Button in the Fabric of Time by William Wayne Dicksion Read Free Book Online Page B

were men of wealth,
motivated by greed, and they used the military to gain more and
more wealth until they owned and controlled everything. Then they
placed people under what we would consider economic slavery.”
    “Do your history books tell you how the
people overcame that problem?”
    “They overcame the problem the same way
people have always overcome problems. When a few own everything,
and put everyone else in a position of servitude, the people rebel.
The ones who had nothing stripped the economic dominance from those
who had everything. It was terrible, and it created the chaos that
almost destroyed the planet. Radioactivity from atomic fallout made
much of the earth uninhabitable.
    “A few reasoning men from many countries who
had always in the past tried to ignore the greed of the tyrannical
leaders and the ravages of the religious madmen, realized that if
humans, as a species, were going to survive, some drastic changes
had to be made. People saw no way to regain control of their lives,
so they turned to God.”
    “Was that a solution?”
    “It probably would have been helpful if
everyone had worshiped the same God, but they didn’t—they worshiped
different Gods.”
    “I can see how that might have been
troublesome.”
    Jan-3 nodded and continued, “After
capitalistic theocracy failed, and those who tried to gain control
failed, religious fanatics took over, and that brought about what
seemed to be an endless war. People had to do something, so they
passed a law making it a crime to state anything as a fact that
could not be proven. That law prevented religious leaders from
making claims that they could not substantiate. For instance, they
couldn’t promise people that they would go to heaven, unless the
ones promising could prove that heaven existed. As an example, when
the people asked the religious leaders about the location of
heaven, the leaders pointed up. It was explained to these leaders
that up is a very ambiguous place when you are standing on a
planet that is round, and the planet is turning at a thousand
kilometers per hour, while hurdling through space at more than a
million kilometers per hour. Pointing up, is pointing everywhere,
or it is pointing nowhere.”
    “Did that do away with faith in God?”
    “No, it didn’t do away with faith; it
improved it. People didn’t abandon their belief in God, but it did
prevent religious leaders from coercing others to believe as they
believed. Most people still believe in God.”
    “Have those who believe found evidence to
prove that God exists?”
    “No, of course not,” Roc-2 replied, “but the
fact that they cannot prove that God exists does not prove that God
does not exist. Our men of science have confirmed that the
universe is comprised of energy, but they don’t know where the
energy comes from. Those who study theology have concluded that
there will always be people looking for the source of that energy,
and we hope they’ll find it. We believe that paradise can be
established and maintained right here on earth.”
    “My Geiger counter shows only minimal atomic
radiation. How did you get rid of the deadly radiation caused by
the atomic bombs?”
    “Men of science worked franticly and, in
time, produced a material that absorbed radiation like a sponge
absorbs water. Slowly, over time, all harmful radiation was
absorbed and contained.”
    “How did you dispose of the containers of
radiation?”
    “We used rockets and propelled the
radioactive material into the sun. The sun used the material to
produce more solar energy. Comparatively, the amount was so small
that it didn’t even make enough difference to be recorded.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Chapter 9
     
    I sat quietly, trying to allow my mind to
consume all of the information. We were rapidly approaching the
first city when Roc-2 asked, “Would you like to go around the city
and see what it looks like from the outside, or would you rather go
through it?”
    “Let’s go through