The Days of Peleg Read Online Free

Mentor Salah had just declared the High Minister’s new solution to be impossible— in public , and the attendees waited to see what academic disciplinary action was forthcoming.
    Reu-Nathor scowled down at his feet, pondering, and then raised his head, regarding Salah with a kindly, paternalistic smile. It was the kind of loving gaze a father gives to his little boy after his son has just proclaimed that the wind is caused by trees, because when it blows, he can see branches moving.
    “My friend, Salah. How good of you to come today.”
    Salah nodded back politely as the High Minister continued.
    “I respect your wisdom and certainly your age. I even understand the great thought that goes into many of your historical scenarios.” The word he used was ‘scenarios’ but his inflexions made it sound like he had said ‘imaginary friends’. “But I must remind you, and those assembled here, that you have not had the benefit of the latest education or current advances in scientific deduction.”
    The woman in front of Peleg turned to the man beside her. “The High Minister is so caring and humble,” she muttered.
    “You’re right,” the man replied. “And patient. Mentor Salah should be sanctioned !”
    Reu-Nathor continued.
    “We of the Citadel have dedicated our lives in the pursuit of Knowledge and the elimination of superstition and myth. Much violence was done in the name of such erroneous beliefs prior to the Great Awakening, and our administration has seen the great learning and research that can be accomplished when we rid ourselves of the shackles of history and the ineptitude of subjectivity.”
    He paused to look around the room, encompassing everyone before he looked back at Mentor Salah and continued.
    “Mentor Salah, I will now give you four complete and separate answers to your question. Each answer is capable on its own merits to dispel your doubts, and I am sure you will be enlightened and edified; while those in attendance will rejoice with you as we all learn and grow.
    “First. Documentation from that time is sketchy and suspect, and often impervious to translation. The ensuing chaos left no clear records pertaining to actual times and durations. Relative to the great scope of cosmic time, the Great Awakening was instantaneous, but in all actuality it probably covered many weeks or even months; and, in fact, continues on today as we are constantly developing new lexicons and vocabularies.
    “Second. Individuals who actually experienced the Great Awakening may have noticed the effects immediately and assumed it happened to others around them at the same time. I’m sure that small pockets of people acquired their new abilities simultaneously, but this certainly does not mean that the overall phenomenon happened all at once.
    “Third. None of us know the depths and resources of Lifeforce . This sudden mental and informational shift was probably inevitable. Lifeforce abhors stagnation, removes it by any means necessary, and knows no inhibitions when it comes to achieving its goals. There are more than likely millions of other events which could have happened instead of the Great Awakening. We are most fortunate that the actual event carried with it a long-term beneficial change and not something far worse.”
    He stepped from behind the podium and moved towards the front of the stage, never taking his eyes off of Salah.
    “Finally, you ignore all of the submerged activity and hidden causes that were accumulating prior to the Great Awakening. You question credibility, and say that the Great Awakening was highly improbable. I agree. Such an event could never happen suddenly and completely with nothing but random causes. But this great mountain of improbability can be scaled by all the small and seemingly insignificant actions, thoughts, and desires of all those leading up to it. This great accumulation of millions of small, invisible events finally culminated and gave us the psychic explosion we