of Light is due. Surely you’re not planning to go through it?”
“Never! No, I’m going because my church has sent me to make a report on the pre- Night rituals, then take the last ship out. I preferred not to have to watch those Satanic doings, but the Eldest himself asked me if I would.”
“Why does your church want a report? Certainly, there are enough data about Kareen in the Earth libraries.”
Lieftin said, “The bitter truth is that we’ve lost more people to the false god Yess than we care to admit. Many men and women I would never have believe could be persuaded from the Basic Word have succumbed to the Satanic wiles of the Kareenan missionaries.
“So, I’m to make a detailed report, find things that the books don’t report, get a first- hand account. I’m to take films, too, and use all this for lecture tours on Earth. I’ll show the people of Earth what sinners the Kareenans really are. When the indescribably obscene evil acts the Kareenans commit in the name of their religion are shown, why, then, the Terrestrials won’t be so full of fire to convert to Boontism. They will have seen for themselves what abominations are practiced in Boonta’s name.”
Carmody did not tell Lieftin that this approach had been tried more than once. Sometimes, it worked. But often it had just the opposite effect. It aroused curiosity, even desire.
Carmody lit a cigarette. Lieftin sniffed. Carmody said, “You used to chain-smoke. Was it hard for you to give up the habit?”
“No, praise the Lord. I never felt a moment’s temptation from the instant I saw the light. Never! I gave up the evils of tobacco, alcohol, and fornication. And I thank the Lord that He has shielded me from all temptation since.”