Pagan Passions Read online

  CHAPTER SIX

  The room into which they stepped seemed even larger than the one theyhad left. The distances were just as hard to measure, and why Forresterhad the feeling, he couldn't have said, but it did feel larger. Thesense of enormous space hung over it.

  The wall colors were just the same, however, dripping and changing in acontinuous flow of patterns, with the little sunbursts and rainbowsappearing here and there without any visible reason.

  But the room itself was comparatively unimportant, Forrester knew. Itwas what went on in the room that sent shivers up his spine, andinstructed one knee to start knocking against other one. He had heard ofthe Court of the Gods, though as far as he knew no mortal had ever seenit. There were certainly no photographs of it, even in the mostexhaustive travel books.

  Forrester knew without question that he was standing in that Courtroom.The knowledge did not make him calm. And the beings sitting andreclining on couches along the shimmering walls made him feel evenworse. He recognized every one of them, and every one sent a new shockof awe running through his nerves. His stomach felt like a hard rubberhandball.

  There was Zeus All-Father, with his great, silvery, ringleted beard. Hishands were combing through it and he was frowning majestically into thedistance. Next to him was the imperious Hera, Mother of the Gods. Shesat with her hands folded in her lap, as if she were waiting for the endof the world to be announced. There was Mars, tough and hairy-chested,scratching his side with one hand and scowling horribly. His fierce,bearded face looked somehow out of place without the battle helmet thatusually topped it. The horned and goat-legged Pan was there, and Vulcan,crippled and ugly with his squat body and giant arms, reclining like anape on a couch all alone, and motherly looking Ceres using one hand topat her hair as if she, not Forrester, were the nervous one.

  Athena was there, too, lovely and gray-eyed. She seemed to be smiling athim with special favor, and Forrester felt grateful.

  He needed all the help he could get.

  But the other Gods were absent. Where were they? Pluto and PhoebusApollo were missing, and so were Mercury, Neptune, Dionysus and Diana.

  And ...

  "Ah," the great voice of Zeus boomed, as Forrester and Venus steppedthrough the Veil. Forrester heard the voice and shuddered. "The mortalis here," Zeus went on in his awe-inspiring roar. "Welcome, Mortal!"

  Forrester opened his mouth, but Hera got in ahead of him.

  She leaned over to her divine husband and hissed, in a tone audible toeveryone in the room: "Don't belabor the obvious, dear. Enough'senough."

  "It is?" Zeus said. The roar was exactly the same. "I'm not at all sure.No! Of course not. Naturally not, my dear. Naturally not." He lookedaround slowly, nodding his great head. "Now, now. Let's see. Do we havea quorum? I don't see Morpheus. Where's Morpheus?"

  "Asleep, as usual," Mars growled. He finished scratching his side andbegan on his beard. "Where else would the old fool be? He's nothing buta bore anyway and I say to Hades with him. Let's get on."

  "Now, Ares," Pallas Athena said mildly. "Don't be crude."

  "Crude?" Mars bellowed. "All I said was that the old bore's not here.It's true, isn't it? What in Hades is so crude about it?"

  "Hah!" Vulcan growled, in a bass voice that seemed to come from thebottom of a large barrel. "Look who mentions being a bore."

  "Why, you--" Mars started.

  "Children!" Hera snapped at once.

  There was quiet, and Forrester had time to get dizzy. Maybe, he thought,he had been traveling too much. After all, he had started in New York,and then he had found himself on what he suspected was Mount Olympus, inGreece. And now he was somewhere else.

  He wasn't entirely sure where. The Court of the Gods existed; he knewthat. But he had never heard just where it existed, and it was entirelypossible that no mortal knew. In which case, Forrester thoughtconfusedly, I don't even know where I am.

  For the first time, he began to think seriously that, perhaps, he wassane after all. Maybe everything he was seeing and hearing was true. Itwas certainly beginning to look that way. And, in that case, maybe thedizziness he felt was just airsickness, or spacesickness, or whateverkind of sickness came from traveling through those blue Veils.

  At least, he told himself, thinking of the old man he had met on the waydowntown, at least it beat the subway.

  He looked behind him. He and Venus were standing in the center of theroom. There was no blue veil behind them. It had, apparently, done itsduty and gone away.

  The subway, Forrester told himself solemnly, didn't do that.

  Zeus cleared his throat ponderously. "I count eight of us," he said."Eight, all told. Of course, that's eight without the mortal." Hepaused, and then added: "If you count the mortal in, there are nine."

  Pan stirred. "That's a quorum," he announced in a hoarse voice that hada heavy vibrato in it. It reminded Forrester, oddly, of the bleating ofa goat. Pan crossed his legs and his hooves clashed, striking sparks."Pluto and Poseidon said they'd accept our judgment."

  "Why the absence?" Vulcan said shortly.

  "A storm, I think," Pan said. "Out in the North Atlantic, if memoryserves--and it does. As far as I recall, there are four ships sunk sofar. Quite an affair."

  Vulcan said: "Ah," and reclined again.

  Hera leaned forward. "Where's Apollo? He said he might come."

  "Sure he did," Mars said heavily. "Old Sunshine Boy never misses a bitof excitement. Only he probably found something even more exciting. He'sin California, all dressed up as a mortal."

  "California?" Ceres said. "My goodness, what would that boy be doing inCalifornia?"

  Mars guffawed. "Probably showing off--how Sunshine Boy loves to showoff! Displaying that gorgeous body to the girls on Muscle Beach, I'llbet."

  "Eight to five," Pan said at once.

  Mars turned to him and nodded shortly. "Done."

  "Now, if I were a betting man," Vulcan began in a thoughtful bass,"I'd--"

  "We all know what you'd do, Gimpy," Mars roared. "But you won't do it,so shut up about it."

  "Please," Hera said. "Order." Her voice was like chilled steel. Theothers settled back. "I think we're ready. Shall we begin, dear?" Shelooked at Zeus, who got ready to start. But before he could get a wordout, there was a flicker of blue energy in the room, a couple of yardsaway from Forrester and Venus. The flicker expanded to a Veil, and a manstepped out of it.

  He was a short, fat individual wearing a _chiton_ as if he had slept init for three or four weeks. His face was puffy and his golden hair wasruffled. His eyelids seemed to have acquired a permanent half-mast, andbeneath them the eyes were bleary and disinterested.

  Forrester needed no introductions to Morpheus, the God of Sleep.

  The God looked around at the assembled company with a kindly littlesmile on his tired face. Then, slowly and luxuriously, he yawned. Whenhis mouth closed again, after a view of caverns measureless to man, herubbed at his eyes with his knuckles, and then heaved a great sigh and,apparently, resigned himself to the terrible effort of speech.

  "I'm late," he said. "But it's really not my fault."

  "Oh?" Hera said in a nasty tone of voice.

  Morpheus shook his head slowly from side to side. "It really isn't." Hisvoice was terribly calm. It was obvious, Forrester thought, that he didnot give a damn. "The alarm just didn't seem to go off again. Or else Ididn't hear it."

  "Now, Morpheus," Hera said. "I should think you'd get some kind of alarmthat really worked, after all this time."

  "Why bother?" Morpheus said, and shrugged ponderously. "Anyhow, I'mhere." He yawned again. "The thing's tiresome, but I did say I'd behere, and here I am. Now, does that satisfy everybody? Because if itdoesn't, I do have some sleep to catch up on."

  "It satisfies us all," Hera said with some asperity. "Go sit down."

  Morpheus shambled quietly over to a couch near Mars. He lowered himselfonto it, and slowly slipped from a sitting position to a reclining one.

  "Well," Hera sai
d to Zeus, "we're ready, dear."

  "Oh," Zeus said. "Oh. Certainly. I declare this meeting--I declare thismeeting fully met." He cleared his throat with a rumble that shook theair. "We're here, as I suppose you all know, to consider the problem ofWilliam Forrester. But first, I am reminded of a little story I pickedup on Earth, and in the hopes that some of you here might not have heardit, I--"

  "We've heard it," Hera said, "and, anyhow, this is neither the time northe place."

  Zeus turned to look at her. He shrugged. "Very well," he said equably."Let us return to William Forrester, as a possible substitute forDionysus. The first consideration ought to be the psychological records,wouldn't you say?"

  "I would," Hera said through her teeth.

  "I believe Athena is in charge of that department, and if she is readyto report--"

  "Of course she's ready," Hera said, "dear."

  Zeus nodded. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?"

  Athena got up and faced the company. "In general," she began at once, "Ithink we can pass the candidate completely on the psychological records.The Index of Subordination is low, but we don't want one too high forthis post. Too, the Beta curve shows a good deal of variation, aDionysian characteristic. There is, perhaps, a stronger sense ofresponsibility than is recorded in the Dionysian index, but this may notbe a handicap."

  "By no means," Hera said. "Responsibility is something we could all dowith more of, around here." She shot a poisonous glance at Morpheus,whose eyes were now completely closed.

  Forrester, busily wondering what his Beta curve was, and why it varied,and what he would do if he lost it and had to get another one, missedthe next few words of Athena's report. The word that did impinge on hisconsciousness did so with a shock.

  "Sex," Athena said. "But, after all, that is not quite in mydepartment." She looked as if she were very glad of the fact. "Ingeneral, as I say, the psychological tests present no insuperablebarriers."

  "Fine," Hera said. She dug Zeus in the ribs again.

  "Oh," Zeus said. "Yes. Fine."

  "Next," Hera said.

  "Yes," Zeus said. "By all means. Next."

  Mars got up. He was now scratching the hair on his chest. He lookedaround at the others with a definitely unfriendly expression.

  "The physical department is mine," he said. "The candidate can handlehimself, all right. There isn't much doubt of it." He burped, wiped hismouth with the back of one hand, and went on: "Of course, he's lethimself run to fat a little here and there, but it isn't really serious.Mainly a matter of glandular balance or something like that, as far as Iunderstand Hermes' report."

  Forrester began to feel like a prize chicken.

  "And physical training," Mars said. "Well, there hasn't _been_ anytraining, that's all. And that's bad."

  "He is not being considered for your position," Vulcan said. "Onemuscular brainless imbecile is enough."

  Mars took a deep breath.

  "Please," Hera said. "Continue the report."

  The breath came out in an explosion. "All right," Mars said."Discounting the training end of things, and assuming that Hermes canfix up the glandular mess, I think he can pass the physical."

  Forrester wasn't sure that he liked being referred to as a glandularmess. On the other hand, he asked himself, what could he do about it? Hestood quietly, wondering what was coming next.

  His worst fears were fulfilled.

  Venus stepped forward and gave her report. Basically, it was a codicil,of a rather specialized nature, to the physical report. While it wasgoing on, Forrester glanced at Athena. She looked every bit asembarrassed as he felt, and her face wore a look of sheer pain. Once hethought she was going to leave the room, but she remained grimly seateduntil it was all over.

  Forrester couldn't figure out, when he thought about it, how the Godshad managed to give him all these tests without his knowing anythingabout it. But, then, they were supernatural, weren't they? And they hadtheir own methods. A mortal didn't have to understand them.

  Forrester wasn't sure he was happy with that idea, but he clung to it.It was the only one he had.

  When Venus finished her report, there was a little silence.

  "Any other comments?" Hera whispered to her husband.

  "Ah, yes," Zeus said. "Other comments. If anyone has any other commentsto make, please make them now. Now is the time to make them."

  He sat back. Morpheus stirred slightly and spoke without opening hiseyes or sitting up. "Sleep," he said.

  Hera said: "Sleep?"

  "Very important," Morpheus said slowly, "the candidate sleeps prettywell--soundly, as a matter of fact. The only trouble is that he doesn'tget enough sleep. But then, no one on this entire crazy world everdoes." He yawned and added: "Not even me."

  Forrester passed a hand over his forehead. He realized, very suddenly,that he had come to a conclusion somewhere during the meeting. He was,he told himself, definitely sane.

  That left another conclusion. He was not dreaming anything that washappening. It was all perfectly real.

  And he was about to become a demi-God.

  That in itself didn't sound so bad. But he began to wonder, in a quietsort of way, just what was going to happen to William Forrester,acolyte and history professor, when Forrester/Bacchus had became areality. With a blunt shock he knew that there was only one answer.

  William Forrester was going to die.

  It didn't matter what the verdict of the Gods was. There were more testscoming, he knew, and if he failed them the Gods would kill him quiteliterally and quite completely.

  But, he went on, suppose he passed the tests.

  In that case he was going to become Forrester/Bacchus, a substitute God.Plain old Bill Forrester would cease to exist entirely.

  Oh, a few traces might remain--his Beta curve, for instance, whateverthat was. But Bill Forrester would be gone. Somehow, the idea of arevenant Beta curve didn't make up for the basic loss.

  On the other hand, he reminded himself again, what choice did he have?

  None.

  He forced himself to listen to what the Gods were saying.

  Zeus cleared his throat. "Well, I think that closes the subject. Am Iright, dear?"

  "You are," Hera said.

  "Very well," Zeus said. "Then the subject is closed, isn't it?"

  Hera nodded wearily.

  "In that case, we can proceed with the investiture. Hephaestus, will youplease take charge of the candidate?"

  Hephaestus/Vulcan sighed softly. "I suppose I must." He swung off thecouch and stood half-crouched for a second. Forrester looked at himblankly. "Well," Vulcan said, "come on." He jerked his head towardForrester. "Over here."

  With one last backward glance at Venus, Forrester walked across theroom. Vulcan turned and hobbled ahead of him toward the wall. Forresterfollowed until, almost at the wall, a Veil of Heaven appeared. Feelingalmost used to the thing by now, Forrester followed Vulcan through, andhe didn't even look behind him to see if the Veil had vanished afterthey'd come through. He knew perfectly well it had. It always did.

  The room they had entered was similar to the others he had seen, butthere was no change of colors. The walls glowed evenly and with asubdued light that filled the room evenly. And, for the first time, thewalls weren't simply blanks that became things only when approached. Thestrangest-looking objects Forrester had ever seen filled benches,tables, chairs and the floor, and some were even tacked to the glowingwalls. He stared at them for a long time.

  No two were alike. They seemed to be all sizes, shapes and materials.The only thing they really had in common was that they wereunrecognizable. They looked, Forrester thought, as if a truckload ofnon-objective twentieth-century sculpture had collided with anothertruck full of old television-set innards. Then, in some way, the twotrucks had fallen in love and had children.

  The scrambled horrors scattered throughout the room were, Forrester toldhimself bleakly, the children.

  Vulcan sat down on the only empty chair wit
h a sigh. "This is myworkshop," he announced gravely. "It is not arranged for visitors, norfor the curious. I must advise you to touch nothing, if you wish to saveyour hands, your sanity, and very possibly your life."

  Forrester nodded dumbly. Vulcan's tone hadn't been unfriendly; he hadmerely been warning a stranger, in the shortest and clearest mannerpossible, against the dangers of feeling the merchandise. Not, Forresterthought, that the warning was necessary. He would as soon have thoughtof trying to fly as he would of touching one of the mixed-up lookingthings.

  "Now," Vulcan said, "if you'll--" He stopped. "Pardon me," he said, andlevered himself upright. He went to a chair, swept a few constructionsfrom it and put them carefully on a table. "Sit down," he said,motioning to the chair.

  Gingerly, Forrester sat down.

  Vulcan returned to his own chair and climbed onto it. "Now let us get tobusiness."

  "Business?" Forrester said.

  "Oh, yes," Vulcan said. "I imagine you were pretty well bewildered for awhile. No more than natural. But I think you've figured it out by now.You know you are going to be given the powers of a demi-God, don't you?"

  "Yes. But--"

  "Do not worry about it," Vulcan said. "The powers are--simply powers.They are not burdens. At any rate, they will not be burdensome to you.We know that--we have researched you to a fine point, as you may havegathered from the fol-de-rol back there." He gestured toward his right,evidently indicating the Court of the Gods.

  "But," Forrester said, "suppose I'm not what your tests say. I mean,suppose I--"

  "There is no need for supposition. Beyond any shadow of doubt, we knowhow you, as a mortal, will react to any conceivable set ofcircumstances."

  "Oh," Forrester said. "But--"

  "Precisely. You have realized what yet needs to be done. We know whatyour abilities and limitations are--_as a mortal_. The tests you haveyet to pass are concerned with your actions and reactions as ademi-God."

  Forrester swallowed hard. He felt as if he were on a movingroller-coaster. No matter how badly he wanted to get off, it wasimpossible to do so. He had to remain while the car hurtled on.

  And where was he going?

  The Gods, he told himself with more than ordinary meaning, knew.

  "The power which is to be infused into you," Vulcan said, "if you don'tmind the loose terminology--"

  "I don't mind in the least," Forrester assured him earnestly. "Not inthe least."

  "The power infused into you will make some changes. These will not onlybe physical changes. Mental changes must be expected."

  "Oh," Forrester said. "Mental changes."

  "Correct. Physically, you see, you will become what no mortal can everquite be: a perfectly functioning biological engine. Every sinew, nerveand muscle, every organ and gland, every tissue in your body will be inperfect harmonic balance with every other. Metabolically speaking, yourcatabolism and anabolism will be in such perfect balance that aging willnot be possible."

  Forrester thought that over. "I'll be immortal," he said.

  "In that sense of the word," Vulcan said, "you will. You will be, as amatter of fact, quite a good deal tougher, stronger and harder than anyanimal now existing on the face of the Earth. I must except, of course,a few of the really big ones, like the elephant and the killer whale."

  "Oh," Forrester said. "Sure."

  "But make no mistake. You can still be killed. A bullet through theheart will not do the job; it will merely incapacitate you for a fewhours. But if you were to have your head blown off by a grenade, youwould be quite dead. Remember that."

  "I don't see how I could forget it."

  "You will heal with incredible rapidity, but there are limitations.Anything that pushes the balance too far will be fatal. You can lose ahand or even an arm without serious harm; the missing member will beregrown. But if you were to fall into a large meat-grinder--"

  "I get the idea," Forrester said, feeling pale green.

  "Good," Vulcan said. "However, there is more."

  "_More?_"

  "There are certain other powers to be given you in addition. You willlearn of these later."

  Forrester nodded blankly.

  "Now," Vulcan said, "all these physical changes will have a definiteeffect upon your psychological outlook, as I imagine you can plainlysee."

  Forrester thought about it. "Well--"

  "Let us suppose that you are a coward who has avoided fights all hislife. Now you are given these powers. What will happen?"

  "I'll be strong."

  "Exactly. You will be strong. And because you are strong, and almostindestructible, you suddenly decide that you can now get your revenge onthe people who have pushed you around."

  "Well," Forrester said, "I--"

  "You begin to look for fights," Vulcan said. "You go around beating upeveryone you can find, simply because you now know you can get away withit. Do you understand me?"

  "I guess so."

  "A man with a vicious streak in him would be intolerable in thisposition. Can you see that? Take an example: Ares. Mars is a tough God,hard and at times brutal. But he is not vicious."

  Forrester was a little surprised to hear Vulcan say anything nice aboutMars. He knew, as everyone did, the long history of ill-will andpositive hatred the two had built up between them. It had begun soonafter Vulcan's marriage to Aphrodite/Venus.

  He hadn't been a cripple then, of course. For a while, he and Venus hadhad a fine time. But Venus, apparently, just wasn't satisfied with thedull normal routine of married life. None of the Gods seemed to be, as amatter of fact. Either they were altogether too married, like Zeus, orelse they weren't married enough, like Venus. Or else they were likeDiana and Athena, indifferent to marriage.

  At any rate, Venus had begun looking around for fresh talent. And thefresh talent had been right there ready to sign up for a long contracton a strictly extra-legal basis.

  One day Vulcan caught them at it, his wife and Mars. Vulcan was angry,but Mars didn't exactly like to be interrupted, either, and he was alittle faster on the draw. He tossed Vulcan over a nearby cliff,crippling him for good.

  And as for Aphrodite--who knew? It was entirely possible that, by thistime, the Goddess of Love had run through the entire list of Gods andwas now at work on the mortals.

  Forrester wasn't entirely sure he disliked the idea, on a simplephysical level. But there was more than that to it, of course; there wasVulcan. Forrester found himself liking the solemn, positive workman. Hedidn't want to hurt him.

  And a liaison with Venus was certain to do just that.

  He came back to the present to hear Vulcan still discoursing. "Also,"the God said, "changes in glandular balance must be made. These changeshave a necessary effect on the brain. The personality changes subtly,though I can assure you that the change is not a marked one." He paused."For all these reasons," he finished, "I am sure that you can see why wemust subject you to further tests."

  "I understand," Forrester said vaguely.

  "Good. Now, you will not know whether a given incident--any givenincident--is a perfectly natural occurrence or a test imposed on you bythe Pantheon. Can you understand that?"

  Forrester nodded.

  Vulcan levered himself upright, his ugly face smiling just a little."And remember what I have told you. No worrying. You don't even knowjust what any given test is supposed to accomplish, so you can't knowwhether the action you choose is right or wrong. Therefore, worryingwill do nothing for you. You will be at your best if you simply behavenaturally."

  "I'll try."

  "Remember, also, that you were picked not merely for your physicalresemblance to Dionysus, but your psychological resemblance as well.Therefore, playing his part should be comparatively simple for you.Right?"

  "I guess so," Forrester said, feeling both expectant and a littlehopeless about it all.

  "Fine," Vulcan said. "Now wait one moment." He turned and limped over toa structure that looked like a sort of worktable. When he came back, hewas carryin
g several objects in his big hands. He selected one, an ovoidabout the size of a marble, colored a dull orange, and handed it toForrester. "Swallow that."

  Forrester took it cautiously. As soon as he found out what he wassupposed to do with the thing, its dimensions seemed to grow. It lookedabout the size of a golf ball in his shaking hands.

  "_Swallow_ it?" he said tentatively.

  "Correct," Vulcan said.

  "But--"

  "This object is a--well, call it a talisman. It will not dissolve, andit is recoverable, but for the Investiture it must be inside you."

  "But--"

  "You will find it so easy to swallow that you will need no water. Goahead."

  Forrester put the thing in his mouth and swallowed once, just to testVulcan's statement. The effect was surprising. He could barely feel itleave his tongue, and he couldn't feel it go down at all. He swallowedagain, experimentally, and explored the inside of his mouth with histongue.

  "It is gone," Vulcan said. "Good."

  "It's gone, all right," Forrester said wonderingly.

  "The sandals are next." Vulcan selected a pair of sandals with ratherthick soles and handed them over. They were apparently made of gold.Forrester obediently strapped them on, and Vulcan next handed him a pairof golden cylinders indented to fit his curved fingers.

  "You hold these very tightly," Vulcan said. "During the Investiture, youmust grip them as hard as you can." He peered closely at them andpointed to one. "This one goes in the left hand. The other goes in theright. Squeeze them as if--as if you were trying to crush them. Allright?"

  "All right," Forrester said.

  Vulcan nodded. "Good. From this moment on, do exactly as you are told.Answer questions truthfully. Keep nothing secret. Remember myinstructions."

  "Right," Forrester said doubtfully.

  "Come on," Vulcan said, heading for the wall. The inevitable Veil ofHeaven appeared, and Forrester followed through it as before.

  The room they entered was not, he thought, the same one they had been inbefore. Or, if it was, it had changed a great deal. It was difficult totell anything for sure; the shifting walls looked the same, but theyalso looked like the shifting walls in Venus' apartments.

  At any rate, there were now no couches on the floor. The room seemedeven bigger than before, and when the walls settled down to a steadygolden glow, Forrester felt lost in the immensity of the place. In thecenter of the room was a raised golden dais. It was about five feetacross and nearly three feet high.

  The Gods were ranged around it in a semicircle, facing him. Vulcanslipped into an empty space in the line, and Forrester stood perfectlyalone, holding the cylinders.

  Zeus cleared his throat. "Step up on the dais," he said.

  Stumbling slightly, Forrester managed to do so without losing his gripon the cylinders.

  In the center of the raised platform, with the Gods staring at him, hefelt like something under a microscope.

  "William Forrester," Zeus said, and he shuddered. The All-Father's voicehad never been more powerful. "William Forrester, from this momentonward you will renounce your present name. You will be known asDionysus the Lesser until and unless it shall please us to conferanother name on you. Henceforth, you will be, in part, a recipient ofthe worship due to Dionysus, and you will hold the rank of demi-God. Doyou accept these judgments and this honor?"

  Forrester gulped. A long time seemed to pass. At last he found hisvoice. "I do," he said.

  "Very well," Zeus said.

  The Gods joined hands and closed the circle around Forrester,surrounding him completely. The golden auras that shone about theirbodies grew more and more bright. Forrester clutched the goldencylinders tightly.

  Then, very suddenly, there was an explosion of light. Forrester thoughthe had staggered, but he was never sure. Everything was too bright tosee. Dizziness began, and grew.

  The room whirled and tipped. Somewhere a great organlike note began, andwent on and on.

  Forrester convulsed with the force of a single great burst of energythat crashed through his nervous system.

  And then, in a timeless instant, everything went black.